Seven Weeks After Flood, Lewis County Middle School Students Return To Class At Jackson’s Mill

WESTON, W.Va. — Seven weeks after devastating floodwaters swept through Lewis County, more than 400 Robert L. Bland Middle School students will finally begin classes Tuesday, marking one of the most significant milestones yet in the county’s recovery.

They will not return to their school building in Weston.

Instead, buses will carry students to WVU Jackson’s Mill, where a campus known for generations as a gathering place for 4-H members, camps and youth programs has been transformed into a temporary middle school.

The arrangement will allow Robert L. Bland students and staff to remain together for in-person instruction after the July 21 flooding left the middle school unable to safely reopen.

Lewis County’s other schools began the academic year weeks earlier while officials worked to find a solution for the middle school.

For a county that has spent much of the past seven weeks removing debris, cleaning homes and businesses and beginning the long process of rebuilding, Tuesday represents another step toward restoring a familiar routine.

Flood recovery remains ongoing throughout Lewis County. Families, businesses and public facilities continue to repair damage left behind by the July flooding.

But getting hundreds of students back into classrooms closes one of the most visible gaps left by the disaster.

Robert L. Bland Middle School was among the facilities hardest hit when flooding inundated portions of Weston on July 21. Floodwater and mud entered the building and caused extensive damage, making a normal reopening impossible.

Cleanup work at the middle school alone has been estimated at approximately $1.6 million.

School officials initially considered beginning the year virtually while longer-term options were evaluated. Temporary modular classrooms were also considered, but officials estimated that option could cost approximately $1.4 million annually before some installation and utility expenses were included.

Jackson’s Mill provided another solution.

The Lewis County Board of Education approved an agreement with West Virginia University to use the Jackson’s Mill State 4-H Camp and Conference Center for in-person instruction. The campus is expected to serve Robert L. Bland students through the end of the school year in May 2027.

The state also provided $400,000 from the Governor’s Civil Contingent Fund to assist with the temporary relocation, with officials expecting the expense to ultimately be reimbursed through FEMA.

The school day at Jackson’s Mill will look different from what students were accustomed to at Robert L. Bland.

Instructional spaces have been established across the campus, with students generally organized by grade. Instead of hundreds of students repeatedly moving between buildings throughout the day, teachers will do more of the moving between instructional spaces while students remain more stationary.

School officials also planned a practice run before Tuesday’s opening, using high school students to simulate middle school students riding buses and moving through a typical day on the sprawling campus.

Jackson’s Mill has spent more than a century educating young West Virginians, although never quite like this.

The Lewis County property became home to the nation’s first state 4-H camp in 1921 and has since developed into a more than 500-acre educational campus operated by West Virginia University.

For the 2026-27 school year, that history will take another turn.

Beginning Tuesday morning, cottages, meeting areas and educational spaces normally associated with camps and special programs will become part of the everyday routine for more than 400 Lewis County middle school students.

Tuesday will not mean Lewis County’s flood recovery is complete. Families and businesses are still rebuilding, public infrastructure continues to recover and the future of the damaged Robert L. Bland Middle School remains a longer-term question.

But nearly seven weeks after floodwaters disrupted life across the county, buses arriving at Jackson’s Mill will represent something Lewis County has been working toward since July 21: another major piece of normal life returning.