‘Every Job Is New’ in Consolidation

This is the sixth article in a series about school consolidation in Wetzel County. The articles cover topics discussed in two impact statements approved by the school board Oct. 14.

Every employee in Wetzel County’s four high schools would be offered jobs under proposed consolidation plans, but seniority and other factors could determine where they end up working and what specific jobs they get.

“In a consolidation situation, every job is new,” attorney Richard Boothby advised school officials at a 2023 board meeting. “... All jobs in a consolidation are posted. Anyone at a closed school can get a preference vote for a job at the new school.”

The pending consolidation plan calls for creating two new high schools out of the existing four. Paden City and Hundred high schools would be closed, and their student bodies would be merged into the buildings currently occupied by Magnolia and Valley high schools. Those schools would be renamed and get new school colors and mascots. The seventh- and eighth-graders from PCHS would go to New Martinsville School.

Two impact statements about these consolidations discuss the anticipated personnel changes. The central message in both documents is that “all positions will be retained.”

“There will be no net change in professional or service personnel due to the closure and consolidation,” one statement said. “This stability means that the valuable experience and dedication of the current staff will continue to benefit students, providing a seamless transition and maintaining high educational standards.”

The current breakdown of positions at the five affected high schools includes:

• New Martinsville School: 81 teachers, 36 aides, one administrator, 1 ½ counselors, one nurse, five custodians, two secretaries and one cook

• Magnolia: 31 teachers, nine aides, three administrators, two counselors, two nurses, eight custodians, three secretaries and 11 cooks

• Paden City: 18 teachers, one aide, one administrator, one counselor, one nurse, two custodians, one secretary and one cook

• Valley: 18 teachers, four aides, one administrator, one counselor, one nurse, three custodians, one secretary and no cooks

• Hundred: 13 teachers, one aide, ½ administrator, one counselor, one nurse, two custodians, one secretary and no cooks

One of the key arguments for consolidation is that it would pool the current resources into fewer schools, thus increasing the curriculum options for students and easing the workload on teachers.

“A larger teaching staff would allow teachers to have less preps and offer more classes than the separate faculties currently can,” according to the impact statement for the PCHS-Magnolia merger. “This will also lessen the need for virtual teachers.”

The statement about Hundred and Valley added that “a bright spot would be combining the two already strong but uniquely different agricultural programs at each school.”

Superintendent Cassandra Porter said at an Aug. 30 meeting that the county could afford to keep all full-time employees, especially credentialed teachers. “We will stay true to that, and we will keep everyone,” she said.

But one potential sticking point is that PCHS includes seventh- and eighth-graders. They would go to New Martinsville School under the consolidation plan, but the impact statement does not call for sending any seventh- and eighth-grade teachers from PCHS to New Martinsville School. Instead, they would be reassigned to the new high school meeting in Magnolia’s building.

Another factor is the preference votes that Boothby mentioned back in 2023. School officials haven’t commented on that aspect of consolidation publicly, but the impact statements vaguely acknowledge that “Wetzel County Schools will follow [reduction-in-force] and transfer code.”

State law requires that a county school board let classroom teachers and service personnel who will be impacted by consolidations vote on whether to prioritize seniority when filling positions at newly created schools.

“The people who get a preference, we have to look at them first,” Boothby said.

He provided sample ballots that Wetzel County Schools could adapt for distribution to faculty senates and service personnel supervisors. In an attempt to avoid controversy, he also shared multiple complaints that school employees in West Virginia have filed with the state’s Public Employees Grievance Board because of consolidations.

Those documents are attached below.

Read our previous articles in this series:

• Wetzel County Defends School Consolidation Plans

• The Wheels on the Bus Keep Rollin’

• Fewer Students, More Merger Talk

• New Schools in Old Buildings

• Money Doesn’t Talk in These Mergers