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As many of you know I am from Clendenin. I currently live on the East End of Charleston, so I missed out on the excitment of the major flood that hit the Elk River which including the towns of Clendenin and Elkview. I graduated from Herbert Hoover HS, and I am heartbroken over the fact that the school was utterly devastated. When I attended Hoover, we weren't much of anything as far as academics and sports were concerned. I believe that my graduating class was in the bottom half of all high schools in WV. However, in the last 5-6 years Herbert Hoover has consistently ranked in the top 20% of all high schools in WV and recently USA Today ranked Hoover as the 14th best high school in WV and the 2nd best in Kanawha County behind GW. Herbert Hoover has performed well in standardized testing over this time period and has earned the reputation of a "WV School of Excellence".
According to the school board, Hoover sustained more than 70% of the estimated $17 million worth in damage. The school was built in 1963 (2nd oldest in Kanawha County) and has nearly 800 students. The cost of repairing the school has been estimated at $12 million, but new regulations and codes with a raised flood plain would make make the school board pay possibly three times that much because they would have to raise the building out of the flood plain by 8ft. It would be cheaper and smarter for the state/county to consider a new building or consolidation. The problem is, Hoover covers a large geographic area for its students, and the closet school (Capital HS) could end up being a 40-45 min commute one way for a lot of students. Not to mention schools that take consolidated students (likely Capital and Sissonsville) would have to expand to accommodate. That leads me to this question, which do you believe is the better route for the long-term schooling of Elk River students.
1). Consolidation into Capitol and Sissonsville with the removal of HHHS all together?
2). Repairing the current Herbert Hoover?
3). Building a new Herbert Hoover?
4). Consolidation of HHHS and Sissonsville into a new school.
Temporarily (Hopefully) Herbert Hoover students will share Elkview Middle Schools campus going half a day until a school of portables is installed on the football field of the middle school. The portables will have to be raised up 6 feet off the ground in order to not be in the flood plain. A network of wooden boardwalks will connect them. Unfortunately this situation has made it difficult to come up with a better solution than this. By the way, my mother is a teacher at Herbert Hoover and I have found out a lot of information through her who is in communication with the principal Mr. Kelly.
My friend and I were talking about this yesterday. A new Hoover needs to be built. When talking school consolidations, you either have a closer geographic proximity with which to work and/or smaller, old high schools. Hoover isn't big by any means, but it is large enough to still be needed. And, like you said, consolidation could mean long commutes for some students (although this is found in many other school districts as well). The problem is just where would you build the school? Would you build on the current site, but higher? Lop off a hilltop? I'm not as familiar with the area so I didn't have an answer for that.
My friend and I were talking about this yesterday. A new Hoover needs to be built. When talking school consolidations, you either have a closer geographic proximity with which to work and/or smaller, old high schools. Hoover isn't big by any means, but it is large enough to still be needed. And, like you said, consolidation could mean long commutes for some students (although this is found in many other school districts as well). The problem is just where would you build the school? Would you build on the current site, but higher? Lop off a hilltop? I'm not as familiar with the area so I didn't have an answer for that.
My guess the best bet would be to build on top of a hill closer to Elkview. There isn't really a leveled off spot big enough currently, but like most things in WV you have to consider some earth movement if you want anything built.
The question may become, "What will the SBA allow them to do"?
There is no way Kanawha County has the money to build a new school so the SBA will have to be a part of the equation. Sadly, though, when they are a part of the equation, they control all aspects of the build.
I support the idea of building a new building out of the flood plain. Hoover's population is sufficient to warrant its own school as far as I am concerned.
However, it may be more financially feasible to send to Capital and Sissonville since it could also be accomplished in a shorter time span. [I am not supporting the idea just listing it as an alternative that will have to be considered]
A 45 minute commute would be to die for in Pocahontas, Preston, and a few other counties. The roads are also much more treacherous in those counties.
My biggest concern is how long this whole process is going to take and I just hope the incoming class at Hoover doesn't have to spend their high school careers in portables, regardless of how nice they might be. It just doesn't sound right to me but disasters are just not right.
As many of you know I am from Clendenin. I currently live on the East End of Charleston, so I missed out on the excitment of the major flood that hit the Elk River which including the towns of Clendenin and Elkview. I graduated from Herbert Hoover HS, and I am heartbroken over the fact that the school was utterly devastated. When I attended Hoover, we weren't much of anything as far as academics and sports were concerned. I believe that my graduating class was in the bottom half of all high schools in WV. However, in the last 5-6 years Herbert Hoover has consistently ranked in the top 20% of all high schools in WV and recently USA Today ranked Hoover as the 14th best high school in WV and the 2nd best in Kanawha County behind GW. Herbert Hoover has performed well in standardized testing over this time period and has earned the reputation of a "WV School of Excellence".
According to the school board, Hoover sustained more than 70% of the estimated $17 million worth in damage. The school was built in 1963 (2nd oldest in Kanawha County) and has nearly 800 students. The cost of repairing the school has been estimated at $12 million, but new regulations and codes with a raised flood plain would make make the school board pay possibly three times that much because they would have to raise the building out of the flood plain by 8ft. It would be cheaper and smarter for the state/county to consider a new building or consolidation. The problem is, Hoover covers a large geographic area for its students, and the closet school (Capital HS) could end up being a 40-45 min commute one way for a lot of students. Not to mention schools that take consolidated students (likely Capital and Sissonsville) would have to expand to accommodate. That leads me to this question, which do you believe is the better route for the long-term schooling of Elk River students.
