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Waverly Elementary to close at end of school year

By Michael Erb 3 min read

PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Board of Education has voted to close Waverly Elementary School at the end of the 2019-20 school year.

The Wood County Board of Education voted 4-1 Wednesday at Jefferson Elementary Center to approve the closure and consolidation of Waverly Elementary. Waverly will be combined with Williamstown Elementary School when the new Williamstown-Waverly Elementary School opens in the fall of 2020.

Board member Debbie Hendershot was the lone vote against the closure.

Prior to the vote, board president Rick Olcott and member Justin Raber commented on the closure.

"We can empathize with a lot of what the Waverly people are going through," Olcott said, but added the new Williamstown-Waverly school will be a boon for students from both communities. Olcott said consolidating those schools was part of a voter-approved bond and is a fiscally responsible course of action.

"Part of the platform when I ran (for school board) was to make a promise to look over this county as best I could and do my best to uphold what the citizens of Wood County as a whole have voted for," he said.

Officials this month already approved the closure of McKinley and Worthington elementary schools following a week of public hearings at affected schools. Officials say the district, which operates 27 schools as well as a technical school and several other facilities, has seen its enrollment drop by 2,500 students since 2001.

Officials say the district will eat into its savings this school year to fund its normal operations and predict the school system could run out of savings within 16 months if no changes are made.

"We face a financial cliff and we can no longer delay," Raber said.

Raber also rejected arguments that closing Waverly would cost the school system federal Title I funding which goes to schools with high-poverty student populations. Raber said this year Waverly and two other schools received Title I funding even though they fell below the qualifying threshold of 55 percent or higher of student population receiving free or reduced-price meals. Officials have previously said closing a Title I school does not eliminate those federal funds, which are distributed from a central pool.

"This year, Waverly received $106,000 that should have gone directly to nine other Title I schools," Raber said.

The closure plan will go before the West Virginia Board of Education in mid-November.

Board members Ron Tice and Rick Tennant declined to comment prior to Wednesday's vote. Hendershot thanked the Waverly community for their efforts and dedication to their school.

"I've never seen such love and compassion in a community, and that's all I have to say," Hendershot said.

Wednesday's meeting, which was held at 3:30 p.m., was a continuation of the district's Oct. 3 closure hearing. An error in the closure documents for Waverly caused officials to extend the written-comment period from Oct. 2 to Oct. 22.

Fred Clark, a businessman who has been an outspoken supporter of Waverly Elementary, said he believes Wednesday's vote was improper because Olcott used the word "adjourned" at the Sept. 30 Waverly hearing.

"This supposed continuance of the closure hearing is not proper," Clark said. "They didn't make (the continuance) clear until three days later, on Oct. 3. The vote should have been taken on Oct. 3."

Clark said he hopes the state Board of Education, with the help of Gov. Jim Justice, will reject the board's proposed plan when it comes before the state board in November.

"If not, we have other options," Clark said.

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