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TOP STORIES OF 2024: Wetzel County Board of Education Votes To Consolidate High Schools

NEW MARTINSVILLE — The landscape of Wetzel County’s high schools will be drastically different in 2025 due to decisions made this year.

The Wetzel County Board of Education voted in November to consolidate the county’s four high schools into two. In the 2025-26 school year, Paden City High School will merge with Magnolia High School and move into Magnolia’s building, while Hundred High School will merge with Valley High School and move into Valley’s building.

The two consolidated high schools will have new names, new mascots and new colors. The plan is that these two schools are a middle point to consolidating all of Wetzel County’s high schools into one.

This consolidation plan began when Wetzel County Schools officials made a recommendation to consolidate its four high schools into two during an August work session. The impetus for consolidation came from the disappointing summative assessment testing results for 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.

Wetzel County Board of Education Vice President Bryan Castilow said during that meeting that the issue was so dire that immediate action was necessary.

“It’s time we stop kicking the can down the road,” he said.

Wetzel County Schools officials said combining the schools would allow more certified teachers to teach students. In the four-school setup, they said there were too many classes taught by substitutes and through remote learning.

The move was met with vehement opposition from Wetzel County residents. At several packed public meetings, Wetzel residents shared several concerns. They worried about losing the local high schools that had become centers of their respective communities. They also worried about the long travel times along treacherous roads. Some residents also felt that there wasn’t enough planning for this consolidation.

“You have to look at the whole picture when you look into closing schools,” retired teacher Howard Henderson, a 1973 Hundred graduate said, “and I don’t think there has been enough thought into the planning process. I would think you would get all the teachers aware of closing and get them on board and well informed. I don’t think that happened.”

Ultimately, the Wetzel school board voted 4-1 to consolidate Paden City and Magnolia and voted 3-2 to consolidate Valley and Hundred.

The opposition to consolidation traveled down to Charleston for the West Virginia Board of Education meeting, where the state board voted 8-1 agreeing with Wetzel County Schools officials that consolidation was the best plan. While Wetzel residents packed that board meeting in a show of solidarity, the state board agreed that consolidation was necessary.

The new high schools will be in place for next school year.

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