CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Board of Education approved school closings in four separate votes Wednesday.
The board voted to close schools in Clay, Preston, Wetzel and Wood counties after presentations from county school superintendents, whose plans were based on declining student enrollment and a corresponding reduction in state funding.
More than a dozen opponents of the Wetzel County plan, which will close Paden City and Hundred high schools after this school year, spoke against the proposal.
“This plan is a 15-year-old plan that’s been dusted off. They show no creativity in the creation of this plan,” Paden City Foundation spokesman Rodney McWilliams told the state BOE.
“Hundred High School provides a high-quality education, fostering student leadership, personalized support and strong community ties,” Roberts said.
Wetzel County School Superintendent Cassie Porter told the board kids from Wetzel County are losing opportunities with each year that passes.
“We are not preparing our students the way we need to prepare them educationally, our test scores show that,” Porter said. “We ranked very, very low and we need to pool our resources together in our opinion.”
The state BOE voted in favor of the closing plan that the local school board approved. It means Paden City and Hundred will close after this school year with Hundred kids headed to Valley High School and the upper grades at Paden City to Magnolia High School. The younger grades will go to New Martinsville School.
State BOE member Debra Sullivan voted against the Wetzel County plan. She indicated it may need further discussion.
Sullivan questioned each of the four county school superintendents about how many students they’ve lost to the Hope Scholarship, home schooling and charter schools.
“Because that’s how appalled I am at the cost of these programs to our public schools and how this decimating your ability to run…I know you would like to keep all of your public schools,” Sullivan said.
The state BOE also gave final approval to local school board approved plans to close Clay Middle School and send the students to Clay Elementary, Big Otter Elementary and Clay County High School; close Fellowsville Elementary and Rowelsburg Elementary in Preston County and Fairplains Elementary and VanDevender Middle in Wood County.
Story by Jeff Jenkins, MetroNews