Nicholas County Schools

We will be on a three-hour delay tomorrow, Friday, February 7 with our snow route trial run. We are concerned about possible high water and poor visibility early in the morning. The purpose of snow routes is to have school when the side roads are bad. Usually, we think of that as being snow or ice but now we are looking at it with high water and debris. I see this as the perfect time to see how these routes work. Again, students that cannot get to the bus on snow route days are given excused absences if they bring in a note from the parent.

Due to having no water, there will be no school Friday February 7, 2025, for Richwood High, Richwood Middle, Gauley River Elementary, and Nicholas County Career and Technical Center. Staff is not to report to those schools.

Nicholas County Schools will operating Snow Routes on a 3 hour delay Friday February 7, 2025 due to potential hazards from the high water, and low visibility that early in the morning. . Reminder we do not serve breakfast on 3 hour delay days.

On Friday, February 7, 2025, Nicholas County Schools will be running their busses on their snow routes on a regular schedule. This is a practice run to prepare for use when the weather is colder and fix any issues we may find. If your student is unable to attend school due to not being able to make it to their bus, it is an excused absence.

Good evening, I had the pleasure to meet with the staffs of Cherry River Elementary, Panther Creek Elementary, Richwood Middle School, and Richwood High School today to provide them an update concerning the construction project at Richwood. I was accompanied by board members and Assistant Superintendent Kelli Whytsell. The purpose of this meeting was to inform them that construction of the new Richwood School is moving along rapidly and that the middle school and high school area would be completed by this summer, thus allowing the middle school students and high school students to begin the 2025-2026 school year in the new school! The elementary wing may or may not be completed by the time school starts in August and therefore the Cherry River students would remain at Panther Creek until their section is completed. The pods are in bad shape and getting worse and worse. It IS an inconvenience for the Cherry River students and staff to have to stay at Panther Creek a little longer than we planned but compared to what the students and staff have had to tolerate for the past 8 years in the pods there is no comparison. We know that there are a lot of questions, and we will try and answer them as quickly as we can. But we felt this information needed shared right away so all involved would be aware of our plans. It IS possible that the elementary wing may be completed as well, but this is just a possibility. at this point. Therefore, assuming that there are no unexpected delays, our plans are to order and move the middle school and high school materials to the new school this summer and be ready for instruction at the beginning of school. Those students and employees have waited long enough. It is time! We have consistently said that we wanted to get the kids out of the pods as soon as we could. That is what we plan to do. Terrence Beam, Superintendent

Due to already high water and more rain expected today, Nicholas County Schools will be releasing 2 hours early today January 31, 2025.

Bus 141 is running about 15 minutes late this morning.

An update on our 2025-2026 school calendar draft. One of the most consistent requests as to suggested changes was beginning school on a Monday. I have heard your voice and have made that adjustment. School will start for employees and students two days later than previously recommended. Employees would start on Wednesday, August 13 and students on Wednesday, August 20. With that comes concessions. School would end a couple of days later than originally planned. That exact date is not determined as of yet, but it will be only a couple of days or so. Also, based on your comments and calls, I will recommend that school not be in session the Monday after Easter. Therefore, students will be off Good Friday and the Monday after Easter (April 3 and 6). Spring break would not be affected (April 13-17). That will probably be the extent of recommended changes to the calendar. Not everyone gets everything they want in a school calendar, but this is proof that we listen to suggestions and meet them when it is logical and practical to do so. A final calendar will be recommended for approval on either February 24 or March 3.

Due to the fact that heavy rainfall is predicted for tomorrow, I have decided to postpone our "snow route" trial run until next week. I will monitor the weather and let you know what day that trial run will occur. We do not want our students being exposed to possible heavy rainfall if they are having to walk further distances than they normally do. I believe that it is important to have this trial run practice as soon as possible before we get another round of inclement weather. I anticipate holding this trial run no later than mid-week of next week. An exact date will be announced in advance. Please pass the word. Terrence Beam, Superintendent

