CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There was some confusion created by the Tuesday afternoon flood report released by the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
The report said two schools in Kanawha County (Herbert Hoover High School and Clendenin Elementary School) and one school in Clay County (H.E. White Elementary) would not be ready to open in the fall because of flood damage.
The report generated a message on the Kanawha County Schools’ Twitter feed.
“This is Not the position held by Kanawha County Schools at this time. Clean-up continues at Herbert Hoover High School and Clendenin Elementary. Our goal is to try to have school opened as scheduled on August 8th, 2016. Contingency plans will be in place if the clean-up takes longer than expected,” the message said.
The state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management then sent out a clarification/correction apologizing for the confusion.
“DHSEM defers to county education officials regarding the status of these schools. From the perspective of the State Department of Education, assessments of these facilities is ongoing and no decisions have been made regarding their ability to open on time in the fall,” the office said.
Herbert Hoover Principal Mike Kelly told MetroNews last week even though it may not be possible to start school on time at his school, students, teachers and staff will be together somewhere.
“Hoover will reopen, and we’re going to be back stronger than ever,” Kelly vowed. “We may or may not be able to do that in early August, or we might be a few weeks or a month behind getting back in this building. But our kids are going to go to school together in this community.”