NEW MARTINSVILLE – A Wetzel County judge says he’ll make a decision before August 1 on whether Paden City High School will remain open for the upcoming school year.
At the end of a nearly seven-hour hearing July 25 that lasted until almost 11 p.m., Circuit Judge Richard Wilson heard testimony from both sides.
Earlier this summer, Wetzel County School Superintendent Cassie Porter had ordered the school closed because it sits on an EPA Superfund site. But the U.S. EPA says vapors from the site are at acceptable levels, so members of the community filed a petition earlier this month to keep the school open.
Toriseva
Hours after that petition was filed, Wilson issued a temporary restraining order to keep the school open and scheduled Thursday’s hearing. Days later, Porter filed an emergency motion to rescind or reconsider the TRO. The petitioners filed a response again saying the attempted closure is illegal and unnecessary.
Attorney Teresa Toriseva, who is representing the petitioners fighting to keep the school open, says Porter’s action is a misuse of her power because there isn’t an emergency situation that requires the closure.
Acknowledging the amount of evidence and the importance of the issue, Wilson concluded Thursday’s hearing by saying he’d rule by August 1. But he did continue his temporary restraining order to keep the school open, citing the hardship of the situation for everyone involving, including faculty, staff and students.
In the original filing, the petitioners said they wanted to stop a planned closure of the school that is “a great source of pride for the members of the community.”
“Our clients look forward to their day in court and remain confident that science and the law will prevail,” Toriseva told The West Virginia Record at the time of that filing.
In her ensuing motion, Porter says a superintendent has a duty to close a school temporarily when conditions are detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the pupils, citing a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designation that Paden City is on a Superfund National Priorities list because of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) in groundwater.
Porter announced her plan to close PCHS on June 12 and move the students to Magnolia High School, which is about six miles away. In her motion, she says Paden City students would suffer no harm as a result of the change. She also says the West Virginia Department of Education publicly supported her decision “notwithstanding the EPA’s conclusion that the risk posed at Paden City Superfund Site is ‘not unacceptable.’”
In her motion, Porter said “substantial steps” have been taken to integrate PCHS students, programs and staff at Magnolia High and that no employee “has lost a cent of pay or a day of work.”
In their July 15 response to Porter’s motion, the plaintiffs again maintain the closure of PCHS is “outside of her authority and is an illegal act because the closure is not temporary.”
“Defendant Porter has offered nothing to show that her illegal closure of PCHS is temporary,” the response states. “Defendant’s memo and letter say nothing about the closure being temporary or for a limited time.
“Defendant has offered no plan to re-open the school, only to state in her motion, to ‘integrate all PCHS students, programs and staff at the nearby Magnolia High School. …
“Incorporating PCHS into Magnolia is precisely what defendant Porter is actually trying to do.”
Citing the EPA, the plaintiffs also say again there is no condition that is detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the pupils. They also say the WVDE support of Porter’s plan does not make it legal.
“The defendant has provided no reason in fact or at law why the TRO (temporary restraining order) should be rescinded or amended,” the plaintiffs’ response states. “If anything, the defendants has supported the plaintiffs’ arguments that she misused W.Va. Code to close a school when the County Board of Education had already told her no to any merger.”
The plaintiffs, led by the Paden City Schools Athletic Association, filed the petition July 12 against Porter and the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activity Commission, which governs prep sports in the state.
“Soon after Superintendent Cassandra Porter was appointed (to a one-year term on July 1, 2023, by the county Board of Education), she attempted, through the board, to begin the closure of Paden City High School,” the petition states. “The elected board unanimously voted ‘no’ to her plan.
“But after Superintendent Porter’s contract was renewed for a three-year term, she misused a state statute to close PCHS claiming that there were conditions detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the pupils. No such conditions exist.
“This illegal and unauthorized closure is causing and will continue to cause irreparable harm to the Plaintiffs, and therefore, the illegal and unauthorized closure of PCHS by Superintendent Porter must be enjoined.”
The other petitioners include football coach Nathan Anderson, art teacher and archery coach Matt Kinnard, teacher Samantha Smith, athletic trainer and parent Thomas Duncan, bus driver Chris McGinnis, football coach Josh Billiter, coach and PCAA President Jon Baker, school secretary and PCAA Vice President Penelope Baker, Alumni President Shauna Williams-Yoho, schools employee Mary McGinnis, school employee and mother Zoa Postlethwait, teacher and coach Trey Barcus, teacher and parent Stacey Yoho, teacher and Paden City Council member Bill Bell as well as other parents, grandparents and guardians of children who attend Wetzel County schools.
“The abrupt closing of Paden City High School by the appointed superintendent violates the law,” Toriseva previously told The Record. “What’s really going on? The elected Wetzel County Board of Education has resisted the appointed superintendent’s attempt to consolidate all schools in Wetzel County. The EPA has said in writing and for some time now that the school is safe to occupy but now, weeks before school starts, the appointed superintendent is erroneously relying on temporary emergency authority to close PCHS that doesn’t apply here. Normally, only the board can close a school.
“The harm to the students and to this entire small West Virginia town will be deep and permanent. Citizens, families, students, teachers and employees are all asking that this illegal closure be stopped. PCHS is a West Virginia success story in athletics and academics.”
