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	Podcast:		Inside Appalachia
	Episode:		‘It Was a Terrible Loss’: School Closures and Their Effect on Communities Inside Appalachia
	Category:		Government & Organizations
	Duration:		00:56:58
	Publish Date:		2019-05-10 10:58:56
	Description:		This week on Inside Appalachia, basketball was a big deal for the small town of Northfork, in McDowell County, West Virginia. The high school team won the state championship eight years in a row. “Little old ladies who wouldn’t know a football from a basketball became big fans because it brought positive notoriety and attention to the community,” Northfork alumni Gary Dove recalled. Yet, despite its success on the basketball court, Northfork was one of thousands of schools that have closed across the country in recent decades. Declining population in rural Appalachia has made this especially common as school boards attempt to consolidate resources. But when a school is closed, it’s more than a building that disappears. In this episode, we’ll explore how school closures affect community pride, and participation in extracurricular activities, like sports. During the past 50 years, many people in coal country have watched as their towns faded to mere shadows of what they used to be. As
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