Associated Press Published

West Virginia School Board Conditionally OKs Consolidation

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The West Virginia Board of Education has conditionally approved a school consolidation plan in Nicholas County.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the plan by Nicholas County’s school board would consolidate schools in Richwood, Summersville and Craigsville into a campus near Summersville.

The Nicholas board plans to use FEMA recovery money from the 2016 flood, which damaged Richwood Middle, Richwood High and Summersville Middle, to build the consolidated campus.

The proposed consolidated campus would combine those schools with Nicholas County High and the county’s vocational education center.

State Department of Education general counsel Heather Hutchens said Friday the conditional approval will be withdrawn if the state Supreme Court grants the state school board’s requested stay of a judge’s order for it to give the conditional approval or post a $130 million bond.