First Multi-County School

Lewis County will soon be part of the first ever multi-county school in WV.  A new elementary school in Linn (on the Lewis/Gilmer line) will consolidate the old and raggedy Alum Bridge Elementary and Troy Elementary.  But that's not the end of the news.

Most of the time, when a new school needs to be built, it's up to each county to raise funds through levies and the like.  It almost always turns into raising taxes to support the new school.  Since the children ARE our future, I don't really have a problem with that, but I know a lot of people do.  Anyway, not this time.  In a totally unexpected turn of events, the WV School Building Authority has agreed to fund the entire $11 million project.  It is expected to see completion in 2014.

Something that I find really neat is that this is finally being discussed in other counties, as well.  I grew up in southern Upshur County, and a relatively small area has two elementary schools because students from way up on the Upshur/Webster line are being bussed into Rock Cave.  If you're not familiar with the area, that's a damn long haul for a little one.  I wouldn't want my kid to have to do it, especially in the winter.  I'm not sure how far the Webster County school is, but I'm guessing their kids have a long ride to school as well.  Life would be so much easier if we stopped worrying about what county a kid is in and just started worrying about how to make things better for everyone.  The kid who has a 90 minute bus ride to school isn't as sharp as the one who has a 20 minute ride.  I wonder if there's research on that...  I'll look it up.

Point is, we're moving in a great direction here and I'm anxious to see how this erasure of county lines will effect the children attending the new consolidated schools.

WBOY: Lewis and Gilmer Counties Join for First Multi-County School