Paden City High School is home to students in seventh to 12th grade. It opened in 1951 and currently has an enrollment of about 160 students. It has been honored for academics, and its athletic teams have seen success as well.
“PCHS is a great source of pride for the members of the community,” the petition states.
In March 2021, Paden City was added to the U.S. EPA list of Superfund Sites National Priority List. After that designation, the school remained open through the 2024 school year.
Last July, just days after Porter was appointed as superintendent, the Wetzel County school board met to discuss options for county schools.
“They [the local high schools] don’t really want to merge,” Porter said at the July 7, 2023, meeting, according to the petition. “They would want to build a new facility so that all the communities that would be affected would come together as one Wetzel County or two Wetzel County high schools. We don’t have enough teachers to serve all of our students in all of our buildings right now. We want to make sure that all of our students get the education they deserve.”
The petition says Porter made no mention of the Superfund or the resulting health and safety of students at the July meeting. The topic also wasn’t mentioned at an August 7, 2023, work session about possible consolidation, nor was it mentioned at a September 25, 2023, board meeting where Porter “attempted to again close Paden City High School to begin her 5-10 year plan of reorganizing Wetzel County Schools,” according to the petition.
After nearly two dozen people spoke against the closure of PCHS at the September meeting, the board voted 5-0 against the closure.
In March 2024, the school board gave Porter a three-year contract. On July 1 of this year, Porter closed PCHS due to health and safety reasons so she “could avoid the BOE’s vote and further involvement.”
The petition claims Porter’s plan to circumvent the board’s unanimous vote against closing PCHS was in place “for some time before she announced it to the public.”
As early as June 12, the U.S. EPA was made aware that PCHS would be temporarily relocated for the upcoming school year because of its location on top of a Superfund Site and concerns regarding vapor intrusion.
“EPA has conducted three rounds of vapor intrusion sampling at the Paden City High School,” the petition states, citing an EPA statement. “EPA communicated to the Wetzel County School District in May 2024 that the results consistently indicate that there is no unacceptable risk to students resulting from the Superfund Site.
“Vapor intrusion data collected at the High School does not indicate any unacceptable risks to the students or staff using the High School. Based on the sampling results to date, a school closure was not recommended by EPA during any communications with the School District.”
Because the EPA determined there is no health and safety risks, the plaintiffs say Porter’s planned closure isn’t legal because the state code she was relying on to do so doesn’t apply.
“Superintendent Porter cannot claim on one hand that the EPA designation as a Superfund Site is the reason for the closure while on the other hand ignore the EPA’s recommendation to not close the school because there is no safety and health risk,” the petition states. “Superintendent Porter’s illegal and unauthorized closure of PCHS was done without the Board of Education’s involvement or approval. …
“Further, nothing in her illegal and unauthorized closure appears temporary as there is no plan to re-open PCHS and its closure will remain ‘until further notice.’ ‘Until further notice’ is not temporary.”
As with many small towns across the country, “the local high school is the heart and foundation of the community,” according to the petition.
“Closing PCHS when no threat to the students’ safety exists is rash, unreasonable, and will devastate the students, the teachers and staff, and the overall community,” the petition states. “Closing PCHS will devastate the students, the teachers and staff, and the overall community.”
It says employees have been seen athletic, band, teaching and other school equipment from the schools in the last few weeks.
Wetzel County teachers and staff are scheduled to report to school August 12, and students will begin classes August 19. And because of WV SSAC rules requiring players to practice on 12 separate days before participating in a sporting event, “time is running out for the PCHS Wildcats to field any sports team, including a football team and a marching band.”
Band camp was scheduled to begin July 22.
“But if there is no school in which to be enrolled, there can be no band,” the petition states. “The fundamental right to an education of West Virginia school students is in jeopardy because of the illegal and unauthorized closing of PCHS by Superintendent Porter.
“The careers of school professionals are in is in jeopardy because of the illegal and unauthorized closing of PCHS.”
The plaintiffs ask the court to enjoin Porter from closing PCHS by ordering the closure illegal and unauthorized. They also ask that all teachers, staff and faculty be reinstated and direct that any positions that have been vacated because of this illegal closure be filled as well as order all equipment removed from PCHS be returned to the school.
“Each day the school remains closed gets another day closer to PCHS not being able to re-open and field sports teams and a marching band due to WV SSAC rules,” the petition states. “Should the sports teams and marching band not be able to reform and participate in their regular and respective activities due to violations of the WV SSAC rules caused by the illegal and unauthorized closure of PCHS, irreparable harm will be suffered by the students, teachers, parents, and staff of PCHS.”
In addition to the temporary restraining order, the plaintiffs also seek a hearing for a preliminary injunction as soon as possible. They also ask that the WV SSAC be ordered from invoking any rule that prevents PCHS sports teams and marching band from performing and participating in their regular seasons because of any time deadlines or requirements that were caused or could be caused to be violated the illegal and unauthorized closing of PCHS.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Toriseva, Joshua D. Miller and Andrew Carpenter of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. Porter is being represented by Richard S. Boothby and William M. Lorensen of Bowles Rice in Charleston.
Wetzel Circuit Court case number 24-P-48