Paden City High School To Remain Open During Appeal Process
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PADEN CITY -- Paden City High School will remain open while an appeal of a circuit court ruling makes its way through the system, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals decided Monday. That should keep PCHS' doors open for the entire 2024-25 school year.
The state Supreme Court issued its order Monday afternoon. Wetzel County Schools Superintendent Cassie Porter had petitioned the court for an emergency stay of Wetzel County Circuit Judge C. Richard Wilson's decision to reopen the school. Porter had closed the school in June citing health and safety issues for students and staff.
What the Supreme Court's ruling does is send Porter's appeal of Wilson's decision through the normal appellate process. Attorney Teresa Toriseva, who represents a group of Paden City residents fighting the closure, said that process usually takes around a year to complete.
"Because of swift action of Judge Wilson first and now the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the students and families at Paden City High School can breathe a sigh of relief," she said, "without worry that there will be some sudden court order that shuts them down. There is a joy in Paden City tonight, and a certainty."
Porter announced in June she would close Paden City High for the 2024-25 school year due to health and safety concerns.
The school sits on a U.S. Department of Environmental Protection Superfund site and above a plume of PCE, aka tetrachloroethylene. The EPA has said there are "allowable levels" of the chemical in the air. In a July 25 hearing, it was made known that the chemical benzine was also detected at the school.
During that hearing -- which lasted close to seven hours -- Toriseva and fellow attorney Josh Miller successfully argued that the levels of the chemicals around the school did not rise to the level of closing its doors. Porter and her attorney, Ken Webb of Charleston firm Bowles Rice, argued that the closure was justified and that the chemical levels were high enough to raise safety and health issues.
Toriseva said Monday that there are plenty of steps left in the process as to when, or if, the state Supreme Court will hear the case.
"It's entirely contingent on the court's schedule and if the court even decides to accept the appeal after it considers briefing," Toriseva said.
Wetzel County schools open Monday, Aug. 19. Porter declined comment Monday night, saying she was focused on the start of the school year.