The Politics of School ‘Reconfiguration’

Some school officials in Wetzel County, West Virginia, have been conducting a masterclass in politics as they push to consolidate schools.

They won’t state their views on the subject explicitly, and they hide behind legal advice and ambiguous words like “reconfiguration.” But their vague statements and subtle actions suggest that they already have a preferred outcome in mind — merging Paden City High School with Magnolia High School and New Martinsville School.

Their goal was evident in a recommendation by new Superintendent Cassie Porter that the school board debated Aug. 14. Her proposal specified that exact merger possibility and no others.

On a procedural technicality, the board failed to authorize school administrators to research a plan to close, consolidate and/or merge one or more of the three schools in question. But because the board never took a formal vote on the idea, it could come up again.

The next scheduled board meeting is this evening at 6:30 p.m. Expecting a large crowd, the board moved the meeting location to the gymnasium at Magnolia. The Aug. 14 meeting featured an overflow crowd from Paden City, and a column by Chuck Clegg in last week’s Wetzel Chronicle encouraged everyone from the county to “come stand in the light with me” this time.

Reading between the lines
The prospect of a school closure is nothing new to Paden City residents. They fought the board’s last attempt to force the issue and won. That might help explain why some school officials seem a bit more cagey this time.

In 2012, the call to close PCHS was written into the 10-year Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan for everyone to see. It was an open declaration of war against a proud small town and school. Their citizens and alumni answered with an old-fashioned pep rally that pressured the school board into reversing course.

This go-around at PCHS looks more like a gotcha game more befitting for Congress than a county school board. Here’s how it has played out over the past several weeks:

The trial balloons
Rumblings of another attempt to close PCHS surfaced in the days before the school board met in a work session on July 7. By the end of the meeting, the cries of conspiracy against Paden City seemed overblown. The board openly discussed the idea of closing schools but not just one.

One proposal called for closing Magnolia, Paden City and Valley high schools, and reassigning all of their students to a new school building at an as-yet-undetermined location. The fourth high school in the county, Hundred, would get a facility upgrade. An alternative plan would close all four high schools and combine two each into two modern facilities. The new schools under either plan would have student bodies of grades ranging between sixth and 12^th.

Three board members voiced preferences for one option or the other, with a nod toward picking new school colors and a new mascot to help dispel existing school spirit. The other two didn’t express a specific preference but seemed open to the idea of consolidation. No one talked about combining Magnolia and Paden City, the idea that riles PCHS fans most.

The legal maneuvering
With that framework in mind, the board invited its attorney, Richard Boothby, to an Aug. 7 work session. He explained the legal differences between mergers and consolidations, the personnel and facility implications of each, and the detailed process the board would have to follow to pursue either approach.

The fastest route to reconfiguration is also the most complicated. The steps would include:

• Asking the state School Board Authority for money (if needed);

• Instructing the superintendent and county school staff, with guidance from the attorney, to gather information about the costs and impact of various ideas;

• Drafting an impact statement and presenting it to the state school superintendent, who would present it to the state school board if she agrees with the plan;

• Amending the Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan if necessary;

• Advertising public notices about the plan in local newspapers and posting it prominently in all county schools for at least three weeks;

• Conducting public hearings in every school that would be impacted by the plan; and

• Voting on the plan at the end of the last public hearing.

“Every little thing you need to do is in here,” Boothby said of the book he gave to board members at the work session. To make it happen in time for the 2024-25 school year, he said, the state school board would have to approve a plan by Dec. 31, 2023.

The easier route is to present a bond referendum to county voters. “If you consolidate and the voters approve it, you don’t have to do any of this,” Boothby said of the other approach. “... All you have to do is get it passed.” But bond issues can only be voted on during primary and general elections, which will be May 14 and Nov. 5 next year in West Virginia.

In response to a question from Board President Linda Fonner, Boothby advised board members not to talk to the public about their views on reconfiguration. “You raise the possibility of somebody who’s upset at the end of this process filing a lawsuit that says that you were biased and that it wasn’t really a fair process,” he said. “And that has happened.”

The bait and switch
Sometime between the July 7 work session and the Aug. 14 board meeting, the primary suggestion for reconfiguration changed without warning — or public discussion.

Porter drafted a recommendation that implied a merger of Magnolia and Paden City high schools with some grades from New Martinsville School, which encompasses pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. She didn’t mention either of the alternative consolidation ideas that board members discussed at the previous meeting.

Fonner insisted, as she had on July 7, that the vote on Porter’s recommendation “is not the vote that says, ‘We’re closing a school.’ ... I know a lot of people think it is. It is not.”

But even some board members were surprised by Porter’s recommendation. “We were all asked what we thought ... and I stand behind that,” said Christine Nice, who likes the idea of having two new high schools in the county. “Everyone heard it.”

“Of course that was before we heard [from Boothby] we’re not allowed to say anything,” Fonner said. But Nice persisted. “I would say it again up here. This isn’t what I said that I would support.”

Rob Christen, who voiced support for a consolidation of Magnolia, Paden City and Valley into a new building, referred back to the meeting with Boothby. “Is this step necessary?” he said of Porter’s recommendation. “Because my understanding was that it wasn’t.” Instead, the board could define the scope of a consolidation plan and put it to voters in a bond issue next year.

Jimmy Glasscock forcefully objected to Porter’s proposal, and Brian Castilow initially moved to decline the recommendation outright. Glasscock seconded that motion, but executive secretary JoBeth Simmons said the process required a vote on approval instead. When Castilow moved to approve it, no other board members seconded it. “The item dies,” Simmons said.

What’s next?
The board did approve a second, more generic recommendation from Porter that she “prepare and reduce to writing the data and reasons for reconfiguration of schools.” Only Glasscock voted against that recommendation. Presumably, the next step will be for Porter and her team to finish that document and present it to the county board for discussion.

The topic of school reconfiguration is not on the latest draft agenda for this evening’s meeting, but by moving it to Magnolia’s gym, the board clearly anticipates a lot of public input during the comments period. The second item on the agenda also is to discuss “Meeting Protocol,” an indication that atypical ground rules may be in the offing to forestall contentiousness.

The Paden City crowd was quite vocal at the Aug. 7 meeting, including a disruptive round of applause when Glasscock said, “We can also put a stop to this tonight, correct?” And with Clegg having used his forum in the Wetzel Chronicle to rally people beyond Paden City to speak at the meeting, the gym may end up sounding more like a raucous basketball rivalry between Paden City and Magnolia fans than a staid school board meeting.