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Richwood fighting FEMA school condemnations

BECKLEY, W.Va. — With the support of City Council, Richwood Mayor Bob Henry Baber is slated to publicly rescind a letter that condemned the town’s middle and high schools today on the steps of the State Capitol.

Baber said City Council, not the state or federal government, has all legal purview over the demolition of structures within Richwood’s boundaries. Earlier this year, the two schools were deemed unsafe for students by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after June’s flash flooding.

The city is not backing down from the fight to save their schools. He said Richwood had to fight after the flooding and will fight just as hard to save its schools.

“We are not afraid of FEMA, the West Virginia Board of Education and we’re certainly not afraid of the Nicholas County Board of Education,” he said

Richwood residents believe the county wants to demolish their schools and bus students more than 20 miles and half an hour away to consolidated schools in Summersville. Richwood leaders have asked a number of times for a meeting with the Nicholas County Schools Superintendent Donna Burge-Tetrick to explain what is happening with the school.

Town leaders said the Richwood Flood Response Team, the mayor and the Chamber of Commerce invited the superintendent to four meetings. The local Chat and Chew, an informal group of townspeople, offered her an invitation to explain what is the future of the school. Tetrick, all said, refused.

Mary Jane Williams, the head of the Richwood Chamber of Commerce, said, “When you don’t communicate with people, that is how rumors get started. Rumors spread faster that facts.”

A number of messages left for Tetrick by The Register-Herald went unanswered over the past two weeks.

Residents of Richwood aren’t the only ones seeking answers to what is next. Employees at the high school received an email this month from Scott Williams, the school’s principal, reading staff had less than a week to pack up their classroom and belongings.

“We still do not have an exact location for storage of our stuff…,” part of the email read. Four days later, staff received another email from Williams, reading in part, “We have been informed that we have until Friday 11/18/16 to get all of our belongings out of the high school before we lose access to the building permanently. I am waiting to hear from [school officials] as to where we are going to store our items. ”

Baber and others said the Nicholas County Board of Education is rushing a decision to tear the structures down, pointing to the emails as evidence.

He explained the public protest is to “hit the pause button” on the town’s schools being torn down. “We are not doing this to put students in harm’s way,” he said Monday afternoon.

Baber asked why local, state and federal officials would want to tear down the high school after the completion of a new gym, theater and kitchen area. The schools, he and other city officials said, are the cornerstone of the community of about 2,000.

Some in the community are asking why the schools need to be consolidated. Recently a PowerPoint presentation completed by Stu Matthis, a Charlotte, N.C., engineer who attended Richwood High, said from an engineering standpoint, the property of Collins Hardwood in Richwood was the best site for a new school.

The site was utterly without risk and is not in a floodplain. It’s already flat, close to utilities and has perfect access. And it’s yards from the old school, the study found. Additionally, the site will save money because the acreage from torn-down schools can be used for ball fields and parking, the presentation stated.

The town is waiting is still waiting for an answer.

See more from The Register-Herald. 

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