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Community vows to save Homestead

DAILEY — While a lack of funding for major electrical repairs prompted county leaders to vote this week to close the historic Homestead Elementary School in Dailey, community members are not giving up just yet.

“This electrical issue has been known all along, and to use it now to permanently close the school, I feel, is very unfair,” said Tom Rennix, president of the Tygart Valley Homestead Association, referring to the school’s need for a new electrical service entrance, wiring updates and breaker boxes. “Nevertheless, we feel like there is an opportunity to repair the school … if we have time, opportunities and support from the board to do fundraisers.”

Rennix said the Homestead Association already has raised more than $25,000 to help save the school, which has been temporarily closed following severe roof damage and water leaks from a March 1 storm.

He said the group will host a meeting at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Valley Bend Methodist Church’s fellowship hall, where concerned citizens are welcome to attend and discuss the school’s future.

Updates to the electrical service entrance at Homestead Elementary would be required before the state fire marshal will allow it to reopen.

The possible cost for the required electrical work would be about $70,000 to $75,000 at minimum, said Assistant Superintendent Rich Carr during a recent Randolph County Board of Education meeting.

Other repair work and upgrades to the school’s heating system, ventilation, plumbing and bathrooms could add up to more than $1.7 million, according to information presented to the Randolph County Board of Education this week — in addition to roof repairs and asbestos abatement.

Homestead Elementary students have been attending other local schools since the roof over the gymnasium and cafeteria was damaged. Most of the classes have been transferred temporarily to George Ward Elementary School in Mill Creek, while preschool students are attending Beverly Elementary and fourth- and fifth-graders are attending Tygarts Valley Middle School.

Board of Education members voted unanimously Monday to continue housing Homestead students at other local schools for the upcoming school year, and then go through the emergency closure process for the 2018-19 school year.

Declining enrollment and financial constraints over the past several years have made it difficult to fund all the maintenance needs of the county’s aging school buildings, officials have said. Also, the county no longer has an excess levy providing school funding.

Board of Education member Amanda Smith said she is open to different ideas for the school’s future.

“I feel the TVHA has every right to continue to meet and raise funds,” Smith said Thursday. “The closing process is long, as we’ve seen in our previous dealings, and they have plenty of time to fundraise. The concern that I have with the Homestead building is that if we are able to fix the electric and the roof, are we just waiting for the next thing to break — will the pipes rupture, will the boiler become faulty?”

Smith added the Homestead school’s campus is historic and valuable.

“No other facility is surrounded by that much acreage,” she said. “If there is an opportunity to take advantage of that property in the future, then we should make the most of it.”

The school building sits on 17 acres, and it includes a walking trail and recreation area.

Homestead School was built in 1939 to replace 11 one-room schoolhouses in the towns of Dailey, East Dailey and Valley Bend. Of 99 schools that were created as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, it’s the last one still in operation.

The school was recognized by the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 and is on the West Virginia Endangered Properties List

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