WESTON, W.Va. — The Lewis County Board of Education met Monday evening and reviewed the cost of cleanup mitigation so far from flood damage that occurred July 21.
To date, cleanup costs stand at $1,618,982.03 for Robert L. Bland Middle School and $1,151,388.28 for the Board of Education building. Minor damage to Leading Creek Elementary School and Peterson-Central Elementary School total $72,210.34, bringing the overall total to $2,842,580.65.
Assistant Superintendent Tim Payton emphasized that cleanup efforts at the middle school remain ongoing.
"These are from invoices that we have received to this point, and this is just for the cleanup that has been done at this point," he said. "They have not finished the cleanup at Robert L. Bland Middle School."
While the school system has not yet received insurance compensation, Payton has been working directly with an adjuster to finalize necessary documentation.
"He is finalizing his numbers and getting those submitted," he said. "He is going to let me know once that is submitted and when we can expect to receive our first reimbursement from the insurance company."
The school district is navigating a waiting period regarding long-term structural decisions, Payton said.
"We are in a little bit of a holding pattern," he said. "We are waiting on the insurance company of course to see what they are going to give us based on how they value everything."
Looking ahead, Payton stressed the importance of establishing a clear recovery strategy.
"We need to have a direction in the next couple of months," he said. "We can't just leave this open-ended. We have to have some sort of direction. Is it putting millions of dollars into the facility? Is it putting millions of dollars into another facility? It's all going to be millions of dollars."
Payton added that initial remediation costs reflect only a fraction of the total recovery work required.
"We still haven't finished cleaning up the school," he said. "This is all just from cleaning it up. There's still putting things back together, repairing elevators, cleaning up the Category Three mud under the building, making repairs to any of the athletic buildings. This is just what we have cleaned up so far."
During her report, Superintendent Carolyn Long talked about meeting with teachers at each of the county schools last week to answer questions and determine their needs.
"I thank the principals and teachers for taking the time to talk to me and share some of their ideas and concerns," she said. "I have promised them that I will try to come back every two or three months and do exactly the same thing when we have professional learning days to answer their questions and see where we're going."
Staff members are currently preparing WVU Jackson’s Mill to host students temporarily, starting Sept. 8, due to extensive flood damage at Robert L. Bland Middle School.
"I think the teachers, the aides, the cooks and all of the staff at Jackson's Mill have done a superb job of working together, talking it out and saying, 'How do we do this?'" Long said. "To make sure we are ready, we will be doing a dry run. We're going to ask some high school students, our seniors, to volunteer. We're going to put them on the bus, and we're going to pretend we're having school."
The trial run will help refine students' daily movement around the Jackson's Mill campus, Long said.
"Of course, we are not going to spend 50 minutes in a classroom, but we want to see how it flows," she said. "We want to make sure the walking distance is reasonable. The only way to do that is to see it in action."
An informational meeting for middle school parents and students is scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Lewis County High School auditorium, Long said.
"At that time, we will have a short presentation," she said. "We will be explaining some of the logistics. Mr. Payton will be explaining the bus routes and how we're going to get the cars in and out of Jackson's Mill."
Also discussed:
— The board approved a facility rental and use agreement with the West Virginia University Board of Governors on behalf of West Virginia University to use the main field of Jackson's Mill for athletics. The agreement will run from August to October.
— An agreement was approved with the West Virginia University School of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences to provide orientation and mobility services to visually impaired students for the 2026-2027 school year.
— West Virginia Wesleyan College residency one and two student placements were approved for Fall 2026 to Spring 2027.
