NEW GILMER-LEWIS SCHOOL SMACK DAB ON COUNTY LINE

(08/10/2013)
By Ashton Marra - WV PUBLIC RADIO

The newest experiment in public education is in its early phases for two state counties. That experiment includes the building of a brand new facility that will house the consolidation of two elementary schools, but this experiment is testing more than just new efficiencies. It's testing how well county school systems can work together to support a common goal: providing a quality education.

Leading Creek Elementary School is not your typical consolidation. The school will take students from Troy Elementary in Gilmer County and Alum Bridge Elementary in Lewis County—about 225 total—and put them in one building. A brand new, $11 million facility that literally straddles the county line.

"The line goes smack dab through the middle of that site so when you put the school there, we'll put it on both sides. So, you can't get any better relationship, you can't get anything better than the school literally sitting in both counties," Mark Manchin, executive director of the state School Building Authority, told members of the Commission on School District Governance and Administration Tuesday.

The commission, created by the state Board of Education, is tasked with finding ways counties can begin to work together regionally to provide a more efficient, more effective education for its students, which Manchin said is exactly what this new project is doing ...

Rest of Story   WV PUBLIC RADIO: Construction underway at state's first inter-county school Leading Creek Elementary