CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Board of Education on Tuesday said goodbye to one of its members and welcomed a familiar face back to the board. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has named Lloyd G. Jackson II of Hamlin to immediately fill the post vacated by Burma Hatfield of Gilbert, whose nine-year term on the board has ended. Jackson previously served on the board in 2003 after he left the state Senate.

Jackson, who served 12 years as a state senator, was the lead sponsor of the Promise scholarship legislation and comprehensive early childhood legislation during his tenure as state Senate Education chairman. Jackson, an attorney and businessman in the oil and gas industry, attended West Virginia public schools and holds degrees in political science and law from West Virginia University. He served as Lincoln County’s prosecuting attorney for six years and currently serves on a number of charitable foundations, college boards and educational organizations.

Hatfield, a former teacher and principal, had been a member of the West Virginia Board of Education since 2004, when she was sworn in to serve a term ending in 2011. While serving on the board, she was appointed to several committees, including the National Association of State Boards of Education’s Middle Schools Study Group. In that capacity, she worked with a national panel to develop recommendations on middle school reforms to better prepare students for success in high school.

“It has been an honor to serve the students and residents of West Virginia,” Hatfield said.

The West Virginia Board of Education's 12 members include nine citizens appointed by the governor and three non-voting ex-officio members — the state superintendent, the chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the chancellor of the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education. Board members serve overlapping terms of nine years, and no more than five citizen members may belong to the same political party.

Established in the West Virginia Constitution, the state board is vested with supervision of the state's elementary and secondary schools. The board meets monthly to determine state policies and to establish the rules that carry into effect state law regarding education. The state Board of Education also has general control, supervision and management of the business and educational affairs of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. 

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