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"I've learned a lot of stuff here, and there's a lot of people here that are like me," said eighth-grader Coy Williams. "I made good friends here, had a good time, and a lot of these teachers make learning fun."

6 Kanawha schools to close amid budget cuts

In a decision made in October 2024, six schools in the county will close or consolidate in the coming years. These consolidations include East Bank Middle School and McKinley, both of which closed Monday.

The Kanawha County school district is the largest in West Virginia, operating more than 70 buildings for about 23,000 students. But a declining county population has led to less funding and the need for consolidation. Public schools are financed through a combination of local, state and federal dollars — with the majority of funding coming from the state.

"I hate to say goodbye to my school, especially," McKinley Principal Amy Scott said Monday. "But sometimes, for financial reasons, we need to consolidate. And I think, truly, in the long run, it will offer really great experiences for our students — and that's really what they deserve."

Additionally, Mary Ingles, Belle Malden and Midland Trail elementary schools will close in the coming years, once a new elementary center is built for those students in the Upper Kanawha Valley.

With 255 students currently enrolled, McKinley Middle, at 3000 Kanawha Terrace, has served the St. Albans community since the 1930s. First as a junior high and then as a middle school in the 1990s.

"When we integrated, they used this building to take some of the load off of St. Albans — what they called junior high at that time — and then, about five years later, they built Hayes to take the load off of that," said seventh-grade math teacher Walt Hillenbrand, who has worked at McKinley for 40 years. "We've hit the crest and we're going downhill now after [Union] Carbide left. Good-paying jobs left, so people left."

Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, former McKinley students will attend Hayes Middle School, which is 5 miles away from McKinley, at 830 Strawberry Road.

What's next?

With this transition comes the question of how the new facilities will handle the influx of students. When the schools merge, there are expected to be about 700 students at Hayes Middle.

"They've been working really hard on it all year. They've been doing some remodeling and some reconfiguring," Scott said. "I am confident that they'll be able to handle the amount of students."

Additionally, there is a concern surrounding what will happen to the McKinley staff, but Scott said, "everybody has a position for next school year." Some will be transferring to Hayes and others will be transferring to other schools in the county.

To make the transition easier, the students visited Hayes Middle throughout the school year to get acquainted with their new environment and peers.

"I was with them in the last event, and they were interacting, everybody was mingling; it was like they had always known each other," Scott said. "But St. Albans is a small town, so they probably do already know each other. So, they will go over with lots of friends, lots of familiar faces from this school, and I think it will be a good thing."