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Shepherdstown Elementary School location, bike path resolution questioned in Town Council meeting

By Tabitha Johnston - Chronicle Staff | Feb 18, 2022

SHEPHERDSTOWN — The Shepherdstown Town Council convened for its monthly town council meeting on Feb. 8, during which it covered a variety of topics, ranging from the Shepherdstown Public Library’s annual paper shredding event to the future location of the Shepherdstown Elementary School.

In opposition to the Jefferson County Board of Education’s decision to move the locations of both Shepherdstown Elementary School and Shepherdstown Middle School to a new location outside of town limits, Shepherdstown resident Ken Lowe pledged at least $10,000 toward Shepherdstown Elementary School, if the school’s new building was not actually new, but was rather a retrofitted version of the current Shepherdstown Middle School building.

“I will write a check for $10,000 to the school — not to the superintendent, not to the school board — and we will let the students or the parents and the teachers determine how to use it,” Lowe, who has professional experience in school retrofitting, said. “The butt stops here. I’m so determined to do this! I’m not going to let people from outside of here tell us how to take care of our kids and our school.”

Town councilman Marty Amerikaner acknowledged Lowe’s point, that many town residents would likely prefer their young children attending school closer to home. However, he also noted that when the Jefferson County Board of Education representatives came to the October Town Council meeting, they said the bond money granted for the school building project would be lost, if it wasn’t used for the exact project, for which the funding was approved. Amerikaner also noted the new location for the schools may be a projection for future population growth near the school buildings’ new location.

“Yes, it’s called Shepherdstown Elementary School, but the fact that they are moving it out to where they’re moving it, is an indication of the population radius that is going to be served by this new school. And that that population is well outside of the boundaries of Shepherdstown. There are kids from several parts of the county that are all going to be coming to that school,” Amerikaner said. “My understanding is, the school board is balancing a whole bunch of different things, and they’re trying to find a location that makes sense. And they did find a location that they believe makes sense for the greater population area that they have to serve in Jefferson County.”

According to Lowe, the new building location is not near any new housing developments. He agreed to submit a resolution, supporting the retrofitting of Shepherdstown Middle School, which the Town Council will then consider signing and sending to the Jefferson County Board of Education in its monthly meeting in March.

The Town Council then unanimously approved for Mayor Jim Auxer to sign an updated resolution for the Morgan’s Grove bike path project, which will make it the Corporation of Shepherdstown’s responsibility to maintain the bike path until 2042.

“That doesn’t prohibit us from getting volunteers or from getting entities for taking care of the bike path,” Auxer said, mentioning the maintenance of the path would have otherwise been left up to the West Virginia Department of Highways. “If we wanted to apply for grants to get money (to expand the bike path), we would be responsible for that.”

The Town Council also unanimously approved for two different events to be held in town on May 14.

From 7 a.m. to noon, the Stronger With Each Step 5K was approved to be held, from Town Hall to Trough Road to Rumsey Park. The Town Council agreed to waive the park rental fee, as the 5K is being run by a nonprofit which supports suicide prevention efforts in the Eastern Panhandle.

The Shepherdstown Public Library’s annual paper shredding event will also be held that same day behind the Market House.

“We did the shred event last year, where we had a large shred truck come from behind the library,” said Youth Services Librarian Sarah Brumback. “Last year, we had 4,600 pounds of paper products that were shredded and recycled. It was a free event for the community. It was very popular and something that was very practical.”