Second West Side School Get’s $8.8 Million in State Funding (WV)

April 27, 2010

Charleston students who attend J.E. Robins and Watts elementary schools will have a new school to call home, as the state School Building Authority agreed Monday to give $8.8 million to build a second new elementary school on Charleston’s West Side.

"It’s a good day for the kids on the West Side," said Chuck Wilson, facilities planner and lead school architect at Kanawha County Schools.

Working with state Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine, county school officials plan to build a "school of the future" at Cato Park. The school will blend online learning and other technology with traditional printed materials and textbooks, Kanawha Superintendent Ron Duerring said.

The school’s design and construction will actually be molded around the curriculum, said David Sneed, chief of architectural services for the SBA.

Paine said the school’s design would be ideal for students to get hands-on learning, critical thinking and communication skills, which state education officials call "21st-century skills."

No timetable was given for the school. The SBA approved money for another consolidated West Side school in April 2008, and that school is scheduled to open late this year.

Kanawha school board members plan to put up $1.77 million of the county’s money, and pay off $2 million from a zero-interest loan known as a qualified zone academy bond.   

Kanawha school officials and the city of Charleston still need to iron out federal issues tied to a land swap at Cato Park and the current Glenwood Elementary site. City Manager David Molgaard said the federal government might approve the exchange this fall.

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Because the city used federal money to build Cato Park, it must replace the land lost with the Glenwood site, which must be used for recreation. School officials plan to demolish the school to free up the space.

Still, Wilson met Friday with residents who live in the areas below Cato Park, including Garrison Avenue, Edgewood Drive and Valley Road, to talk to them about their flooding concerns and other issues.

School officials don’t want flooding to get worse in those areas, so Wilson said a huge underground vault or cistern would retain water at the Cato Park site. Ultimately, less water would drain off the site than it does now, he said.

"Bottom line is we’re not going to exacerbate the problem," said Kanawha school board member Pete Thaw.

Duerring felt nervous as the SBA deliberated during an unusually difficult and long meeting, as authority members reached one impasse after another while debating which projects would not get funded.

"I think we all were kind of sweating some bullets," he said.

SBA member Connie Perry questioned whether Kanawha County could be funded as a multi-year project and get a $500,000 "planning grant" this year. SBA staff and Mark Manchin, the authority’s executive director, said that would not work.   

Authority member Steve Burton of Wayne County held firm on his support for a new Fort Gay pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school in his home county. The project eventually received more than $15.8 million in SBA funding.

At first, state Superintendent of School s Steve Paine and other SBA members opposed the idea. However, Paine and SBA member Delores Cook changed their minds after Burton said the SBA’s credibility would be in question because it turned Wayne County’s projects down year after year. This time, Wayne officials crafted the Fort Gay school to the SBA’s specifications, Burton said.

Likewise, Paine wanted the SBA to approve $5.8 million for Mingo County to renovate Burch High School and convert it to a pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade facility. After much debate, Paine reluctantly agreed to move the project to the "B list," which means it could get funded if one or more bond issues fail.

Four counties — Preston, Marion, Gilmer and Hancock — are hoping to pass local bond issues. The SBA money those counties receive will depend on the success of their bonds.