Richwood Middle School Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Delays In School Construction Could Leave Nicholas County Owing Millions To FEMA

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.

West Virginia Board Does Revote on School Rebuilding Plan

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.

West Virginia School Board Conditionally OKs Consolidation

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.

Richwood Residents Worry About Relocation of Flooded Schools

Some Nicholas County residents are concerned that two Richwood schools which closed after devastating floods won’t be rebuilt in the area.

According to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Nicholas County Schools Superintendent Donna Burge-Tetrick said last week that a decision on where the schools will be located won’t be made until she collects the appropriate information.

Richwood Middle School and Richwood High School closed after late June floods ravaged the town.

Richwood Middle students are attending classes at Cherry River Elementary School and Richwood High students are at the former Beaver Elementary building. Students at another public school that closed in the county, Summersville Middle School, are attending classes in the Summersville Convention Center.

Some residents are concerned the Richwood schools may be consolidated with Summersville Middle, which is more than 40 minutes away.

Richwood Chamber of Commerce President Mary Jane Williams, who was a Richwood teacher for 36 years, said supporters of keeping the schools in the city want the board to hear their input before a decision is made.

“We’d like to be able to give, and not just to be given ‘This is what we’re doing,’ and everybody votes on it,” she said. “So we’ve met and met and met, and we’d like to see some of our elected officials come to our meetings if possible.”

Resident Tammy Coleman and Richwood Mayor Bob Henry Baber both say the community has suggested three possible locations out of the floodplain to build new Richwood schools. School board President Gus Penix said at least two of those sites haven’t been ruled out.

Asked about the possibility of consolidating the schools, Penix said “nothing is out the window.” He said the board has avoided discussing the issue on purpose as it waits for Burge-Tetrick to present data.

Coleman, who with her husband owns a Richwood funeral home, said that if the town loses its schools, then residents are going to start moving away.

“People are going to lose jobs,” she said. “We could lose businesses. This could affect my business. This could affect lives for years to come.

“We want promises. We want answers. We just want our town back. We were flooded and we have been living in devastation ever since June … but everything is coming back. We are on the mend. Now we just want our schools back.”