The landscape of public high schools in Wetzel County could change drastically next year, if the Wetzel County Board of Education votes on a motion crafted Friday to consolidate the county’s four high schools into two.
During a Friday work session, a motion was created to present to the board at its next meeting Tuesday to consolidate Paden City and Magnolia high schools into one, and to also consolidate Valley and Hundred high schools into one. If the board votes to consolidate, the plan will go before the West Virginia Board of Education by the end of 2024. If the state board agrees, the consolidation can go through for the 2025-26 school year.
Those in the work session – including board members, school district officials and principals of the four high schools – were told the plan was created due to the disappointing summative assessment test scores in the county. This year, Wetzel County students earned proficiency at just a 40.63% clip in English/language arts, a 35.56% clip in math and a 25.32% clip in science.
The county’s 11th graders scored proficiency at a 41.54% rate in ELA, a 14.62% rate in math and a 24.62% rate in science.
By consolidating, officials said the county will have enough teachers in each building to adequately educate the students. As of now, district officials said there was too much of a reliance on substitutes and teachers instructing remotely.
If approved, the two consolidated schools would have new names, new colors and new mascots. The seventh and eighth grade students at Paden City High School would move to New Martinsville Middle School.
This move might not be the final one, as there was some discussion that consolidating to two high schools be a stop gap until one consolidated high school could be built for the entire county. Those in attendance differed on whether the county should have two high schools or one.