SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — A sigh of relief by many in Nicholas County with the county school board’s decision on what it will do with the rest of the federal money it has to rebuild schools following the June 2016 flood.
The board voted 5-0 in a special meeting Thursday morning to build a new PreK-8 complex at Glade Creek that will replace the flooded Summersville Middle School and the aging Summersville Elementary School.
Nicholas County BOE President Chip Perrine told MetroNews a load has been lifted.
“It’s been seven years and folks are getting very impatient. We want to move on,” Perrine said.
Nicholas County had originally planned to build a new middle school, a new Nicholas County High School, at a new career and technical education center all at Glade Creek but because of covid and inflation the county didn’t’ have enough money to do that project.
The board has worked with FEMA is recent months to represent its projects and decided on the PreK-8 complex.
“We looked at what we really needed not what we wanted,” Perrine said.
The middle school part of the complex will replace Summersville Middle School. The new elementary school will replace at least Summersville Elementary and maybe two more existing elementary schools. That decision will be made Monday, according to Perrine.
“Our local grade school, Summersville Elementary, is in bad shape. It’s the worst building we have in the county,” Perrine said.
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.
When inflation impact bids will opened for the new Richwood school and projections for he original Glade Creek plans the county was about $72 million short.
Perrine said now they’ll have enough money to do the new choice for Glade Creek. He said if there’s money left through make some improvements a the existing Nicholas County High School and the county’s technical education center at Craigsville.
Perrine said not everybody is happy with the decision made Thursday.
“You’re never going to make everybody happy but the majority of the folks, I’m going to say 75 to 80 percent of the folks, just want the school built and to move on,” Perrine said.
The Glade Creek site has already been prepped. Perrine is hopeful construction can begin at some point next spring. He said there will actually be two schools in one complex. He said there will be separate administrations and only a few shared areas.
“They’re telling us it will take 18 months to complete it,” Perrine said.
Meanwhile construction continues on the $42.5 million Richwood High School being built on the Cherry River Elementary School property.