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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-04-11 adjApril 11, 1994 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) 000160 (page 1) An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on April 11, 1994, at 5:30 P.M., Rooms 5/6, County Office Building, McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia. The meeting was adjourned from April 6, 1994. PRESENT: Mr. David P. Bowerman, Mrs. Charlotte Y. Humphris, Messrs. Forrest R. Marshall, Jr., Charles S. Martin, Walter F. Perkins and Mrs. Sally H. Thomas. ABSENT: None. OFFICERS PRESENT: County Executive, Robert W. Tucker, Jr., and County Attorney, Larry W. Davis. Agenda Item No. 1. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 P.M., by the Chairman, Mr. Perkins. Mr. M. Marshall said he would wait until a quorum was present to call to order the meeting of the School Board. At this time Mr. Michael J. Marshall and Mrs. Sharon S. Wood were present. Agenda Item No. 2. Joint Meeting with School Board. SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Messrs. Russell Madison Cummings, Jr. (arrived 5:40 p.m.), George C. Landrith, III (arrived 5:55 p.m.), Michael J. Marshall, Mrs. Patricia L. Moore (arrived 5:50 p.m.), Mrs. Karen L. Powell (arrived 5:40 p.m.) and Mrs. Sharon Wood. ABSENT: Mr. William W. Finley, OFFICERS PRESENT: Superintendent, Dr. Robert W. Paskel, and Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Carole A. Hastings. Item No. 6a. Discussion: School Facility Long Range Planning Committee Report. Dr. Hastings presented the Long Range Planning Committee Preliminary Report. The members of the Long Range Planning Committee are: Richard E. Huff, II, Deputy County Executive; L. A. Reaser, Director of Building Servic- es; V. Wayne Cilimberg, Director of Planning and Community Development; Willie Smith, Director of Transportation; Tex Weaver, Information Resource Planner, and Dr. Hastings. Dr. Hastings said this is the first time a staff committee assumed responsibility for developing the preliminary report to deal with enrollment projections for the ensuing school year. She explained that the School Board had already received this report and this meeting would hopefully provide the opportunity for discussion among the two boards. In approaching its work, the committee operated under the following assumptions, which are important for board members to agree or disagree with because they are the basis of the report: 1. Existing space should be utilized as efficiently as possible prior to making recommendations for the need for new buildings; 2. The physical capacity of schools, i.e., the number of classrooms available for students, should be considered separately from the need for parity between facilities with regard to auxiliary spaces; and 3. Redistricting recommendations, when necessary to efficiently utilize existing spaces, are made based on proximity to schools, safe/efficient transportation and available space. Dr. Hastings said previously three separate ratings had been used to reflect the capacities of the various schools. The committee discussed the fact that using these three ratings was often confusing to the public in discussing capital improvements. Therefore, a new category, Physical Capaci- ty, was developed according to two levels, i.e. elementary and middle/ secondary. The committee recommended using 23.5 students per classroom as a guideline for elementary schools, or an average of 20:1 for K-2 and 25:1 for grades 3-5. That guideline excludes all special education classrooms and gymnasium. The committee used a 25:1 student/teacher ratio for middle and high schools, per regular classroom, excluding special education classes and gymnasium, and then this number was reduced by ten percent to reflect schedul- ing difficulties. Dr. Hastings said using the above capacities, the committee found conflicts in space in the next several years. In the elementary schools, one conflict would be at Stony Point; the capacity is 282 students, whereas the actual enrollment this year is 285 students, and up through 1997 there would be a slight conflict of about five children. There does not appear to be a problem with the middle schools, but there is a problem with the high schools. Combining the capacities at the high schools, there are 3,149 seats. Starting in 1995 Western Albemarle would exceed its capacity and then both of the high schools would exceed their capacities through the year 2003. O00i61 April 11, 1994 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 2) Dr. Hastings said the primary areas the committee looked at for next year were the northern elementary schools. The committee examined the available physical capacities at Broadus Wood, Hollymead, Woodbrook, Agnor- Hurt and Greer. The committee examined the long range enrollment forecast to address several key areas: 1. The continued high enrollment at Hollymead; 2. The growth that is anticipated due to Forest Lakes South; and 3. The decline in enrollments forecasted at Greer Elementary School. Dr. Hastings then discussed the recommendations from the committee that affect these neighborhoods. In summary, the recommendations accommodate the northern area student population without having to build new facilities in the foreseeable future. Regarding high schools, the committee explored three options: 1. Option 1: Renovation of the current Walton Middle School to house 400 7th/8th graders and up to 750 high school students. Cost: $11,056,606. 