Kanawha School Board votes to close East Bank Middle School

Editors Note: A previous version of this story said that Tracy White voted for the consolidation and Becky Jones Jordon voted against. This article has been updated to reflect that T. White voted against the consolidation and Jordon voted in favor.

BELLE, WV (WOWK) — Members of the Kanawha School Board voted to consolidate two middle schools in eastern Kanawha County Tuesday night.

With a vote of 3-2, members voted to close East Bank Middle School. Those students will join other middle schoolers in that part of the county at DuPont Middle School.

Board members Kate White and Tracy White voted against the move while Board President Ric Cavender and members Becky Jones Jordon and Jim Crawford, Sr. voted in favor of the consolidation.

Dressed in blue and white, the colors of East Bank Middle School, people came out to support their community cornerstone. Nearly a hundred people packed the auditorium at Riverside High School, pleading their case for the school to remain open.

Superintendent Dr. Tom Williams said that a declining enrollment is to blame for the closure.

East Bank Middle School will close at the end of the 2024-25 school year. In the Fall of 2022, students at Cedar Grove Middle school also moved to DuPont Middle School.

There are five other consolidation hearings this month in Kanawha County. The next consolidation up for consideration is having McKinley Middle School students moving to Hayes Middle School. That meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on Oct. 9, at St. Albans High School.

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