CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Work on portable classrooms for Herbert Hoover High School is wrapping up as schools across Kanawha County are preparing to end classes for the school year.
Herbert Hoover High School students, faculty and staff have shared Elkview Middle School on a split schedule during the 2016-2017 school year, with courses being held in the afternoon. The Hoover institution was destroyed in the June 2016 flood.
According to Chuck Wilson, executive director of facility planning for Kanawha County Schools, portable vendors told them the classrooms could have been ready within 60 days based on their experience in similar situations.
“We were going on what they were telling us, and they were wrong,” he said.
Wilson said the 84 modules have been set, and crews are working on preparing the units by installing utilities, internet and equipment.
“There’s a number of items the teachers and the staff have identified we need,” he said. “They’ve had some grants for some equipment, so we’ll have to install that.”
Wilson said the classrooms have to act like a full high school, with some units being designated as sites for office space, clinics and even a wood shop.
“Some classrooms are three modules,” he noted.
Wilson said another part of the project will be adding fencing around the portables and the classroom area; the units are “eight feet in places,” according to Wilson, thus chain link fencing is being installed at the base of the trailers to protect students from crawling under and getting tangled in water pipes and wires.
“We also want to have a secure campus, so we’ll be setting up fencing to separate public spaces from school space,” Wilson said.
Wilson added the process for building a new high school involves “a lot of red tape,” but the school system is planning on moving forward on designing a new building following meetings with federal and state government officials.
Contracts for designers will be brought to the Kanawha County Board of Education “just as soon as possible,” Wilson said.
The final day of school for Kanawha County Schools is Wednesday.