Nuttall Middle, a Fayette County school mired in controversy over bus travel times, old facilities, maintenance problems and the benefits and drawbacks of community schools, will reopen to students just weeks after it closed its doors.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Nuttall Middle, a Fayette County school mired in controversy over bus travel times, old facilities, maintenance problems and the benefits and drawbacks of community schools, will reopen to students just weeks after it closed its doors.
In an 8-1 vote Thursday, state Board of Education members signed off on the Fayette school board's 3-2 vote in July to reopen Nuttall. State board member Lowell Johnson opposed.
Leon Ivey, who won election to the Fayette school board in July, cast the deciding swing vote last month to reopen the school. Ivey replaced board President Peggy Farmer, who lost re-election May 13.
On Thursday, Ivey and fellow Fayette board members Leon Newman and David Arritt encouraged state board members to allow them to reopen Nuttall.
State board President Delores Cook and member Priscilla Haden said they voted to reopen Nuttall Middle School because of a pre-cedent to support local school board decisions unless there is a compelling need to override them.
"I believe that we should honor the decision they made," Haden said.
Bill Elswick, director of the Office of School Facilities for the state Department of Education, told the state school board members Thursday that Nuttall is not handicap accessible, it costs money to heat, and it has too few students for its size.
"There are no pristine schools in Fayette County," Elswick added of the county's maintenance and custodial problems.
Johnson, who had opposed a state board vote in March to close Nuttall, reversed his position Thursday.
"Opening Nuttall a couple weeks before school starts is going to be a personnel nightmare," Johnson said.
Fayette Superintendent Chris Perkins expects about eight job vacancies at a school in Ansted, Divide Elementary and elsewhere. Perkins has said that Nuttall students might start the year with several substitute teachers.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Nuttall Middle, a Fayette County school mired in controversy over bus travel times, old facilities, maintenance problems and the benefits and drawbacks of community schools, will reopen to students just weeks after it closed its doors.
In an 8-1 vote Thursday, state Board of Education members signed off on the Fayette school board's 3-2 vote in July to reopen Nuttall. State board member Lowell Johnson opposed.
Leon Ivey, who won election to the Fayette school board in July, cast the deciding swing vote last month to reopen the school. Ivey replaced board President Peggy Farmer, who lost re-election May 13.
On Thursday, Ivey and fellow Fayette board members Leon Newman and David Arritt encouraged state board members to allow them to reopen Nuttall.
State board President Delores Cook and member Priscilla Haden said they voted to reopen Nuttall Middle School because of a pre-cedent to support local school board decisions unless there is a compelling need to override them.
"I believe that we should honor the decision they made," Haden said.
Bill Elswick, director of the Office of School Facilities for the state Department of Education, told the state school board members Thursday that Nuttall is not handicap accessible, it costs money to heat, and it has too few students for its size.
"There are no pristine schools in Fayette County," Elswick added of the county's maintenance and custodial problems.
Johnson, who had opposed a state board vote in March to close Nuttall, reversed his position Thursday.
"Opening Nuttall a couple weeks before school starts is going to be a personnel nightmare," Johnson said.
Fayette Superintendent Chris Perkins expects about eight job vacancies at a school in Ansted, Divide Elementary and elsewhere. Perkins has said that Nuttall students might start the year with several substitute teachers.
"Either way, there will be issues with staffing," Perkins said before board members voted Thursday. "Day One, I'll do the very best that I can."
Newman and Ivey said the school board would work to address the many facility and financial problems in Fayette County, and eventually close schools.
"We need time to make changes," Newman said. "Rome wasn't built overnight, but it was built."
Fayette County officials have found it difficult to maintain 23 schools in a county with a student population that calls for fewer.
Haden and Cook said they intend to hold Fayette board members to their pledge.
"I fully expect them to carry out all those promises," Haden said.
Also Wednesday and Thursday:
State board members unanimously agreed to allow Mercer County school board members to continue with a plan to build Pikeview Middle School, which would consolidate sixth- through eighth-grade students from schools in Spanishburg, Athens, Oakvale and Lashmeet/Matoaka and open in 2011.
Mercer school board member Lynne White opposed the decision. She has disputed bus-ride travel figures provided by Mercer Superintendent Deborah Akers, and the anticipated fuel costs for added runs.
DuPont Middle School in Kanawha County, George Washington Middle in Putnam County and Meadow Bridge Elementary in Fayette County were honored at an evening banquet in Charleston as West Virginia Schools of Excellence.
Reach Davin White at davinwh...@wvgazette.com">davinwh...@wvgazette.com or 348-1254.
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