2. Option 2: Renovation of the current Walton Middle School to house either up to 400 7th/Sth graders and up to 1000 high school students; or all current 6 to 8 grade Walton students and up to 750 high school students. Cost: $12,071,389. 3. Option 3: Build a separate 750 or 1000 student facility in the Avon Street/Route 20 South vicinity or at the Walton Middle School site. Cost of a 1000 student high school on the Walton site is $15,788,770. If built on land other than Walton, the cost of land would have to be added to this option. This cost, when last estimated, would be approximately $1.5 million. The estimated transportation savings by locating a high school in this area would be approximately $369,084. Dr. Hastings said the committee discussed renovation of Western Albe- marle High School, but there would continue to be longer than average bus rides for students in the southern end of the County, and more students would be added to this group by attempting to redistrict enough students to Western in order to fill a 1500 pupil school. Mr. Perkins asked how many acres of land are at the Walton site. Mr. Reaser said the site consists of 50 acres, and although it could be done, it would be difficult to locate both facilities on this same site. Dr. Hastings then discussed the 1993-94 actual enrollments and physical capacities with the new calculations. Mr. Bowerman asked what the effect on transportation costs would be if a new high school was not located on the Walton site. Mr. Smith said the savings in transportation costs would be significantly lower if a new high school was located on another site. Mr. F. Marshall referred to a piece of property, he called the "Breeden property," once offered to the county. Mr. Smith said he was not familiar with this piece of property. Mr. F. Marshall explained that this property was located at the intersection of Avon Street Extended and Route 20. He said this property was offered to the county during the period of time that the School Board was looking for a site for Cale Elementary School. He asked what would be the transportation savings if a site was chosen in this area. Dr. Hastings explained that there would be some savings. Mr. Smith explained that the Transportation Department would be able to have more of a savings if middle and high school students were being transported together to the same site (i.e., Walton). Dr. Hastings said the boards could develop a Site Selection Committee that could look at Walton and other sites in order to come back with a recommendation. Dr. Hastings said since this report was presented to the School Board on March 28, 1994, the Center for Public Service (CPS) has come out with addi- tional projections. She explained that CPS develops its projections on a statewide aggregate basis. By forcing statewide trends on Albemarle County projections, it is felt that the county projections would probably be more accurate, because county specific trends are used. The committee is recom- mending that its current model not be changed to reflect the new statewide projections, because they may not be as accurate for Albemarle County. Dr. Hastings then presented the boards with some issues to be dealt with: Should physical capacity be used, or should board defined ideal school sizes be used? Should the feeder pattern concept of whole elementary schools attending a middle school be a guiding principle despite the cost? 000 !62 April 11, 1994 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 3) 3. Should the current grade configurations be used? In summary, Dr. Hastings said the committee acknowledges that there are a lot of issues that need to be dealt with, i.e. redistricting, building, etc. This report is presented as a starting point~ to let the boards know what the assumptions would do if they were enacted. The boards may want to discuss these issues and the committee could then go back and accommodate whatever actions the boards want to take. She then asked the boards for some direction in order for the committee to continue in their process. (At 6:00 p.m., Mr. M. Marshall formally convened the School Board meeting since a quorum was present.) Mr. Perkins said there needs to be some flexibility in the school capacities. The current space that is available needs to be utilized to its advantage. Mr. Bowerman asked how many mobile classrooms are at Hollymead Elementa- ry School. Mr. Reaser said the school is using three mobile classrooms although five are available. Dr. Hastings said the school division does recognize that there are schools, like Hollymead, that need to have auxiliary space refurbishments. She explained that the committee has been focusing on attendance areas before dealing with auxiliary spaces. Dr. Hastings said the mobile classrooms may need to be left at the schools while auxiliary space needs are addressed through the Capital Improvements Program (CIP). Mrs. Moore said she is concerned about the committee eliminating auxiliary space when establishing capacities. In many of the schools auxilia- ry space is a key component to class size and teaching. Dr. Hastings said