CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State schools superintendent Steve Paine says school building discussions with Nicholas County officials are going well and he has confidence in a mediator who has been designated to look for a mutually-agreeable resolution to the county’s controversial school rebuilding issues.
The superintendent was a guest on MetroNews’ “Talkline” prior to a special state Board of Education meeting this afternoon to discuss the Nicholas County situation, which went all the way to the state Supreme Court.
The board took no action at its afternoon meeting, just pledging to work with the Nicholas board and expressing a cooperative spirit with the conflict resolution team.
“I think it’s really important to trust the process,” Paine told state board members.
State School Superintendent, Dr. Steve Paine, discusses the Nicholas County school consolidation. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/9JvyZmxsxu
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) October 26, 2017
Last week, Paine and Nicholas County Superintendent Donna Burge-Tetrick stood together during a news conference, vowing cooperation.
Prior to that, Paine and Tetrick and their staffs had a private meeting to search for common ground.
“We put a lot of the issues on the table, and I think we’re really close to being able to move forward,” Paine said today on “Talkline.”
Despite what Paine described as a lot of agreement already, the parties decided to go ahead with the dispute resolution through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Paine said the dispute resolution specialists would be coming to West Virginia next week to speak with state board officials, Nicholas County officials and staff and community members.
“There’s really nothing binding about this process,” Paine said. “But it’s really stepping forward in good faith, entering the process, giving the process a chance to work and allowing for the process to come up with some solutions that hopefully can be agreed to.”
Paine characterized the lead resolution professional, Stacy Smith, as “extremely talented. You can tell this is not her first rodeo.” He said some unanswered questions about the school building possibilities have been sent ahead to Smith and her team.
He said he wished the state and local officials had worked more cooperatively early on.
“If we would have had the opportunity to sit down and discuss the project (earlier on) we would have been well-served to do that,” Paine said.
A deadline — already extended once — to draw down funding from FEMA is coming up again at the end of December. Paine said the governor has requested another extension but nothing has been guaranteed so far.
“They have not committed to extending the process but have told us if we all enter this process and it seems like we are making progress they will strongly consider an extension,” Paine said.
“I think the wise thing is let’s get into this dispute resolution process FEMA recommends.”
The state Board of Education and the local board have been at odds for months, all the way to the state Supreme Court, over a consolidation plan for Nicholas County.
The issue took shape after devastating floods struck Nicholas County two summers ago, destroying Richwood High and Middle and Summersville Middle schools.
After a series of public hearings, the Nicholas County board decided on its consolidation plan, opting to use an alternative form of Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to pool all flood-recovery money into one pool to rebuild schools.
The local school board voted to combine five schools — Richwood Middle and Summersville Middle Schools and Nicholas County and Richwood High Schools, along with the Career and Technical Education Facility — at one campus in the Summersville area.
The state board twice rejected that plan — expressing concern that local board members didn’t adequately listen to concerns from Richwood residents and that alternatives might exist.
In late August, Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom ruled in favor of the county board and ordered the state board to let consolidation go forward. He concluded that the state board had overstepped its own policies and regulations and was overly swayed by community sentiment.
Supreme Court justices reversed the circuit decision on Oct. 10, ruling in favor of the state board.
Meanwhile, students remain in portable classrooms and a deadline has been approaching on drawing down money to rebuild from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.