Riverside High School teacher Thomas Cooper moves computers from the classroom of fellow teacher Chalcie Parsons to his own room last week, in preparation for today’s first day of school in Kanawha County.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the clock ticked down to today’s openings for most schools in Kanawha County, school system employees were working overtime on regular maintenance projects, a process made more difficult this year as workers also made repairs to schools damaged in the late June floods.
Terry Hollandsworth, maintenance director for Kanawha schools, said his department has put on hold some projects that weren’t essential, like painting hallways and repairing some sidewalks.
“We focused on the things that were critical,” Hollandsworth said. “The niceties that we would have loved to do for the schools are kind of put on the back burner.”
Since late June, much of the school system’s attention has been focused on two flood-damaged schools, Bridge Elementary and Elkview Middle. School officials announced Saturday that those schools would open on Wednesday, two days later than the rest of the county…