A yes vote on the ballot in May could mean a major building project in coming months for Marion County’s school district.
The county is asking voters during the state’s primary election that month to consider a $19.6 million bond, which would include the construction of a new school to take the place of the aging East Park and Pleasant Valley elementary schools.
East Park Elementary was built in 1913 and Pleasant Valley’s walls went up in 1929.
Older buildings are generally the school rule in the county next door to Monongalia County.
Mannington Middle began its life in 1902 as the former Mannington High School.
The Barnes Learning Center came right after in 1905.
Monongah Middle, also a former high school, opened its doors to students in 1919.
Barrackville Middle and Fairview Middle, which both educated generations of high school students in their former infrastructure lives, are 102 and 95 years old, respectively.
The youngest (newest) building in the Marion district is East Fairmont Middle, which was built in 2014.
Meanwhile, the state Board of Education convenes Wednesday in Charleston for its first meeting of the year and Marion County is on the agenda.
As per state code, the county had to submit a formal request to the state BOE to amend its Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan (CEFP) to include the proposal for the elementary school.
Call the CEFP a 10-year visionary owner’s manual for school districts looking to shape the collective educational lives of the students they serve.
In Mon County, for example, Eastwood Elementary, the county’s first green school, was the linchpin of the 2010-20 CEFP.
For the 2020-30 here, it’s the Renaissance Academy, a standalone high school devoted solely to science, technology, engineering and math it wants to have open by 2027. That’s on the primary ballot in Mon, also.
Meanwhile, the agenda for that state board meeting already notes that it plans on approving Marion’s request — which will then be sent to on to state School Building Authority, which doles out dollars for large-scale renovation and building projects in West Virginia’s 55 school districts.
Marion’s bond also includes other major projects for its buildings, such as a new (and first-ever) full-size gymnasium addition for Barrackville.
The projects, and the dollar amount for each project, were carefully considered by Marion’s BOE, its president, Donna Costello, said.
No one project, the president said, outweighed the other.
“It’s our job to provide the best learning environments, and the best facilities, as we can for the students of Marion County,” she said.
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