SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — Nicholas County has a problem.
The seventh anniversary of the devastating June 2016 flood is less than three weeks away and the county has yet to rebuild any of the schools wiped out by the high water.
The problem now is money.
Construction is underway on what will turn out to be the new Richwood High/Middle School. It’s being built at Cherry River Elementary in Richwood. It’s a $42.5 million project that had to reduced in scope because of delays caused by the pandemic followed by inflationary costs.
There’s been no ground broken on the Glade Creek project which will be the site of a new Summersville Middle School, Nicholas County High School and a technical education center. Only one bid was submitted for the project last month it was at $148 million about $51 million more than the county has left in federal and state funds. A meeting Friday between Nicholas County officials, the governor’s office and the the state School Building Authority revealed the shortfall is actually $72 million.
Because Nicholas County was part of a federal disaster declaration following the 2016 flood, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, agreed to pay 90% of replacement costs. FEMA awarded $180 million in 2018 for a new Richwood High School and Summersville Middle School. The Nicholas County Board of Education in office at the time chose Section 428 for its FEMA funding which allowed the county to consolidate schools but alleviates FEMA of any cost overruns. Thus the problem.
As a result of Friday’s meeting, state and county officials hope to meet with FEMA soon to ask if Nicholas County can change the scope of the Glade Spring project.
In need of healing
There’ll be a new school superintendent leading Nicholas County into the next phase. The school board hired Nicholas County native, current Pocahontas County School superintendent, Terrence Beam last week. He has a two-year contract beginning July 1.
Nicholas County Board of Education President Chip Perrine tells MetroNews once the board learned that Superintendent Donna Burge-Tetrick intended to leave the system, Beam seemed to be the logical choice.
“I think it’s very important for us to bring somebody in who can maybe heal the county. We’ve had a lot of issues with people bickering, arguing back and forth about certain things and whether they’re right or wrong it’s time to put all of this aside and try get these schools built,” Perrine said.
Beam is a Richwood High graduate. He was a school principal in the Nicholas County school system for 32 years before retiring in 2007. He came out of retirement to take a principal’s job in Pocahontas County and was later named school superintendent.
Beam was Perrine’s principal at Panther Creek Elementary when Perrine worked there.
“Bringing somebody back to the county that was a lifelong resident here and well-respected, hopefully that will help the healing process,” Perrine said.
Finishing schools the top priority
Perrine said Nicholas County Schools has a good administration and that will enable Beam to delegate some regular superintendent duties so he can devote more time to finishing the school projects.
“Our biggest concern was getting these schools up and under construction. He will have to delegate some things to other people and we may have to hire somebody down the road to help him out, we’ll see how it goes,” Perrine said.
Perrine is also concerned about the life of the portable buildings that students have been using since the fall of 2016 in the areas where schools were destroyed.
“They say they’re good for about 10 years and we’re into it now about seven years. We really, really have to get something going,” Perrine said.
No finger pointing
Burge-Tetrick will work in Nicholas County until July 1. It’s then on to the Braxton County school system where she was recently hired. Perrine said a lot of people want to blame her for the struggles but he’s not one of them.
“She took office right after the flood. She’s had to deal with covid. She’s had to deal with all of this inflation and she’s had to deal with two teachers strikes. That’s quite a bit for one person to handle,” Perrine said. “Some people blame certain things, I’m not going to blame anything particular. It’s just time to get past the bickering and arguing and get some schools built.”