A Randolph County elementary school that earlier this month was placed on a list of endangered historic properties will close within a year, after the county's school board voted to shutter it and another structurally failing elementary school.
Homestead Elementary School, the last surviving New Deal-era community school still in operation in the country, will close within the year after the Randolph County Board of Education voted Tuesday to close it and Valley Head Elementary School following a second failed school levy in the last seven months.
Suzanne Cain, Homestead's principal, said the elementary school has been experiencing structural problems. In January, the school's roof started leaking, damaging carpet, books, ceiling tile and computers and forcing the school to move its computer lab and its preschool area.
The two rooms have since been repaired, but discussions of installing a new pitched roof in that portion of the building stalled after a school levy failed to garner enough votes in the county's primary election; on Tuesday, the board of education voted to move forward with closing proceedings for both Homestead and Valley Head Elementary School, and both are expected to be closed in nine to 12 months, Cain said.
"We still have the old wiring, the plumbing, and so we need new plumbing and new electrical work completed, and of course our utilities cost more. A few years ago, when our five-year levy began, it was estimated it would take $3 million or $4 million to upgrade," she said. "Structurally, they've failed the building. We have problems with heating, and we have no air conditioning, things can go wrong with plumbing, and if that were to happen, Randolph County does not have money in the budget to improve any of that."
Homestead Elementary, located in Dailey, has roughly 120 students and 20 staff members, Cain said. The school was built in 1939 as part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal programs.
Once the school closes - likely at the end of the 2016-2017 school year - most of its students will attend either Beverly Elementary School or George Ward Elementary School in Mill Creek. Fifth grade students will likely become part of Tygarts Valley Middle School, which currently shares a campus and connecting hallway with Tygarts Valley High School.
According to Cain, students at Homestead won't have to travel much farther to attend either George Ward or Beverly, but those at Valley Head will have to travel more than 15 miles to attend the next closest elementary school, George Ward.
"For us, traveling isn't going to make a difference, but for Valley Head students who will go to George Ward, they will have farther to travel," Cain said.
Cain said that after being placed on the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia's Endangered Properties List this year, many had hoped that the school would be able to apply for grants to help improve it, but the move to close the school would make it difficult for Homestead to qualify for grants. According to Cain, Beverly and George Ward will probably be able to absorb most of the students without adding many new staff members, which will likely put several of the teachers and staff at both schools out of work.
"We will be out of a job at the end of next year," Cain said. "There is a policy - I'm not too sure about it, but I believe it says we will be ... given top priority to apply for jobs that may come open through transfers and things like that. Otherwise we're out of luck unless we go to another county. I personally have more than 30 years of experience in this county; I'm not sure how experience will factor in, but we are concerned."
Reach Lydia Nuzum
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