Five elementary schools face replacement in unveiled facilities plan – Huntington Herald Dispatch

HUNTINGTON Five elementary schools in Cabell County could be replaced on or off site over the next 10 years at an estimated cost of about $80 million, as outlined in the Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan revealed Tuesday evening to the county Board of Education at its regularly scheduled meeting.

The finalized draft of the plan is a result of multiple community dialogue meetings in collaboration with the CEFP Steering Committee and information planning firm Cooperative Strategies, which worked to identify options that would best benefit the districts schools for generations to come.

Costs of the recommendations are based on numbers provided by the West Virginia School Building Authority, and projects that require land acquisition or extensive site preparation have additional funds allocated in the approximate amounts.

Davis Creek Elementary School in Barboursville, built in 1958, is recommended for a total replacement on a new site for an estimated cost of $16.1 million over other options like consolidation with Hite-Saunders or Altizer elementary schools.

Although the location is to be determined, committee members and stakeholders suggested constructing a larger facility to relieve overcrowding at Village of Barboursville Elementary through redistricting.

The school is the only facility outlined in the plan recommended to relocate.

Cox Landing Elementary in Lesage, Meadows Elementary in Huntington, Milton Elementary and Ona Elementary are all recommended for replacements on site with some stipulations.

Cox Landing lacks ADA compliance, and committee members suggested considering renovation of the existing building should the issues be able to be addressed.

If Meadows Elementary were to be replaced on site, committee members suggested the school be built back farther from its existing location at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Hal Greer Boulevard.

In total, the estimated cost of the on-site replacements comes to about $64 million, although not all replacements were deemed high priority in the plan.

The option to construct a long-awaited shared football field for Huntington Middle School and Huntington East Middle School received positive feedback from the community during the stakeholder meetings, and in response the recommendation to acquire land for the facility was included in the CEFP.

Although the location is yet to be chosen, the estimated cost of the project is about $4.5 million and ranked at moderate priority.

The Cabell County Career Technology Center, which is expected to see program growth in the coming years, is also recommended to receive renovations or additions to the facility. The project is outlined as high priority and would cost an estimated $35.4 million to complete.

There are more than 30 suggested projects currently acknowledged in the CEFP, which will be available in full at http://www.cabellschools.com on Wednesday, March 4.

There will also be a feedback option available on the website, and Superintendent Ryan Saxe said he encourages the community to once again share their opinion on the recommendations.

From the very beginning, we have tried to engage the community and all of our stakeholders in this process, Saxe said. Whatever we do over the next 10 years is going to have to last in those facilities for the next 40-50 years, and we want to be able to be planning for the future.

In total, over 1,500 online questionnaires were collected as a result of the community dialogue meetings that took place prior to the finalization of the plan.

Of those, common themes emerged, like the opposition of school consolidation, student safety and addressing HVAC issues, restroom facility improvements and having athletic fields be equitable across the district.

Although board members did not take action on the CEFP, a work session is scheduled to discuss the options prior to the next regular BOE meeting.

Should no major changes or issues arise, the board is expected to vote on the plan March 17.

Saxe said his team will be switching gears as the board finalizes that plan to begin developing a funding strategy in order to pursue as many of the projects as possible.

The Cabell County Board of Education meets regularly on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at the districts central office at 2850 5th Ave. in Huntington. Meetings are open to the public.

Follow reporter Hanna Pennington via Twitter @hpennHD.

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Five elementary schools face replacement in unveiled facilities plan - Huntington Herald Dispatch