Albemarle County Will be Redistricting Schools

At some point, Albemarle County will be redistricting schools, because the population is growing. Please take time to read this whole thing, courtesy of Amanda Alger. If you have comments or questions, please comment below, or email Amanda. Bolding throughout is mine.

If you don’t have kids, please get involved, as school quality and perceived school quality affects property values. If you do have kids, get aware and involved. Even if your kids are little now, they’re going to grow up. I’m happy to talk our schools’ perceived quality about property values offline.

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via email –

If you’d like to provide any comments or feedback on this draft report, please do so by July 1 at 8 am.  The report will be presented to the School Board at their meeting on July 11th at 6:30, which is open to the public for comment. 

The Long Range Planning Advisory Committee (LRPAC) is tasked with putting together a yearly report for the Superintendent and School Board to assist in the development of long term facilities plans.  They meet monthly and Central Office staff puts together this report with input from representatives appointed by each School Board member and the Superintendent.

This year’s $180 million Capital Improvement Program (CIP) recommendation addresses four areas: Maintenance and Replacement, Capacity and Growth, Safety and Security and Renovation of Existing Facilities.  

Of particular interest to the White Hall District:

From June 26 Draft Report: “The top ranked capacity related project is an addition to Crozet Elementary School combined with redistricting Brownsville Elementary School students. Robust growth in the Crozet area has been on the radar for some time and the time for additional capacity has come.

Brownsville and Crozet are currently over capacity and enrollment is anticipated to continue growing. Brownsville will utilize 8 mobile classrooms next year. At a capacity of 330, the Crozet site has room for expansion. A design for an addition and improvements is currently funded in the CIP with the assumption of redistricting students from the current Brownsville district to Crozet Elementary when the project is complete. With a forecasted 96% population growth over the next 30 years, expanding Crozet up to its maximum is a near-term recommendation, but a new western elementary school will also likely prove necessary longer term. An expansion of an existing school is recommended prior to the construction of a new school for several reasons including timing, cost, less redistricting, equitable size amongst schools, and staffing benefits. These reasons are elaborated on in the justification section of the Crozet Addition project page of this report. 

• Scope: This project will expand and make improvements to Crozet Elementary. It will include an additional 28,000 sf as well as make improvements to the existing building and site. The additions will include 16 classrooms, 1 SPED classroom, 3 smaller resource classrooms, and various support spaces. The additions will also expand the cafeteria and media center to support the larger student enrollment. Improvements to the existing building will include improvements to existing classrooms, kitchen, stage and cafeteria (including ADA upgrades), and existing front office, support spaces and toilets. Site improvements will include outdoor learning areas, new and expanded bus drop-off, additional parking, additional playground equipment, and the replacement of a paved play area due to the likely location of the addition. The design work for the project is currently funded and will begin in the Fall of 2019. If the construction is funded the project would be completed for the 2022/23 school year. 
  

Middle Schools

The five comprehensive middle schools currently have combined adequate capacity, but Division projections show looming capacity issues at Henley and Jouett. Long-term population forecasts show the middle schools gaining students in the out-years. Combined, approximately 1,300 more students than today are forecast. With the complication of split feeder patterns and under enrollment at some schools, further study to determine feasible alternatives is needed. Potential alternatives may include the addition of a new middle school, addressing current grade level configurations, and redistricting. 

High Schools

The Division has embarked upon a “center” based strategy to address capacity issues at its three comprehensive high schools, in particular at Albemarle High School. This agile approach addresses both instructional and capacity needs in an efficient manner. Long-term county population growth is forecast to grow by 44% over the next thirty years. That could yield another 1,800 high school students, roughly the size of the current AHS

Boundary Changes

Per Board policy, the committee is tasked to make long-term recommendations for facilities needs in the most effective and efficient way. This may require redistricting to make use of existing capacity. The LRPAC recommendation is based on assumptions that future redistricting will impact the following schools/areas in the next 10 years:

· Brownsville & Crozet Elementary:

Projections show that Brownsville will have the highest capacity conflicts. A design is funded to expand Crozet, with the assumption of that students will be redistricted from the current Brownsville district.

· Middle Schools:

A study is recommended that will consider the possibility of redistricting the middle schools.”

If you’d like to provide any comments or feedback on this draft report, please do so by July 1 at 8 am.  The report will be presented to the School Board at their meeting on July 11th at 6:30, which is open to the public for comment. 

Agenda information can be found here: http://esb.k12albemarle.org/