CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Communities across Kanawha County are reacting to the proposed shutting down of six schools as part of a consolidation plan.
Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Tom Williams announced Tuesday that, due to student enrollment declining and financial factors, the county needed to consider moving forward with the proposal. The potential changes include consolidating East Bank Middle School with Dupont Middle School and McKinley Middle School with Hayes Middle School.
In addition, Williams says, if the School Building Authority (SBA) approves a loan, a new elementary school would be built at the site of the old Dupont High School, and Belle Elementary, Mary Ingles Elementary, Malden Elementary, and Midland Trail Elementary would close.
Williams says small schools have a place in his heart, but the county can’t continue to have them in its financial plan.
“I love the small schools, I think they’re wonderful, but we’re just not able to continue to operate like that any longer,” Williams said.
Williams said in the Tuesday Kanawha County Board of Education meeting that the county’s death rate is increasing, while the birth rate is decreasing, and the population decrease plays a big factor into this decision.
Williams says the consolidation of middle schools makes sense given the circumstances.
“We continue to lose students. We can no longer continue to operate the same number of facilities,” Williams said. “We would be able to move East Bank into Dupont with no cost to the county, and the same with McKinley into Hayes.”
St. Albans Mayor Scott James says he understands the reasoning behind the proposal, but there needs to be more discussion.
“There is going to be a lot of discussion here,” James said. “I understand the reasoning for consolidation, but I think there needs to be more than just one idea out there.”
James also says his city has seen a population decline once major plants shut down.
“Majorities of families worked at (Union) Carbide or FMC or Monsanto,” James said. “Once they started dying down, our population started going down.”
East Bank Middle School supporter Debbie Wright says everyone sees the decline in population, but these steps are not the answer.
“We all have to wake up to the reality, and we all have to recognize the declining population, but I think there’s a better way of going about it than just someone from outside the area making all of the decisions for that area,” Wright said.
James says communities are identified by the schools in their area.
“We’re not big cities and big towns,” James said. “They get their identification often from their schools that are within their neighborhood.”
No decision is final as of yet, as Kanawha County Schools will have a hearing for each school where community members can speak. After comments are taken, board members will then vote on whether they support the consolidation or not.
Wright says talks of these consolidations have been going on behind the scenes for quite some time, and making all final decisions during the initial hearings is not the right process.
“You had two years to look at this. You’re throwing it out here now at us, and then you’re going to take a vote that night,” Wright said. “I have a problem with the process.”
Wright also says the community should have been consulted earlier and more often.
“You could have smoothed the path,” Wright said. “When you are making the decision for people, bring those people in and let them be part of the process instead of feeling like it’s being shoved down their throats.”
The dates for each school hearing are as follows:
- Oct. 8: East Bank Middle School consolidation with Dupont Middle School
- Oct. 9: McKinley Middle School consolidation with Hayes Middle School
- Oct 15: Belle Elementary
- Oct. 17: Mary Ingles Elementary
- Oct. 21: Malden Elementary
- Oct. 22: Midland Trail Elementary