WOOD COUNTY, W.Va. (WTAP) – The Wood County Board of Education held a special meeting to discuss the closure of Vandevender Middle School to consolidate with Jackson Middle School and Hamilton Middle School. Parents, staff, and students had an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings.
Before the decision was made, Vandevender Middle School eighth-grader Aaron Russell told me and the board that he was worried about his young peers because “I don’t think they’ll settle down very well.” . From Aaron’s experience, he describes the Vandevenders as wonderful and like one big family. So I asked him why he was worried about transferring, and he said, “Because I go to Vandy and I’m pretty big, they try to bully me. It’s even worse for the smaller guys.” He said a lot of what you hear comes from generation to generation. He said it was just a rumor that had been passed down.
Superintendent Christy Willis said the combined middle schools will have one full-time counselor at Jackson and Hamilton schools, and one part-time counselor between each school. Both schools also offer team learning, with six teachers assigned to each content area.
“Currently, each school has one counselor per middle school. With the merger, we plan to add a half-time counselor at each of Hamilton Middle School and Jackson Middle School. For English, language arts, math, science, and social studies, at this time If we don’t have six, we’ll increase that number and have six in each content area,” Superintendent Willis said.
Vandever Middle School’s highest enrollment over the past 10 years was 415 students, according to a BOE report. The capacity is 728 students, and the number of students enrolled as of August 9, 2024 was 248. Considering this number, the facility utilization rate was 34.1% when the school’s desired utilization rate was 85%.
The closure of VanDevender Middle will result in the elimination of four professional positions and 3.5 service positions.
The merger could potentially save the school board $1,262,139.52.
The board also voted unanimously to close Fair Plains Elementary School and consolidate it with Martin Elementary School.
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