The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Our Readers Speak

March 21, 2010

Our Readers Speak — Monday, March 22, 2010

Marsh Fork must have new school building

Very soon now the West Virginia School Building Authority will decide if the children, teachers and staff at Marsh Fork Elementary will be getting a new school. Hopefully, in this case, this part of the process is a mere formality. The condition of the school and the environment of its present location should make this decision a no-brainer.

Marsh Fork Elementary is an old and outdated school. The plumbing is in poor condition. Loose asbestos has been found, and although sealed off, it’s simply a matter of time before more asbestos problems. The classrooms are old and outdated, some with poor ventilation, some even using window air conditioners. The school is located on a flood plain and next to a noisy industrial complex.

The teachers, the staff and the Raleigh County school board have done a commendable job of making the best of the situation, but the situation has grown beyond their control.

Within the past few years the outside walls have become severely cracked, some bulging outward near collapse. These cracks are mostly in a horizontal pattern, indicating the cause could be from ground vibration. Given the amount of blasting taking place around the school, ground vibration is inevitable. And common sense should tell us that if ground vibration has caused the brick walls of the school to crack, what might it be doing to the slate-constructed dam above the school? Recently, a large section of rock cliffs near the school collapsed onto the bus route to the school. Many of the cracks on the cliffs are also of horizontal shape, and many loose boulders look ready to fall at any given moment.

Many folks, including the governor, refuse to acknowledge the school’s environment given its location, but let us not fool ourselves any longer, the current situation is a clear and present danger to our children, the bus drivers, the teachers and the staff. It has been time for a new school for several years now, but now is a most critical time.

Massey Energy has stated that they pay more than $5 million a year in severance taxes from their selling of coal mined from around the school. West Virginia severance tax code allows that 93 percent of severance tax collected goes to the state, with the remaining 7 percent divided among our 55 counties. Nearly all of the Raleigh County severance tax goes to Beckley. The 25-mile stretch of the Coal River area from Glen Daniel to the Boone County border collects zero severance tax. If the State School Building Authority does not award the Raleigh County School Board the money to build a new school, then something is terribly wrong, horribly wrong and inexcusable.



Bo Webb

Naoma

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