By GREG JORDAN
PRINCETON — PikeView Middle School is tentatively scheduled to open in Aug. 2011, but whether it will be called PikeView Middle School depends on how its future students vote on Nov. 3.
In August, the West Virginia Board of Education approved a project to build a new middle school in Mercer County. The Mercer County Board of Education had voted 3-2 in July to accept a $12.5 million state School Building Authority grant designated for the new facility’s construction.
On Tuesday the board of education approved a site for the new school on the PikeView High School campus in Gardner, said Superintendent Dr. Deborah Akers.
“The site is below the existing soccer field,” Akers said. “This location will allow a separate entrance for the middle school.”
Students from Athens, Lashmeet/Matoaka, Spanishburg and Oakvale schools met Monday to brainstorm suggestions for the future school’s name, mascot and colors. Middle school grade students at each of the four schools will vote Monday, Nov. 3 to finalize their choices.
In the School Name category, students can pick from Gardner Middle, Mountain Middle and PikeView Middle.
One choice for mascot–Panther Cubs–is related to the mascot at neighboring PikeView High School. The future middle school’s student body could also be known as the Black Bears or the Vipers.
For school colors, the future students have four combinations on the ballot: black/gold/white; blue/silver; red/black/white; and yellow/black.
“You may be calling it PikeView Middle today, but by Monday it could be something else,” Akers said.
The school is tentatively scheduled to open during the fall of 2011, Akers said. Approximately 500 students will attend the new facility.
