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PARKERSBURG -- Residents and supporters have renewed their call for Waverly Elementary School to remain open, saying consolidation of the school was not included in Wood County Schools' facilities bond and is not needed.
Seven members of the public addressed the Wood County Board of Education on Tuesday, asking members to vote against closing and consolidating the school when a new Williamstown-area elementary is opened.
Earlier this month, voters approved a $41 million bond issue which will be used in part to build a new elementary in Williamstown. When the school opens in three years, the current Williamstown Elementary and Waverly Elementary schools will close and consolidate. The bond also allows for the expansion of Williamstown High School to accommodate sixth-grade students from both schools, making WHS a true middle/high school.
The West Virginia Board of Education is requiring the Wood County school board to hold a hearing at Waverly Elementary concerning the closing of the school. State officials said the wording of the bond caused confusion over whether the closure was required, and Waverly residents and supporters have said their school does not need to close and is being unfairly targeted by Wood County Schools officials.
Fred Clark, a Charleston-based businessman who owns property in Wood County and has grandchildren who attend Waverly Elementary, renewed calls for the board to reconsider closing the school. Clark said closing the school was never a requirement of the state School Building Authority in receiving a possible $10 million in state money for construction, and said the bond does not require the school to be closed.
"To close Waverly now is not only wrong but premature, and I believe our taxpayers deserve better," he said. "I'm asking the board to reconsider closing Waverly."
Assistant Superintendent Mike Fling, who oversees facilities for Wood County Schools and has been lead administrator on the bond, said language closing Waverly was accidentally omitted from the bond, but officials maintain consolidating the school has always been a part of the plan.
"It was a clerical error," Fling said. "When the issue was discovered, early voting had already started. Our only option would have been to add an amendment and notify by mail all of the people who'd already voted on the bond. We felt that was just too difficult for everyone."
Fling said the bond does specify closing the existing Williamstown Elementary and refers to the new school as "Williamstown Waverly Elementary." Fling also said the district held public meetings for almost a year concerning the bond, and consolidating the two elementary schools was always listed as a top priority.
"The intent of the bond call was clear when it said students will attend the new Williamstown Waverly Elementary School," Fling said.
Earlier this month the state Board of Education and state School Building Authority both approved an amendment to the district's Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan which specified closing and consolidating Williamstown and Waverly elementary schools when the new elementary school opens.
Fling said the district will schedule a school closing hearing to give members of the community a chance to voice their concerns, and the school board will take an official vote on the consolidation. The hearing has not yet been scheduled. Work on the new elementary school will begin in 2017.
Cassandra Aliff, a mother of two children who attend Waverly, said Tuesday the smaller class sizes have been a boon to her sons, one of whom has struggled in the past but is now thriving academically.
"I feel like in a larger school that attention is not going to be given to him," she said. "This is really close to our hearts. The school is very important to us, it's a big part of our community. I would really like you to reconsider closing the school. We love our school and would like for you to reconsider."
Several of the speakers at Tuesday's meeting also questioned travel times for students, saying they would be kept on buses too long which would be detrimental to their physical and emotional health. District officials have said bus routes for the new school will not be completed until closer to the opening of the school.
Jayme Fife, who lives in Williamstown but sends her children to Waverly Elementary, said closing the school would be a serious blow to Waverly and the eastern part of Wood County.
"This is about destroying a little bit of a community," she said. "They take care of that school. They deserve to keep it open.
"You have a beautiful school in Waverly. You have a community that loves it. They deserve to have their school."
Fling said while he is sympathetic to the love parents and residents have for the school, the numbers do not support keeping open a too-small building with dwindling enrollment when a new school is being built nearby.
"I understand their frustration. No one wants to see a school close," he said. "We intend to follow the plan that we laid out, that we've been laying out for months now."