Cuzzy One Room School House
Introduction
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Images
Cuzzy One Room School House located behind the Lincoln County Board of Education. Now used as storage.
Backstory and Context
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This particular schoolhouse was tucked away in the remote mountainside community of Cuzzy, West Virginia in Lincoln County. This one-room schoolhouse housed Kindergarten through 12th grade. The school officially closed in 1976 due to county school consolidations.
Lincoln County is one of the larger counties in the state of West Virginia. However, some areas are very sparsely inhabited which created many smaller schools. Due to Lincoln County’s rural nature the major roadways are constructed around the borders of the county causing longer transportation time. School consolidations were spurred by the lack of funds to keep all of the smaller community schools open.
Shortly after the closing of the last one-room schoolhouse in Lincoln County, the Recht Decision was handed down in 1982, affecting all West Virginia Schools. This decision ruled that funding should be equally allocated for all schools across the state regardless of location and set educational standards for primary and secondary schools to be met across the state. Ironically, perhaps, it was a Lincoln County parent who sued the Lincoln County School board, as she believed her children were not receiving education opportunities as more funding was going to the richer counties and schools.
Years after the school closed the building was moved from its original home to the property of Lincoln County Board of Education in Hamlin, WV. It is not open for tours. Currently it is being used for storage with no current plans for future historical preservation.