Fayette County schools Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Fayette County Students Take Lead To Address Mental Health In Schools

Students from Oak Hill High School’s (OHHS) Oakheal Outreach Team hosted a Student Mental Health Conference Wednesday to help other schools and counties establish student-led mental health supports.

Cassie Ganeau, a social worker at Oak Hill, said her role started in the transitional period coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. With mental health declining, she and her colleagues determined more needed to be done.

“We did what’s called a needs assessment in social work,” Ganeau said. “We just kind of developed our team and added students, and we found it was super important to include their perspective as well.”

Lily Zukowski is an Oak Hill senior and the president of the Oakheal Outreach Team. Students like her act as a bridge between school social workers and mental health resources, and also put on events focused on mental health.

Zukowski said she noticed a positive change in the student body since the outreach team’s creation two years ago.

“We’ve had a lot more engagement within the student body and people talking to each other,” she said. “We’ve had a lot more different events and just fun things to do to get out of the house and do other things. I’ve seen the uplifting environment that it’s created in our school.”

Students, counselors, educators and administrators from 17 counties attended the conference at the Fayette County school. Organizers say they hope the attendees will establish their own teams back home.

“It’s definitely something that a lot more schools are wanting to implement,” Ganeau said. “We have elementary schools here, we have K through 12, high schools as well. It’s really interesting to see that in those schools as well, they need a team of their own.”

West Virginia BOE Approves School Closures in Fayette Co.

The West Virginia Board of Education has voted to approve all but one of a county’s proposed public school closures.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the state board approved the Fayette County School Board’s proposed closures Wednesday, with the exception of Meadow Bridge High School that will remain open.

State board member Miller Hall says he voted to keep the high school open because of transportation concerns.

The school closings will leave the county with three high schools and shut down a few other schools that border with other counties.

Other school closures include Mount Hope Elementary, Ansted Middle School and Fayetteville High School.

The Fayette County School Board initially approved the school closings in a 4-1 vote in May.

State Returns Full Control to Fayette County School Board

The West Virginia Board of Education has voted to return full control of Fayette County’s school system to the county after seven years under state control.

The board voted unanimously for the move Thursday at a meeting in Charleston, contingent on the Fayette board agreeing to a memorandum of understanding with the state school board.

The board had voted last month to give Fayette County partial control of its schools except for issues related to facilities.

In December the School Building Authority approved funding for capital improvements in Fayette County as part of a consolidation plan that would drop the number of Fayette County’s public schools from 18 to 11.

The state Board of Education intervened in Fayette County in 2010, citing student achievement and facility issues.

W.Va. School Board Approves Plan to Close 10 Fayette County Schools

The West Virginia Board of Education has voted to move forward with a plan to close nearly a dozen schools in Fayette County.

The state board’s vote during Wednesday’s meeting was not unanimous, board member and former Delegate Tom Campbell voed against the measure, but the county will now move forward with plans to close ten facilities and reconfigure several others.

The amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan also includes redistricting dozens of students, sending them to high schools in Greenbrier and Kanawha counties.

The vote came after a 9 month study by the West Virginia School Building authority. The study found it would take more than $216 million to renovate the county’s existing facilities.

The West Virginia Board of Education has been in control of Fayette County since 2010.

County voters have not approved a school excess levy for school maintenance and construction in more than 40 years, leaving many facilities in disrepair.

The state School Building Authority board must also vote to approve the consolidation plan. Fayette County officials will then return to the SBA in December to ask for more than $20 million to begin carrying out the plan.

Fayette Board of Education Supports Plan to Fix Facilities

The Fayette County Board of Education has passed a resolution in support of proposed changes to a plan to fix education facilities there.

The Register-Herald reports the board passed the resolution Monday in a 4-1 vote.

The resolution states that a proposed amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan would correct many of the issues that exist with the county’s school buildings. It also says that its purpose was to give students the opportunity to be in an environment that’s safe and conducive to learning.

The changes to the facilities plan adopted by the board include closing more than 10 schools in the county, building and renovating at least three facilities and sending some students to schools outside of the county school district.

The amended plan was developed by the state School Building Authority after a capitol planning committee established goals and criteria for the reconfiguring of the schools.

The West Virginia Board of Education is in control of Fayette County Schools.

State Officials Unveil Troubled School District Plan

The state School Building Authority wants to close, build and renovate Fayette County schools.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported the proposal presented Thursday would close Meadow Bridge High, Fayetteville High, Valley High, Ansted Middle, and elementary schools at Mount Hope, Rosedale, Gatewood, Fayetteville, Meadow Bridge, Divide, Ansted and Valley. Other schools would be built or renovated and students would be redistricted.

A new pre-kindergarten-through-second-grade school would serve Oak Hill.

New River Elementary would include third-through-fifth grades. A new Collins Middle would include grades six through eight.

A renovated Oak Hill High would include Fayette High students. Fayette High would become prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade.

A new Ansted/Divide Elementary would be built. Midland Trail High would add middle schoolers.

Valley High would serve pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

The state school board has authority over the plan.