A new elementary school in York County is in the works, but residents with children in the area shouldn’t expect it anytime soon.
“It’s all fluid,” said Jim Carroll, chief operations officer for the York County School Division. “It can change depending on real estate trends, other projects in the county and other factors.”
In 2018, the county completed its preliminary design phase for the school and developed schematic floor plans, but the school division isn’t breaking ground just yet.
RELATED STORY: Design of new York County elementary school enters new phase
The concept for a new school was originally drafted into the division’s capital improvements plan to address the area’s growing population as a result of new housing developments in the county such as Marquis Hills.
But as those developments take longer to come to fruition, the projected numbers for population growth are no longer reflecting the county’s reality. Katherine Goff, spokeswoman for York County School Division, said while there is still growth in the county, it is not nearly as much as originally expected.
So instead of building an entirely new school, which would require a lot of taxpayer dollars and county resources, Carroll said the district has developed strategic solutions to address the growing number of students in the schools.
That means the school division looks at ways current schools can either expand or reorganize its resources in order to better accommodate students, Carroll said.
A few of the district’s schools have portable classrooms, also referred to as trailers, outside the school. Additionally, Carroll said where elementary schools have land on which to expand, the county takes that opportunity.
For example, Waller Mill Elementary School added a new wing to the building and Yorktown Elementary School expanded its cafeteria.
By using resources that way, the school district is able to move other projects up in the timeline that might need prioritizing.
“It’s not an exact [timeline],” Carroll said. “When you make that two-year commitment to build a school, that defers other projects, so other things we are doing to expand or needed maintenance projects would be pushed back.”
But those strategic solutions won’t last forever, and officials know that eventually a new school will have to be built.
Related story: Construction on Marquis Hills housing development underway
Currently, Goff said the district monitors projections and real numbers for student populations everyday, especially this time of year when many students are enrolling. The district also measures pace of residential development and if there were a significant spike in either of these numbers, then the county might consider moving it forward in the timeline.
“We are always preparing and moving forward,” Goff said. “So with the groundwork done, it does allow us that leeway to move certain projects around and focus on the [district’s] one-year definitive plans.”
Currently, the elementary school project is on the capital improvements plan for 2023 and 2024 with potential architectural and engineering work in 2022.
