SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — The Nicholas County Board of Education voted on submitting three different proposals to the School Board Authority regarding potential developments to their Glade Creek project.
The board met Wednesday afternoon in Summersville, pushing back their regularly scheduled meeting intended for Monday.
Nicholas County School Board President Chip Perrine said the proposals will be in the hands of SBA officials Thursday, July 6, submitted by the boards attorney. Perrine said the hope is that FEMA will then get the proposals from the SBA sometime by the end of the week. He expects FEMA to take around two to three weeks to consider each proposal before getting back with them, pending the SBA would send the proposals through.
“We had three proposals that we voted on to send to SBA to then send to FEMA,” Perrine said Wednesday following the meeting.
Officials from Nicholas County and FEMA met a few times in June. The board found out last month that they were $72 million short of the budget needed to go forth with the project for their damaged schools.
The board was suggested by FEMA to come up with different proposals to submit to the SBA on how to get the projects going and ultimately finished after FEMA told them they weren’t going to provide any more money. The school board had to alter their original project plan.
So, Perrine said they “went back to the drawing board” and came up with their three separate proposals for the SBA’s consideration.
Proposal 1: Build a new middle school and make renovations to Nicholas County High School and to the Career and Technical Center in Craigsville.
Proposal 2: Construct a Pre-K–8 building to include Summersville, Glade Creek, and Birch River Elementary schools. This plan includes two separate buildings, one for pre-K through 5th grade, and another for 6th through 8th grade.
Proposal 3: Reconfigure the Nicholas County High School building for Summersville Elementary, and then construct a new building for the high school and Summersville Middle School. The Career and Technical Center would also stay in Craigsville.
The building designated for 6th through 8th grade students is already under construction and was in the original plan that the board had.
“I mean those kids have been in pods for seven years,” said Perrine. “We didn’t want to hold up the construction while we were waiting on the closure hearings.”
Perrine said it usually takes around three months for closure hearings to take place for a school.
It’s still possible the SBA doesn’t accept any of the proposals from the school board. Perrine added that they do not have a scheduled date or time for their next meeting with FEMA officials, but does know it will most likely be by the end of July.