the reason the committee did that was to try to define the attendance areas. In addition, this year the committee plans to develop building utilization standards to help develop parity across the school system. The regular classrooms may not be the same size as an auxiliary space. The committee felt the regular classrooms could be better utilized for instruction and then add on the auxiliary spaces through the CIP as opposed to using regular classrooms to accommodate some of those needs. Mrs. Moore asked if the committee has a cost to add to the auxiliary space. Dr. Hastings replied, "no" Mrs. Moore said it seems to her that by using the methods in the past for developing the capacity, it is less costly than having to go around and add on to schools to fix auxiliary space at several schools. Dr. Hastings said the committee is going to have to deal with the auxiliary space issue because of the inequity in some of the new schools versus the older schools. Knowing that would be a cost across the school system, the committee chose to try to define the classroom spaces first and then look at the issue of parity of science rooms, music rooms, etc. The committee hopes to bring back those recommendations to the School Board by the end of this year. Mrs. Powell said she is concerned that by using strict capacities flexibility in programs will not be allowed. She does not want the schools to sacrifice any of the good things offered. Mr. F. Marshall said Albemarle County should not be in the business of providing private schools at taxpayers expense. He said the public may have to realize that the county cannot continue to build schools, because at some point in the future these schools may be sitting empty. He said there may come a time where redistricting is necessary and the School Board may not be able to maintain whole school feeder patterns. Mrs. Powell and Mrs. Moore explained that the School Board has made an attempt to keep schools together due to the many requests heard from the community. Mrs. Moore did recognize that in the future, as enrollment increases in certain areas, the School Board may not be able to continue with the whole school feeder pattern concept. Mr. Martin said bodies will have to go where there are seats to accommodate them. Mrs. Thomas said the boards need to take into account the fact that the county may have created some schools that are too small. Mr. Martin said he felt High School Option III would make more sense, because it would hopefully provide a longer term solution. Mrs. Humphris stated her support for the current grade configurations. She said there can be great complications in combining greatly differing age groups in the same schools. Mr. Perkins said it would be ideal to keep the grade configurations as they are currently, but there may be the need to make some emergency changes. Dr. Hastings said the next issue on the high school matter would be to appoint a site selection committee that could look at Walton and other sites in that area and come back to the boards with a recommendation. Mr. F. Marshall felt the committee should look at the Walton site. Mr. Bowerman said he would like the committee to look at a site for a new high school closer to the urban area. The majority of growth in the county will occur in the urban area. There might temporarily be justification for a site at Walton, but in the long run it would be more efficient to have a high school closer to the urban area. Mrs. Thomas agreed that the urban area would experience most of the growth. She said the site selection committee should also look at the Piedmont Virginia Community College area. Agenda Item No. 2b. Other Matters not Listed on the Agenda. April 11, 1994 (Afternoon Adjourned Meeting) (Page 4) 000&63 Mr. Perkins said he received a call from a teacher that had been heavily recruited by the county last year and has been included in the Reduction in Force this year. He said this can be very disruptive to people's lives. He knows the school division must protect itself, but he wished there were other ways to handle the situation. Dr. Hastings explained that this situation is a result of state law when the school division is not sure if a position will be available due to enrollment. She said as the program is defined for Suther- land Middle School, many of these teachers will be called back to a teaching position. Mr. Perkins said he does not like to see good teachers penalized. Mrs. Thomas noted that the Board of Supervisors will be holding a hearing on the question of a seventh School Board member. She said she hoped the School Board members would share their knowledge and experience on this issue in order to help the Board of Supervisors make this decision. Mr. Bowerman asked how the number of buses in reserve is determined. Mr. Smith explained that buses are replaced on a ten or twelve year Cycle. The buses that have been replaced are put in the substitute fleet. Some buses are salvaged through auction to recoup some money, but other buses remain in reserve in case there are breakdowns. Dr. Hastings explained that the substitute fleet also offers some flexibility in providing transportation for field trips. Agenda Item No. 3. Adjourn. At 6:35 p.m., with no further business to come before the boards, the meeting was adjourned. Chairman