CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Particularly big changes are coming in just a couple of weeks for two longstanding Kanawha County middle schools set to close their doors for good.
Following a proposed plan from the Kanawha County Board of Education to close East Bank Middle School in the eastern part of the county and McKinley Middle School in St. Albans that was voted on last year due to declining enrollment and budgetary concerns, the staff and students at each of the schools prepare to permanently part ways on the last day of school before summer break on June 2.
East Bank Middle School Principal Mike Wilkinson said there’s some mixed feelings surrounding the permanent closure of the school.
“We’re excited about the things to come, of course the kids and adults are nervous about the changes to come, but we all have to understand that change is a part of life,” Wilkinson said.
McKinley Middle School Principal Amy Scott said they too are trying to look at the major change from a positive perspective.
“Certainly it’s sad because the school has been here for a long time and I’ve been here for a long time, but it is in the best interest of Kanawha County Schools and definitely in the best interest of the students, they will be able to have more academics and more opportunities as a combined school rather than two separate small schools,” Scott said.
East Bank Middle is set to consolidate with DuPont Middle School and McKinley with Hayes Middle School at the beginning of this coming school year.
Both principals say that their students have been able to stay informed of the transition throughout the course of this year and they know what’s to come, but they have tried to conduct business as usual up until that time, nonetheless.
Wilkinson said like at the end of every school year, they carried on with their tradition of holding special activities for the kids.
“They’re going on a field trip to Dollywood, they have their academic awards next week, and you know, all the testing and stuff that we’re doing right now,” said Wilkinson.
Scott said a special event they will hold before the closure is a community open house on Thursday, May 29 where the community will be invited in to do one last walk-through of the building.
She too said that otherwise, they have been carrying on like any other school year.
“We’ve been doing all of the normal things, we haven’t been saying goodbye all year, we’re saving that for the very end,” she said. “We’ve just been having a normal school year, we’ll have our normal end of the year events.”
However, both schools have been making visits to their new schools to further help get acclimated.
Wilkinson said East Bank students have visited DuPont Middle three times this year to help them get acclimated for next school year, and Scott said they have been joining Hayes Middle all year to do events together.
In addition, she said they were going to be holding one last big event with Hayes before the consolidation.
Scott said she thinks this is going to be a smooth transition.
“It is hard to say goodbye, but it is going to be a new adventure for everybody, and you know, change inspires growth.”
McKinley Middle was built in 1932 and held a couple of different names over the years, first as Stop 16 and then Carter Woodson Jr. High School.
East Bank Middle School opened in its current location along the Kanawha River in 1969. Prior to that, the school was located along Route 61 at Walnut Street that opened in 1912. The old building continued to be used for East Bank Junior High until 1999.