1). Consolidation into Capitol and Sissonsville with the removal of HHHS all together?
2). Repairing the current Herbert Hoover?
3). Building a new Herbert Hoover?
4). Consolidation of HHHS and Sissonsville into a new school.
5). Other
I am definitely not for consolidation with Capitol; it still irks me that half of Hoover's old coverage area was taken by Capitol when Stonewall and Charleston were merged. When I went to Hoover we had 1384 students my senior year and 429 in my graduating class and that was when Hoover only had 10 through 12 grades.
Merging with Sissonville would force some pretty long bus routes when both schools already have long bus routes. Mine was 45 minute from the time I got on the bus from Hoover until the time I walked in the door at home. Merging those two districts is a non-starter.
Rebuilding is the only way to go and with that choice there are two options for location:
The original location could work but only after some heavy lifting. The entire plan of the old school would have to be eliminated. The area would have to be land filled at least 10 feet - basically up to the level of route 119 and then a new school built on the land fill.
The second option is probably cheaper and faster. The old Elkview Drive in sits opposite the Elkview Middle School across the football field. It was repurposed years ago and has been an on again off again industrial/storage site. Some times it seems to be an active site and other times it seems to be derelict. Either way, the property should be purchased and the new school erected there.
The existing football field could be rebuilt to serve both schools and the entire campus for both schools integrated. The upside for this is that the current Hoover students are going to be using EMS until the situation is resolved and those bus route will be well established by that time to use this site as a destination.
Much of the work could be begun that would save time such as importing mobile classrooms for the Hoover student and getting a jump on the campus integration and football area modifications.
The money is going to come from many sources: federal, state, county and the board as the Hoover budget is already set but there is no school to expend those funds on now. Some of that is going to go to offsetting the load being forced on Elkview Middle School but some of it will be left over too.
A school is not a complex construction, it is basically just a cinder block on slab construction with steel beams at the roof. Those buildings go up in less than a year once they are started. Those 9th and 10th grade Hoover students of today might see a year or two down time before they got into the new building, but I do not think it will take longer than that.
There is also the benefit in selling off the old site. Granted it is a prove flood plain but it could be made safer with some land fill. Another user would have more time to do just that whereas the school needs to be up and running as soon as is possible.
I don't know how practical you expect this discussion to be. In my opinion, based on my own learning experience, larger schools are better in many respects. Large high schools offer students an opportunity to take a physics class as well as chemistry. They may also be able to have an orchestra as well as a band. More students means more people to fill teams for every sport imaginable, as well as filling classrooms for a wide variety of optional classes.
If a new school were to be built, designed for a student population similar in size to Capital, Riverside, or South Charleston, it would probably combine the students from both Herbert Hoover and Sissonville. Then you have to think about where to build it. Half way between the two schools (by normal driving routes) would put it near Big Chimney. That location would only be a few miles from Capital High School. That would indeed be a difficult sales job to get the SBA to fund it.
I can't see that happening. If repairs at Hoover are not practical, I would expect that a likely outcome would be some expansion at Capital and most of the students moved there.
You're going to also want to take a look at population and age demographic trends here. Cost is not the only consideration. And, while location is always a consideration, in a state like ours, with a public revenue stream that has taken a massive hit in recent years, funding is taking on an expanded role in decision making.
If the Federal Government is willing to step up and foot a large portion of the bill, then by all means Hoover needs a new building located somewhere withing the Elk River community. Other wise, Kanawha County alone does not have the funding necessary for a $50-$60 million building endeavor and the State Building Authority just doesn't have the money for this. Fortunately the High School had flood insurance, and the federal government appears to want to cooperate in funding needs. One thing I believe is certain, the current condition of the school is not worth repairing and the building needed replaced a decade ago. Consolidating is an unfortunate possibility. Herbert Hoover is a great school, and the community has shown it tremendous levels of support! It would be a tragedy to see it erased from existence. The school is much more than a building, FYI.
If the Federal Government is willing to step up and foot a large portion of the bill, then by all means Hoover needs a new building located somewhere withing the Elk River community. Other wise, Kanawha County alone does not have the funding necessary for a $50-$60 million building endeavor and the State Building Authority just doesn't have the money for this. Fortunately the High School had flood insurance, and the federal government appears to want to cooperate in funding needs. One thing I believe is certain, the current condition of the school is not worth repairing and the building needed replaced a decade ago. Consolidating is an unfortunate possibility. Herbert Hoover is a great school, and the community has shown it tremendous levels of support! It would be a tragedy to see it erased from existence. The school is much more than a building, FYI.
Hoover, East Bank and Dupont were all built from the same basic plan in the mid-1960's The latter two are now middle schools when those high schools were merged to form Riverside. I agree that larger schools are generally better schools but the problem in West Virginia is travel time. Already Sissonville and Hoover students have almost hour long commutes each way and merging their student bodies, even at a halfway points means some of those student bodies are going to further increase their commutes.
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of the major flood that hit the Elk River which including the towns of Clendenin and Elkview. I graduated from Herbert Hoover HS, and I am heartbroken over the fact that the school was utterly devastated. When I attended Hoover, we weren't much of anything as far as academics and sports were concerned. I believe that my graduating class was in the bottom half of all high schools in WV. However, in the last 5-6 years Herbert Hoover has consistently ranked in the top 20% of all high schools in WV and recently USA Today ranked Hoover as the 14th best high school in WV and the 2nd best in Kanawha County behind GW. Herbert Hoover has performed well in standardized testing over this time period and has earned the reputation of a "WV School of Excellence". 
