CHARLESTON, W.Va — Kanawha County School Superintendent Dr. Tom Williams is starting the conversation regarding consolidation of multiple schools in the county.
Due to population and financial concerns, Williams presented two middle school consolidations and four eastern Kanawha County elementary schools consolidating into one large school. The discussion Tuesday included East Bank Middle School consolidating with Dupont Middle School and McKinley Middle School in St. Albans consolidating with Hayes Middle School at the start of next school year.
The discussed plan for a new, large elementary school in the county would include the consolidation of Mary Ingles Elementary School, Malden Elementary School, Midland Trail Elementary School, and Belle Elementary School.
Williams says the topic of school consolidation is never easy to bring up.
“This is never a fun topic,” Williams said Tuesday. “I don’t wake up in the morning and decide who I can upset and make mad the most, but, as part of my job, I have to make sure that we have a balanced budget every year.
Williams says talking about consolidation and money aspects is needed, as the ability to educate students depends on it.
“With fewer schools, we can pull resources, reduce overhead costs, and allocate funds to essential areas such as student programming and teacher training,” Williams said. “I know it sounds like I’m discussing money, and I am discussing money because we are a business, and we won’t be able to educate any of our students if we don’t have a balanced budget.”
The plan for a big elementary school would put the potential building on the site of the old Dupont Junior High School. In order for the new school to be built, the School Building Authority (SBA) would have to provide funding to help the efforts. If the plan for consolidation moves forward and the SBA approves the funding, the elementary school would be built in 2028.
Williams says the property for the potential elementary school is owned by the county and good to build a new structure on, so he’ll soon contact the SBA.
“It’s relatively flat and we own that property, so we wouldn’t have to spend money on property,” Williams said. “I will submit an SBA project in September to the SBA and if we receive the funding, that would occur in December.”
A large reason for the discussion of consolidation, which Williams says has been talked about behind closed doors for two years now, is the projected population in the county and each school in future years. Williams says the birth rate and death rate play a big factor.
“The birth rate in Kanawha County and the death rate is almost inverted now,” Williams said. “New folks are not coming to the area. More folks are dying than are being born, and our population continues to decrease.”
Kanawha County Schools have recently consolidated other schools, as Marmet Elementary, Grandview Elementary, and Weimer Elementary all closed at the conclusion of the 2023-2024 academic year.
Each school will have its own hearing date where community members will have an opportunity to speak, and at the conclusion of each meeting, Kanawha County School board members will vote either for the consolidation or against it.
Williams said to board members that they have a responsibility at each upcoming hearing.
“My job as superintendent is to bring to you all a plan, and your job as the board is to vote the plan up or to vote the plan down. If the plan is voted down, we’ll go back to the drawing board and see what else we can come up with,” Williams said.
The hearing regarding the potential consolidation of East Bank Middle School into Dupont Middle School will take place on October 8 at Riverside High School. The hearing for McKinley Middle School consolidating with Hayes Middle School will be on October 9 at St. Albans High School.
As for elementary schools, the hearings will start with a meeting for Belle Elementary on October 15, followed by a hearing on October 17 for Mary Ingles Elementary. Malden Elementary and Midland Trail Elementary will have hearings the following week with Malden on October 21 and Midland Trail on October 22.
Williams says he thinks consolidation is the best route moving forward.
“At this point, I think this is the best plan that we have,” Williams said. “Like I said, I’ve been looking at it for about two years now, and our numbers just keep going down and down and down.”
All upcoming hearings for both middle school and elementary consolidations will take place at 6 p.m.