Superintendent Steven Constantino has said a new middle school needs to be completed by 2018 to avoid the use of classroom trailers, but delays in the fourth middle school discussion make meeting that deadline increasingly unlikely.
“To guarantee having something ready in time for 2018, we have to get it started in January,” Constantino said.
While the School Board has twice voted to recommend using the James Blair administrative offices site for a new middle school, the James City County Board of Supervisors’ continued doubts of the site’s viability have delayed putting a plan in action.
The Board of Supervisors has also expressed interest in an idea put forward by local developer Chris Henderson that would build a middle school on a privately owned parcel of land on News Road near its intersection with Centerville Road in the county. The school board has not formally considered Henderson’s idea.
Although members of the Williamsburg City Council, Board of Supervisors and WJCC School Board have all expressed a desire to avoid the use of trailers, Constantino said they served a useful purpose to address short-term capacity issues. As the fourth middle school discussion continues, the school division may be forced to turn to the temporary structures.
WJCC currently has trailers installed at Berkeley Middle and Matthew Whaley Elementary. In a 3-1 vote in March, the Williamsburg City Council approved the use of trailers at the two schools in the city through July 31, 2018. Councilman Douglas Pons cast the sole dissenting vote, saying he did not think all options to ease overcrowding at the two schools had been explored. The total cost of leasing the trailers from Modular Technologies was $78,504.
School Board member Elise Emanuel (City of Williamsburg) agreed trailers were sometimes a necessity, but said their use was not an ideal situation.
“When you’re building a school, and it’s a little crowded elsewhere, you can put in a trailer,” she said. “But you have to know how to get out of that. It’s a year or two solution.”
Emanuel worked out of a trailer for a time as a guidance counselor at Lafayette High while Jamestown High was under construction. Emanuel said the separation from the main building could be inconvenient and made it difficult to interact with students.
“It’s kind of isolated,” she said. “It’s really not in the best interest of community education.”
Stonehouse Elementary teacher Kim Hundley also cited the inconvenience of trailers as their major drawback. Hundley, who also serves as a member-at-large of the district’s Education Association said some teachers preferred the seclusion offered by trailers, but said most teachers would rather be in the main building.
“Nobody wants to be in one, but when you’re at capacity, you have to lower the number,” she said.
Based on the final enrollment numbers from 2013, the school division estimates its middle school enrollment currently sits at 99.8 percent of capacity, with about 2,566 students divided among Berkeley, Hornsby and Toano middle schools.
By the 2015-16 school year, the middle schools are projected to be at 102.8 percent capacity. That trend of increased enrollment continues every school year through the end of the 10-year projection in 2023-24. Without the addition of a new building, WJCC’s middle schools will be operating at 121.5 percent of their capacity.
Constantino said enrollment issues through 2018 can be addressed through “creative” solutions, such as repurposing computer labs or other specialized classrooms for general use or having teachers travel among available rooms. He added “capacity” is an oft-misunderstood term, and differentiated between the instructional capacity of a school and its building capacity.
“When you’re faced with that kind of issue, principals get as creative as they can,” he said.
After 2018, creative solutions with available resources will not be sufficient to service every middle school student in the school division. If a new middle school does not come into service by 2018, RRMM Architects Inc. suggested plans of action for each school in a study commissioned by the school division, including the installation of trailers at each school.
Berkeley is the most pressing issue, as the school reached its capacity in the 2009-10 school year. By the 2023-24 school year, the building will have a deficit of 307 seats. It currently has three trailers onsite for an additional six classrooms. To accommodate increased enrollment, the school will have to add a minimum of three more trailers by 2022-23, as well as expand the cafeteria by 55 seats and add an auxiliary gym by 2023-24.
If a new middle school opened instead, Constantino said the existing trailers at Berkeley would no longer be needed.
RRMM projects Hornsby will reach its capacity by the 2018-19 school year and will run a 138-seat deficit by 2023-24 with the school division’s current resources. Without an additional middle school, Hornsby will require at least three trailers comprising six classrooms by 2022-23, as well as an auxiliary gym and a 77-seat cafeteria expansion by 2023-24.
Toano will also reach its capacity by the 2018-19 school year and is projected to run a deficit of 108 seats by 2023-24. If a new middle school is not active by then, it will require a minimum of three trailers by 2022-23. The building core will remain sufficient through 2023-24.
While trailers may soon be on the horizon for Hornsby and Toano, Constantino said he hopes to avoid using the more drastic measure of spot redistricting.
“Any school system wants to avoid redistricting,” he said. “Redistricting is not a great process. It has to be done sometimes, but it’s an emotional thing. Spot redistricting is even worse, because later on you’re going to have to redistrict again, so you’re basically upsetting people twice.”
During the planning process for Lois S. Horsby Middle, the school division envisioned having four middle schools — including James Blair Middle — open at the same time. The lingering effects of the Great Recession, combined with lower than expected growth, led the School Board to temporarily shutter James Blair in 2010.
Future capacity and enrollment remained an issue, as the school board was informed in November 2010 the school division’s middle schools would be over capacity by 2017.
The School Board voted to recommend Constantino’s latest James Blair plan, which would build a middle school at the site over two phases at a cost of nearly $61 million. The process cannot move forward until both the City Council and the county Board of Supervisors agree to fund the proposal.
Related Coverage:
- City Okays Classrooms Trailers for Matthew Whaley, Berkeley
- City Officials: County Has Control in WJCC, Fourth Middle School Decisions
- Committee Tasked With Finding Site for New WJCC Middle School Met Once, Never Issued Report
- Another Proposal Poses Setback for WJCC School Board’s Fourth Middle School Plans
- WJCC School Board Gives Reluctant Support for Latest James Blair Middle School Plan
- JCC Administrator Proposes Process for Supes to Give Feedback on Latest Middle School Plans
- Latest Proposal for New Middle School at James Blair Tops $50 Million
- WJCC Staff, Consultants Working on Short-Term Option to Accommodate Population Growth
- WJCC Schools Tasked with Developing New Short-Term Middle School Option
- JCC Supes Change Fourth Middle School Funding Placeholder, Pass Budget
- WJCC School Site Selection Committee Members Announced
- City Council Adopts Lower Budget Than Originally Proposed
- JCC Citizens Voice Concern for Stormwater, Schools Funding in Proposed Budget
- JCC Budget Proposal Focuses on Schools, Public Safety and Stormwater
- James City County Faced with Covering Increased Stormwater, School Costs
- JCC Committee Includes Fourth Middle School in List of Priority Projects
- Funding, Site for Fourth WJCC Middle School Still Uncertain
- JCC Supervisors Want James Blair Kept as Central Office, More Options for New WJCC School
- WJCC School Board OKs Preliminary Budget with Placeholders for Middle School, Central Office
- JCC Supes to Wait Two Weeks Before Offering Opinion on Fourth Middle School, Central Office
- James Blair Still Recommended as Site for Fourth WJCC Middle School
- WJCC Admin Proposes Additions to Berkeley, Hornsby
- JCC Supes Approve Classroom Trailers at Hornsby MS
