Consolidation for Enslow & Beverly Hills Middle Schools

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. “The board would like to close Enslow at the end of the 2010-2011 school
year and send the roughly 250 students to Beverly Hills for one year to
help unite the two schools.” The first state-mandated meeting for the consolidation process is this Wednesday evening http://www.hera…ld-dispatch.com/news/x300708913/First-public-hearing-for-middle-schools-closure-to-take-place-Wednesday I have been-there-done-that and am not sure if I can fight this fight for other people who might complain it isn’t my fight…But, if your kids are going to go to Enslow or BHMS, you might put it on your calendar. I am not sure how shoving all the kids into the “turf” of one set is going to help unite them–I would think it would be better to move them right into the new school at the same time, but, what do I know?

yeah, well, they already consolidated my kids’ elementary and their middle school. This is the next one down the line. The BOE really wants to consolidated EVERY school in the county with at least one other and have NO neighborhood schools left. They have no solid evidence
that it will either save money or help the children’s learning (we have lovely high dropout rates at our consolidated high schools and they don’t know why that is).  Ugh.

Text from the HD article:

First public hearing for middle schools closure to take place Wednesday

January 18, 2010 @ 12:00 AM

BILL ROSENBERGER

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON — The Cabell County Board of Education is taking the next steps in closing Enslow and Beverly Hills middle schools when it conducts public hearings at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, (Enslow) and Monday, Jan. 25, (Beverly Hills) in the board room at 2850 5th Ave.

The meetings are being held in accordance with code to give the public a chance to express their support or concern for the plan the school board has put in place. If all goes as planned, the two student bodies would move into a new middle school at the former Marshall University Heights property off U.S. 60 near Wal-Mart.

The new school, which is being funded by the state’s School Building Authority and will be a green school, isn’t scheduled to open until the 2013 school year. But Superintendent William Smith said it was important to start the mandated process of hearings as early as possible.

The board would like to close Enslow at the end of the 2010-2011 school year and send the roughly 250 students to Beverly Hills for one year to help unite the two schools. A final decision will be made no later than May 2010.

The two schools would spend the 2011-2012 school year together, as well as the first semester of the 2012-2013 year During the second semester, the students and staff are scheduled to move into the new middle school.

The new school, which was approved for a $19 million West Virginia School Building Authority grant last spring, was awarded on Sept. 30 an additional $2 million to make it a “green school.” It also will serve as a learning laboratory to teach students and the public about their impact on the environment.

Mike O’Dell, Cabell County’s assistant superintendent over operations, said in the fall that his goal for the project is to meet specifications to qualify it for LEED Silver Designation. LEED stands for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design in the Green Building Rating System.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, silver is in the third level of four LEED designations. To be considered silver, the new construction project must meet certain requirements in a variety of factors, including sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design.

Requirements can be earned simply by including a water-efficient landscape design, using recycled material as part of the building materials, on-site renewable energy and air management.

Information about the hearings

The hearings will be recessed until the following day in the event that comments extend until 11 p.m. All reconvened hearings will be recessed at 11 p.m., if necessary.

If, when the public hearing is called to order, it is determined that the board room does not have sufficient space for the audience, the location is subject to change.

Written reasons and supporting data in relation to the proposed closure will be available for inspection in the superintendent’s office for 30 days leading up to the public hearing.

Those who want to comment or ask a question must sign up, starting one hour before and concluding at the start of the hearing. Names cannot be added at a reconvened hearing. Names will be called in order, and all questions shall be initially directed at the superintendent, who may answer or designate another school official to do so.

Speaking time per person may be limited, however, not less than three minutes. Time from one person cannot be given to another.