West Virginia School Building Authority redoes vote over Nicholas school rebuilding

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — The threat of a lawsuit adds another round in the fight over how and where to rebuild flood damaged and destroyed schools in Richwood.

The West Virginia School Building Authority Monday unanimously redid a September vote over Nicholas County school rebuilding in hopes of heading off a threatened lawsuit over possible violations of the state open meetings law.

A lawyer acting for the Richwood High School Alumni Association and some parents raised concerns that SBA board members didn’t know exactly what they were voting on because some documents were not in play when they voted.

With the paper work in, the SBA took another vote approving a so called ” 428″ plan that allows the county to use Federal Emergency Management Administration money how it sees best in Richwood and at another location in Glade Creek.

“We’re ready to get these kids back in buildings, get them back to a sense of normalcy,” said Heather Glasgow Tully, who lives in Nicholas County. ”I understand that there are some that are not happy. I do not think that’s the vast majority of the county. I think when you look at everything we’ve been through as far as all of the public hearings, the mediation, this was the best mediated agreement that we could have come to as a group. Site selection is difficult in Richwood, and I don’t know that there would be a site that would suit everybody.”

Tully as five grandchildren in Nicholas County schools.

After court fights and mediation with the state school board that killed their original plan, the Nicholas board will now build one school in Richwood at Cherry River Elementary and expanded it to accommodate the middle and high school students whose buildings were destroyed in the June 2016 flood. It will be able to decide how much its spends at that site and another one closer to Summersville.

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