Midland Trail Elementary becomes sixth school to be closed by Kanawha BOE

Kanawha County Board of Education members voted to close Midland Trail Elementary on Tuesday, Oct. 22.Photo byGMSV

BELLE, W.Va. -- Kanawha County Board of Education members voted 5-0 on Tuesday to close Midland Trail Elementary, the final shuttering in a month-long closure spree that would result in the eventual elimination of two middle and four elementary schools within the county.

Tuesday’s vote immediately followed a public closure hearing held at Riverside High School in Belle.

Board members previously voted to close Malden, Belle and Mary Ingles elementary schools, as well as East Bank and McKinley middle schools.

Per Kanawha County Schools plans, East Bank and McKinley middle schools will be closed at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. Students will be transferred to DuPont Middle School and Hayes Middle School, respectively.

School officials said the four elementary schools would be consolidated into a yet-to-be-built primary school in Dupont City.

Plans for the new elementary hinge on funding from the state School Building Authority (SBA). In September, Kanawha County School officials applied for funding through the SBA to build the new school. Members of the state panel are expected to make their decision in December.

If the funds are not awarded in December, county officials could apply once more to the SBA for the monies. If that request is rejected, the new school would not be built, Kanawha County Superintendent Dr. Tom Williams said.

Malden, Belle, Mary Ingles and Midland Trail elementary schools will remain open until the new primary school is built, which officials said would most likely not happen until at least the 2028-29 school year.

Mockups of a potential building design were shared with attendees of recent school closure hearings. However, administrators stress that the designs are merely conceptual, explaining no formal blueprints will be developed until funding for the new school has been received.

The closures come on the heels of an overall decline in population within the county. Most schools that have faced the chopping block have seen a drop in enrollment. Data from Kanawha County Schools indicates Midland Trail’s enrollment dropped by 38 percent between the 2013-14 and 2023-24 school years, from 249 to 155 students.

While no further school closure hearings are planned at this time, the Kanawha County Board of Education will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting at 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4 at 200 Elizabeth St. in Charleston.

Michael Ramsburg is a Kanawha County communities reporter. He shares his work on NewsBreak and in the free weekday Kanawha Valley Update newsletter. He can be reached at ramsburgreports@gmail.com or by calling 304-370-3067.