By Jarrod Barry
For Charleston Gazette-Mail
Tensions flared at last week’s Kanawha County Schools board meeting between residents of East Bank and a drug rehab company that plans to buy a former school in the area.
A representative from Healthy U Behavioral Health, a for-profit provider of addiction treatment services, had come to explain the company’s plans for the now-closed East Bank Middle School building. After his presentation, more than a half dozen East Bank residents cornered the speaker in the hallway and demanded that the company commit to not building a rehab facility at the former school.
It was the latest in a simmering conflict over what will become of the building, which was purchased last month at auction by Healthy U, whose owner, Linda Carter, also owns and operates the nearby Chelyan Circle of Care Center, a nonprofit in-patient facility that treats men with drug addiction.
hat connection has left East Bank Mayor Chuck Blair fearful about the building’s future.
“I just didn’t think it would be turned into something we didn’t want it to be,” he said.
Fears for a former school’s future
After East Bank Middle School closed in June 2025, Kanawha County Schools offered the building to the town of East Bank. But when Blair learned that maintenance costs were $20,000 per month, he turned it down, leading the school board to put it up for public auction. It sold last month for $242,000, according to Joe R. Pyle Complete Auction & Realty Service, the Shinnston, Harrison County-based company handling the auction.
At the auction, several parties bid over the phone, but only one showed up in person — the eventual winner, Carter of Healthy U.
While Healthy U has so far offered only general plans for the site, Blair isn’t convinced. He worries that without a written guarantee, they’ll turn the former school into a treatment facility similar to the Chelyan Center three miles down the road. Despite reaching out multiple times over the past month, he said he still hasn’t gotten that guarantee.
These centers are important, Blair added, and he’s not against them in general. But he was critical of the Chelyan Center in particular, which he described as poorly run and “a circus.” Blair said he worries that a similar facility in East Bank could bring drugs and crime that his town — with a population of 800 and no full-time police force — isn’t able to handle.
Between Jan. 6 and Sept. 22 of this year, there were 89 calls to Metro 911 — including 17 responses from law enforcement — to the Chelyan Center address, according to data supplied by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office. Other calls included requests for EMS, fire alarms and other calls.
“We have nothing against drug rehab if it’s run properly,” Blair said. “I’m of the opinion that it’s not run properly down there.”
‘That’s not what’s going to happen there’
o Carter, the entire East Bank kerfuffle has been overblown.
In an interview Monday, Carter repeatedly said she has no intention of turning the former school into a drug treatment facility.
“I understand the cause for concern by some of the residents of East Bank,” she said, “but that’s not what’s going to happen there.”
While Carter hasn’t finalized plans for the site, she said possible options included an adult day program for families with autistic children, a wellness center and even a vocational training school. She was adamant, however, about what it won’t be.
“It’s not going to be a Suboxone clinic. It’s not going to be any kind of residential substance use center,” she said.
Carter insists she’s tried to be transparent. She said she’s spoken to the KCS board about her plans and sent a company representative to the Sept. 17 meeting in an attempt to “calm everybody’s fears.”
Carter also pushed back on Blair’s criticism of the Chelyan Center. She disputed the idea that her patients contributed to crime and homelessness in the area, describing the center as a “tight ship” with strict rules about when patients can leave and where they can go. Any pushback, she added, was based on unfounded fears about her patients as well as broader stigma around drug and mental health treatment.
“Everybody says they want to see people in addiction get help, but they don’t want that help in their neighborhood,” she said.
‘I should’ve taken it’
Kanawha County’s Board of Education must ultimately approve the sale, though it’s not clear when that will happen. In response to questions, Chris Williams, communications director for Kanawha County Schools, did not offer a timeline on when the board would vote or comment on what issues the members might consider when deciding whether to sign off on the move.
In the meantime, Blair is still pushing for assurances — in writing — that Healthy U won’t use the site as a rehab facility or sell it to someone who will. He said he’s hopeful they’ll keep their word, but without a firm commitment, he plans to ask the school board to cancel the sale and give the school to East Bank instead.
“I should’ve taken it,” Blair said. “The only reason was economics, but I’ll figure something out to do with this school to make it work.”
Read more from the Charleston Gazette-Mail here
The post Residents worry after rehab clinic owner buys former UKV middle school building appeared first on West Virginia Press Association.