CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state School Building Authority has approved a $3.5 million funding request from Nicholas County Schools to help pay for the construction of new schools following the June 2016 flood.
The SBA during a special meeting Monday morning also approved $882,625 be returned to the SBA from Upshur County Schools regarding the Tennerton Elementary School renovation project.
SBA Executive Director Andy Neptune told MetroNews the additional costs allocated to Nicholas County were incurred as a result of the change in scope of work for the Glade Creek project site. He said it’s been long process to get the project fully funded.
“The different steps that have been involved as far as the funding and as far as working with the architectural firms and things like that. There was a little more cost occurrence that was going on in the transition and the decision making with that,” Neptune explained.
The Nicholas County Board of Education voted last year to consolidate Summersville Elementary and Glade Creek Elementary. Those two schools will be at the new Glade Creek site with Summersville Middle School.
The new facility planned for Glade Creek will have some similarities with the building previously that was destroyed in the 2016 flood. The goal is to have students in the new building by fall 2025.
As a result of the state Board of Education takeover of Upshur County Schools and the failure of the county’s recent excess levy, Neptune said Upshur County Schools Superintendent Christy Miller wanted to rescind MIP Grant that was originally awarded to her district
“She was concerned that if the levy wouldn’t passed that they would not be able to have the funds that we awarded in FY 2022 in an MIP Grant for additions that were going on at Tennerton Elementary School, so she requested that she be able to return those funds,” he said.
The state Department of Education voted to seize control of Upshur County Schools in June 2023 after it was revealed that the school system used part of their $16.1 million in pandemic relief money on things like pool passes and bed and breakfast retreats.