The Williamsburg-James City County School Board is looking for your input on draft maps for redistricting the division’s middle schools and high schools.
The WJCC School Board has organized four public information sessions over two nights this month to update parents and residents about the redistricting process in Williamsburg and James City County.
The information sessions will be held at Warhill High School Nov. 30 and Lafayette High School Dec. 5. Draft maps for the middle school redistricting will be shown from 5-6:30 p.m., and high school maps will be shown from 7-8:30 p.m.
With the new James Blair Middle School taking shape on Ironbound Road, the School Board and a hired consultant, Cooperative Strategies, are working to redraw maps that determine which students attend each middle school and high school.
James Blair is expected to open September 2018 and will hold up to 600 students, with room for an additional 300 if expanded.
The maps will be shown at the information sessions Nov. 30 and Dec. 5, and the consultant will be on-hand to answer questions, Superintendent Olwen Herron said at the School Board meeting Tuesday.
During the sessions, community members can fill out comment cards and surveys, which will also be available later online, Herron added.
The draft maps will be available to the public online following the Nov. 28 School Board meeting.
Redistricting, in part, aims to address other division issues such as integrating neighborhoods with different economic situations and proximity to the buildings.
Another goal is to get all three existing middle schools – Toano, Berkeley and Hornsby – down to 85 percent capacity, school division spokeswoman Betsy Overkamp-Smith has said. All three schools are now close to or over capacity.
Redistricting high schools could also alleviate some overcrowding at that level, according to School Board documents. The three high schools, Jamestown, Warhill and Lafayette, are at 110, 90 and 88 percent capacity, respectively.
WJCC Schools has redistricted twice before, in 2007 and 2010, which caused some “heartache and tumult,” School Board Chair Kyra Cook said in April.
At meetings, the School Board has said they will work to include the community in redistricting discussions.
The board is set to meet again and review the draft maps at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at the Stryker Center, located at 412 N. Boundary Street, in Williamsburg.
