Bridge Elementary and Elkview Middle schools, each with extra students enrolled from flood-destroyed Clendenin Elementary and Herbert Hoover High, might never see the portable classrooms that Kanawha schools officials had planned to use.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked Kanawha County Schools last week to consider alternatives to portable classrooms because of how expensive it would be to use the units for such an extended time while replacement schools are built, according to Charles Wilson, the Kanawha County school system's executive director of facilities planning.
Wilson said the cost of using portables would top $12 million.
He added that no situation is being overlooked, including one scenario where the county would bus students to different schools until Clendenin and Hoover schools can be built.
Wilson said FEMA, the state's School Building Authority and the school system are committed to building new schools and that FEMA's request only relates to where students will go to school until new facilities can be built.
Originally, Kanawha Superintendent Ron Duerring said it would take between 30 and 40 days for portable classrooms to be brought to Bridge Elementary and up to 100 days for them to be brought to Elkview Middle.
"This is going to take considerably more time," Wilson said of finding and executing an alternative plan. "I don't have a timeline on that, currently. We've talked to the schools, and they know that it's going to take more time. We're looking at measures that might ease the current issues until FEMA and the state have approved alternative options, or decided to go with the bid [portable classroom] option."
FEMA has not said it won't pay for the portable classroom units, only that it wants the school system to consider other options that might be more cost-effective, according to Wilson.
"That's what you want from FEMA," said Ben Ashley, an assistant director of school planning and construction for the SBA. "You don't want them to write a blank check. You want something that is economically feasible and safe, something that can get us by for a while and not break the bank."
FEMA representatives did not respond to a request for comment for this report.
The portables project would have to be Americans With Disabilities Act accessible, have covered walkways to connect each unit and be hooked up to all of the needed utilities. Ashley likened that scenario to building an entirely new school that would be torn down when another new school would replace it just a few years later.
Through FEMA's public assistance program, the federal government covers at least 75 percent of the cost for eligible projects. In this case, the SBA would cover the rest of the cost. If the school system would go forward with the portable-classroom plan without first getting the promise that FEMA would pay its share, the county or the SBA could be on the hook for millions.
A message appeared Tuesday afternoon on Kanawha County Schools' Facebook page that tried to dismiss rumors that had been circling around on social media. Clendenin Mayor Gary Bledsoe said a group of upset parents had shown up at the Town Council's meeting Monday night with fears that a new Clendenin Elementary won't be built, or if it is, that it won't be built inside the town.
The post said no decision had yet been reached on the future site of any school. Several parents told Bledsoe they will start a petition to build a new school inside the town and that they plan to bring it to the school board's next meeting.
Reach Jake Jarvis at jake.jarvis@wvgazettemail.com, Facebook.com/newsroomjake, 304-348-7939 or follow @NewsroomJake on Twitter.