Half-Days of School OK'd for Some Kanawha County Flood Schools

Four schools in Kanawha County suffered damage after historic flooding late last month and as a result, the state is taking special action to make sure some of the affected students can return to class by the start of the semester. 

West Virginia Board of Education members approved a proposal from Kanawha County Schools Thursday that will allow students from Elkview Middle School and Herbert Hoover to attend only a half day of school when they start classes on August 3.

County Superintendent Dr. Ron Duerring said middle school students will attend class in the morning and high school students in the afternoon until 45 portable classrooms can be installed on the Elkview Middle School football field.

“Once that’s set up then those high school kids will go into the portable high school kids will go to the portable high school and go to a full day schedule and the middle school kids will go to a full day schedule. Then we’ll get to the full minutes that they need for regular instruction,” Duerring said after the meeting.

The state requires students to be in class for 180 days, but also requires a certain number of instructional minutes per day.

Duerring said he was unsure of how long it would take to get the portable classrooms ready for use. He said the county is in the process of ordering the portables and once they are delivered they will have to be connection to water, sewer and electric lines.