Normantown Elementary - A small, close-knit, community school
By Bob Weaver
The state School Building Authority has approved 13 school construction projects for nearly $70 million.
Gilmer County's Normantown School received a $100,000 SBA emergency grant for additional temporary modular housing for students, denying a grant request for $617,000.
Normantown students have been re-located outside the main building because of a mold problem, with modular units already being utilized.
Modular units allow Normantown students
to remain at community school
Gilmer County had requested $617,000 for the main Normantown building to remedy problems, including the replacement of flooring, taking care of the mold problem and repairs to the main floor.
Misty Pritt, a spokesperson for Normantown School, said there was a conflict between the State Fire Marshal's office and architects Williamson and Shiver over a "letter of occupancy," which would essentially guarantee that children could return safely to the main building.
"The fire marshal was not satisfied with approval statements made by the architects," Pritt said.
Pritt said an application for the construction of a new Normantown School would likely be entered during the next grant cycle.
The SBA has approved a new comprehensive high school for Mingo County, which will receive nearly $16.4 million over several years.
That project requires a number of county schools to be closed, with students facing long bus rides to the consolidated school which will be located on a strip site in a remote area where the King Coal Highway will eventually be built.
The board approved $10 million for a new elementary school in Berkeley County, $8.5 million for a new elementary school on Charleston's West Side and three projects in the $6 million range. A new elementary school in Jefferson County ($6.4 million), a PK-8 school in the community of Harts in Lincoln County ($6.3 million), and a new Pikeview Middle School in Mercer County ($6.2 million).
Forty-one counties had sought funding from the SBA for a total of $256 million.
"There's a lot of need out there around the state of West Virginia and we're just trying to determine which has greater need. It's a very difficult process," SBA Director Manchin said.
Other counties to receive funding out of the $70 million included Barbour, Boone, Cabell, Ohio, Putnam, Raleigh and Randolph.
The School Building Authority decided to fund projects in Braxton, Additions and renovations at six (6) elementary schools at $3,900,000, pending on the passage of a local bond.
Other projects funded, Greenbrier, Marion, Mineral and Preston counties, if local bond issues are approved.
The authority also agreed Monday to fund $3.7 million in emergency projects for schools in Barbour, Gilmer, Ritchie and Wetzel counties.
The Ritchie County Middle-High School piping and HVAC project is for $1,648,353.
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