Putnam Schools to Vote on Transition Plan

By Alison Knezevich

alisonk@wvgazette.com

Putnam County school officials say they’ve found a solution for Scott Depot parents upset about new attendance policies.

On Jan. 22, school board members set boundaries for the county’s new elementary school, which is set to open in August at the corner of W.Va. 34 and Teays Valley Road. The school will include students who currently attend the overcrowded Scott Teays and West Teays elementary schools.

Board members also voted that children who attend the new school would then go to Hurricane Middle and Hurricane High. Over the past few months, some parents who live in the newly created zone told the school board they had bought their homes because they thought their kids could attend Winfield – not Hurricane – schools.

However, Superintendent Chuck Hatfield said the board will vote Monday on a plan that would give those parents some flexibility.

Under the plan, elementary-aged children who live in the new zone will "have a one-time opportunity" to choose to go to Winfield middle and high schools, rather than Hurricane, Hatfield said.

Also under the proposal, all middle and high school students – and their siblings -affected by the new school boundaries will be allowed to stay in their current school zone until they graduate from high school, Hatfield said.

"This pretty much addresses all of the concerns that have been brought before the board," Hatfield said.

The plan would add about 30 children to Winfield schools, a number small enough that it won’t cause overcrowding there, school board President Debbie Phillips said. The plan only applies to people who currently live in that area, not people who might move there in the future.

"We think that it can work," she said.

However, she and Hatfield said elementary-age students who live in the new school zone must attend the new school.

"We have to be reasonable when we look at these types of situations," Phillips said. "One thing we cannot do is allow the [new] elementary school to be empty."

Many of the parents who have spoken to board members at past meetings live at South Poplar Fork. The school policy manual says people who live on both sides of Poplar Fork are in the Hurricane attendance zone. Parents, though, say school administrators had told them they could choose between Winfield and Hurricane schools.

Those comments have highlighted that attendance policies have been very liberal, Phillips said.

"We will be paying more attention to zoning issues," she said. "We’re going to try and enforce those zones."

Board members were scheduled to vote Jan. 22 on the plan to allow all current middle and high school students and their siblings affected by the new school boundaries to stay in their current school zone until they graduate from high school, but they chose not to vote.

After that meeting, several board members asked school administrators to consider allowing the choice for some students to go to Winfield schools, Phillips said.

"It is a compromise," she said.

Eligible parents will have to fill out all the necessary paperwork so their kids can go to Winfield schools, she said.

The new elementary school attendance zone will be bounded on the east by South Poplar Fork Road extending to U.S. 60 and on the west by a point near 3751 Teays Valley Road. Interstate 64 is the northern boundary and U.S. 60 is the southern boundary.

To contact staff writer Alison Knezevich, use e-mail or call 348- 1240.

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