Photo by Shelley Hanson Paden City High School

PADEN CITY – The attorneys for Paden City residents fighting to keep Paden City High School open have filed a petition in Wetzel County Circuit Court asking that Wetzel County Schools Superintendent Cassie Porter be held in contempt. The school district recently stated via email that no games can be played on PCHS’ football field for safety reasons, and the attorneys argue that flies in the face of a judge’s ruling that the school be opened “as if it never closed.”

The situation is the latest chapter in the saga of the present and future of Paden City High School. In June, Porter announced that the school would close for the 2024-25 school year for health and safety reasons. The school sits on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site above a plume of the chemical tetrachloroethylene, or PCE.

Attorneys Teresa Toriseva and Josh Miller, on behalf of a group of Paden City residents, filed a petition to stop the closure. After an hours-long hearing and nearly a week to ruminate on it, Wetzel Circuit Judge C. Richard Wilson decided in favor of the Paden City residents, saying in his order that Paden City High be reopened “as if it never closed.”

In the latest motion filed Monday, Toriseva argues that Porter and the school district went against that order with a recent email sent to Wetzel County Schools principals from Paul Huston, the district’s secondary education director and county administrator.

Huston’s email stated that any middle school or high school games scheduled for PCHS’ home field must be played elsewhere.

“You are not allowed to play on their field,” the email stated. “This is a safety concern. This only applies to football. Volleyball and basketball are ok. We are currently in a legal battle concerning student safety, and the field is sitting on top of ground zero for pollutants. We in good conscience cannot turn a blind eye and allow our students to risk chemical exposure from vapors coming up through the field.”

Toriseva argued in the latest filing that a “natural and customary part” of West Virginia public high schools is having a home field within a home stadium. For Paden City High School, that sits in Paden City. And, she continued, part of a high school being “open” is the existence of a football team hosting opponents at its home field.

Therefore, Toriseva added, that email is in “direct violation” of Wilson’s order.

“On July 31, 2024, Judge Wilson ordered that Superintendent Porter must open Paden City High School ‘as if it never closed,'” Toriseva said in an emailed statement. “On August 14, Paul Huston, II, an employee of Wetzel County Schools, sent an email to all principals of Wetzel County Schools and told them that no one is allowed to play on the PCHS football field stadium. Mr. Huston claimed that the football field sits ‘on top of ground zero for pollutants.’ Thus, Superintendent Porter closed a portion of PCHS.

“(Monday), Toriseva Law filed a motion seeking that Judge Wilson hold Superintendent Porter in contempt for closing a portion of PCHS. Court orders must be followed and we will continue to fight when the law or court orders are ignored.”

School began in Wetzel County on Monday. Porter had filed an appeal of Wilson’s decision with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and also petitioned the court for an emergency stay of Wilson’s decision to reopen the school. The state Supreme Court on Aug. 12 ruled that Paden City High would remain open while the appeal process was in motion.

Porter could not be reached for comment as of Tuesday afternoon.