RICHWOOD, W.Va. — The June 23 flood has forced Richwood High School and Middle School to begin the school year in portables.
The Nicholas County Board of Education met Thursday night at a special public meeting to discuss contingency plans for the fast approaching school year.
“We are in no way capable of making a statement or a determination as to what we will be doing with our schools,” said Nicholas Superintendent Donna Burge-Tetrick. “The final assessment has not been completed yet. There’s going to be studies. We don’t even have a flood plain manager.”
Burge-Tetrick said the building of new schools remains a possibility, but the current buildings still could be salvaged.
“We are bringing portables in, but that’s not because we’re closing, it’s because we’re waiting for final assessment,” she said. “We don’t know if we are going to meet or exceed that 50 percent value on the school. It would be premature for us to try to go in and bring contractors in.”
The future of the schools is very much up in the air, said Burge-Tetrick.
“Once the final assessments have been made, there could be the possibility of getting new schools, or we may be able to repair the other schools. We made it very clear we have no final determination.”
Another Nicholas County School Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday in Summersville.