There’s a struggle to break ground on the construction of three public schools originally damaged by flooding six years ago.
Nicholas County Schools has just two years to complete federally backed construction projects or risk owing millions to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
During the flooding disaster of 2016, Richwood Middle School, Richwood High School, and Summersville Middle School in Nicholas County were severely damaged.
Four years later, in 2020, FEMA awarded the West Virginia School Building Authority with a grant of $131 million to replace the schools in Nicholas County.
More than $17 million of that has been spent as of June 13, 2022. The county is negotiating a construction contract that fits within the current budget.
Construction was delayed because of increased costs due to COVID-19.
“We, by our estimations, are around 25 to 35 percent over our budgeted amount,” David L. Roach, Executive Director of the West Virginia School Building Authority, said.
Nicholas County Board of Education has authority over how to spend the FEMA funding.
Richwood Middle School and Richwood High School will be consolidated into a single complex that will include Cherry River Elementary School.
Summersville Middle is being built next to the new Nicholas County High School and Nicholas County Career and Technical Center at the Glade Creek Business Park.
“We’re talking about kids that have been displaced from their educational environment,” Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, said. “The kids that were in school, have graduated college, and got a career in the time that we can’t figure out how to break ground.”
The deadline is Dec. 2024. If the scope of work isn’t completed by the deadline, all funds will need to be paid back to FEMA by Nicholas County.
Under the threat of a lawsuit over transparency, the West Virginia School Building Authority board has done a revote over rebuilding Nicholas County schools damaged by the June 2016 flood.
News outlets report the board voted again unanimously to allow using Federal Emergency Management Agency flood recovery money to consolidate schools after attorney James Barber and Stu Matthis with STV Engineers alleged state open meetings act violations over the first vote on Sept. 4.
Barber and Matthis, acting for Richwood High School alumni and some parents, raised concerns that board members didn’t know exactly what they were voting on because there were errors in a site selection evaluation document comparing two places where Richwood schools will be rebuilt.
The Nicholas board intends to locate Richwood Middle and High schools at Cherry River Elementary school.
The state education board says a dispute resolution company out of Massachusetts will come to West Virginia on Monday to find a solution to the dispute over Nicholas County’s plan to consolidate schools into a single campus following flood damage.
State Superintendent Steven Paine tells the Beckley Register-Herald that the company will interview those involved and return in December with recommendations.
State Board of Education President Thomas Campbell says dispute resolution is standard for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in situations like this one.
The state board rejected Nicholas County’s consolidation plan. Paine said Gov. Jim Justice sponsored the resolution process to be fair to everyone involved after West Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled the state board has the constitutional authority to accept or reject the county plan.
The West Virginia Supreme Court has upheld the state education board’s authority to reject Nicholas County’s plan to consolidate multiple schools into a single campus following flood damage.
In a ruling Tuesday, the court says the state board “is vested with the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory authority to exercise its discretion” in accepting or rejecting the county plan.
The Nicholas County school board proposed consolidating Summersville, Richwood and Craigsville schools into a single campus near Summersville using Federal Emergency Management Agency money from deadly 2016 floods.
It would put middle and high schools on one campus with the county’s vocational education center.
State board members said the county needed to get more community input and consider alternatives.
A Kanawha County judge reversed the state. The top court reversed the judge.
The West Virginia Board of Education has conditionally approved a school consolidation plan in Nicholas County.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the plan by Nicholas County’s school board would consolidate schools in Richwood, Summersville and Craigsville into a campus near Summersville.
The Nicholas board plans to use FEMA recovery money from the 2016 flood, which damaged Richwood Middle, Richwood High and Summersville Middle, to build the consolidated campus.
The proposed consolidated campus would combine those schools with Nicholas County High and the county’s vocational education center.
State Department of Education general counsel Heather Hutchens said Friday the conditional approval will be withdrawn if the state Supreme Court grants the state school board’s requested stay of a judge’s order for it to give the conditional approval or post a $130 million bond.
Several communities in West Virginia were devastated during the 1,000 Year Flood that hit June 2016. Many families lost everything – their homes, their belongings, their livelihoods. Some of those communities even lost their school buildings.
The West Virginia Department of Education reported 27 public school buildings suffered flood damage, and five were closed.
The school board in Nicholas County plans to consolidate several schools including Richwood Middle and Richwood High School. The plan has been met with passionate opposition from residents.
Despite the debate about consolidation, the 2017 school year came and went. West Virginia Public Broadcasting recently visited the town of Richwood to see what this past year was like for both students and the community.
For the 2016-2017 school year, the students at Richwood Middle and High School attended classes at temporary locations.
Richwood High students spent the year at former Beaver Elementary School in Craigsville – almost a 30-minute drive away.
Recent graduate Kendra Amick says it was disheartening to learn she wouldn’t be in her old building for her senior year.
“It was hard,” Amick said, “I mean, when they told me over the summer that the school was flooded and that we weren’t going to be going back there, it was really heartbreaking, and I don’t think any of us really believed it, but being thrown in Beaver was kind of rough. The teachers made sure that it was more like a home environment, but I know all of us would just much rather be back up at Richwood and where we all belong.”
Despite the change of location, Amick remained committed to her high school band, also known as the Lumberjack Express. The band had to scavenge for places to practice throughout the year. But when it came time for the annual festivals and parades, there was no doubt the community could rely on the Lumberjack Express to show up.
Amick performed in the marching band for the last time during this year’s spring concert.
“The community of Richwood really loves the band,” Amick noted, “That’s one of the cornerstones of our town is seeing us march down every fall in orange, and we always have an annual Christmas concert as well as a spring concert, so to get the community back together, rain or shine today, it’s really nice to see everyone come out, get to hear the band, and have a little bit of hope.”
The Lumberjack Express is a staple of the town, says Richwood Middle School Principal Gene Collins.
“It’s not just the high school’s band, it is the community’s band,” he said.
Collins says the Lumberjack Express played a big role in helping students and the community to cope with the change. While traditions had to be compromised and the stability of the community was disrupted, the Lumberjack Express provided a familiar tone that helped the town hold onto its identity … and perhaps hold onto the spirit of Richwood.
“Everything we do, we have a huge turnout,” Collins said, “We have so much support. People are trying to make sure that we survive, and let’s face it, in the mountains, that’s what everything is about. It is about survival. They want the best for their kids, but we’re also fighting for our culture to survive.”
That community spirit and school pride shined bright across the state this past year. In fact, Herbert Hoover High School was another building that was closed after the flood. Despite not having a home gym, the Huskies made it to the state high school basketball tournament for the first time ever.