A few weeks ago, it was announced that we were going to try to use "snow routes" on days in which the main roads were clear and the back roads were not in order to try and have school. Today, I we are announcing that on Friday, January 31 we will run our "snow routes" as a trial run for both morning and evening runs. I feel that if we do this in decent weather, we can see how these routes work and try and "get the bugs out" if we need to make tweaks to the routes. We will have school on Friday on a regular schedule, but "snow routes" will be used. we prefer to do a trial run first rather than wing it on a bad weather day. We would appreciate your support in trying to find a way to get our students to school on poor weather days. I hear over and over that "we never canceled school when I was a kid." Well, I remember those days well. Several other counties do exactly what we are proposing with using "snow routes" so it is not an idea that has not been successfully done in other counties. Snow routes are listed on our county website and each bus driver or principal will hand out copies of the route to the students. Please ask you child for this because sometimes they throw such things in the garbage. Please understand that most of our students are not affected by these snow routes because their route does not change. But we do have students that live out back roads that will be affected. As previously announced, if a parent cannot get the child to the snow route stop, they will receive an excused absence IF they bring in a note. This excused absence is not automatically given. The student MUST bring in a note for that absence. Furthermore, student rewards for attendance should not be affected if snow routes are used and parents cannot get their child to the bus stop. We don't want students penalized in those cases. We appreciate your support. Terrence Beam, Superintendent

Bus 133 will not be running Mill Creek today, January 24th. Parents can meet at the bottom of Mill Creek at 6:55 or bring their kids to Birch River Elementary School at 7:05 AM

Nicholas County Schools will operate on their normal schedule Friday, January 24,2025 with the exception of Richwood High School will be closed. Richwood high school employees will report. Richwood high school students can come at 11:30 and eat lunch.

Nicholas County Schools will be operating on a normal schedule January 23, 2025, with the exception of Richwood Middle and Richwood High School. Due to water issues Richwood High and Richwood Middle school students and staff will stay home.

Nicholas County Schools will be closed tomorrow Wednesday January 22, 2025 due to frigid temperatures. This is a snow day and will have to be made up at the end of the year. School staff is not to report.

Here is a sample of the 2025-2026 School Calendar, the guidelines we must follow, and a summary of the proposed calendar. Please view all 3 documents before completing the calendar survey. https://forms.office.com/r/v8QDCvGbuj

Nicholas County Schools will be closed tomorrow Tuesday January 21, 2025 due to frigid temperatures. This is a snow day and will have to be made up at the end of they year. School staff is not to report.

On Tuesday, January 21 we will sending out our annual calendar survey for the 2025-2026 school year. Also, we will provide a copy of the proposed calendar DRAFT, an explanation of the calendar, and an explanation of what guidelines we have to follow to get our calendar approved.by the West Virginia Department of Education. The survey and calendar information will appear on our county website, and you will have the opportunity to make comments. We always see comments about starting school after Labor Day. That will not be considered unless the legislature requires it. That would push school into mid-June unless we eliminate spring break, Thanksgiving Break, and/or Christmas break. Having been in education for over 50 years, I can tell you that after Memorial Day the students and the staff are done. Educating students is very difficult these days and our employees and students are under a lot of stress and those breaks are very important. If we try and have school in June, we will see very high absenteeism with both students and staff. One part of the calendar to look at is the spring break for next year. On the draft you will see that we would not have school on Good Friday, but we would be back in school for the following week and then have our spring break in mid-April instead of the week of Easter. That is what I suggested because hopefully the weather would be better later in the month. Traditionally, spring break follows Good Friday, and that could be an option that we adopt. if the public prefers it. I can set the spring break at any time in April. The restrictions we have to follow makes designing a calendar a challenge. I will share the public comments and suggestions with the board of education on February 3 and February 24. The survey will be available from January 21-28. I seek input from the community and employees.

I am aware of the situation at NCHS with the traffic light issues. I have contacted the Department of Highways, and they made arrangements for one of their traffic engineers from out of county to come and work with the high school principal to rectify the situation. It appears that this will occur early next week. I totally understand the frustration, but this is something the board of education has zero control over. However, we are trying to get this fixed. I also understand the situation seems to have worsened recently and needs addressed immediately. I will ask for assistance to help with directing traffic in the mornings and evenings until it is corrected.

Nicholas County Schools will be operating on a normal schedule today January 17, 2025.

At this time, Nicholas County Schools will be operating on a normal scheduled tomorrow, January 17 2025. This will be reevaluated at 4 am with a call with The National Weather Service and the Department of Highways.