W. Va. Supreme Court rejects motion to close Paden City HS
The Supreme Court of Appeals Monday rejected a motion by Cassandra Porter to stay a circuit court decision allowing PCHS to open for the 2024-25 school year.
CHARLESTON, W. Va. / PADEN CITY, W. Va. – The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals on Monday, Aug. 12, rejected a motion to stay a circuit court decision allowing Paden City High School to remain open. While students will be allowed to return to the embattled school on Monday, Aug. 19, the fight over PCHS is far from over.

On July 31, Judge C. Richard Wilson of the Second Judicial Circuit ordered Paden City High School reopened, overturning a decision made by Cassandra Porter, Superintendent of Wetzel County Schools, to shut the school citing imminent risk to student health. Wilson said Porter lacked the legal authority to close the school.
Days later, on Aug. 5, Porter, through her attorneys, petitioned the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to hear the case. In their petition, Porter asked the Court to expedite a motion to stay Wilson’s decision. The judges rejected said motion, leaving Paden City High School open during the course of the appeals process.
The process is not over yet. While the school will open for the 2024-25 school year, Porter’s appeal still needs to be addressed in Charleston–a process that could take more than a year.
The Court has not set a date for that hearing.

Porter closed Paden City High School on June 12, 2024, citing the health of the students. She argued that the school’s location atop a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site created an unreasonable risk to students and staff. Under W. Va. Code §18-4-10(5), superintendents have the authority to unilaterally close a school if imminent health risks exist.
On June 13, the U.S. EPA released a statement saying it did not recommend closing Paden City High School. At that time, a spokeswoman for the agency said there existed no unacceptable risk, citing test results showing the chemicals in the Superfund site to be at negligible levels.
During a nearly seven hour preliminary hearing in late July, though, Porter and her attorneys argued a new risk existed at the school. Porter said she was made aware of the presence of benzene in every room of the school in late June, yet she did not make those results public.
Judge Wilson, addressing the benzene question, said ways to remediate its presence existed and should be utilized by the county in order to keep Paden City High School open.
This spat over the school is the third attempt to shutter the beloved school in the last decade. Each time, though, students, teachers, families, and community members have protested against closure, saying their small town would be destroyed without the high school.
https://www.wtrf.com/west-virginia/legal-filing-asks-judge-to-find-west-virginia-superintendent-in-contempt-over-football/