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Henrico County Public Schools will hold events Nov. 7 and 13 for the public to learn more about two initial draft options created by the 67-person HCPS Redistricting Committee.
The first event will be Thursday evening at L. Douglas Wilder Middle School, and an identical Nov. 13 session will be held at Mills Godwin High School. The events will begin with a presentation at 6:30 p.m. by Matt Cropper of Cropper GIS, the redistricting consulting firm that is assisting the school division. At 7 p.m., there will be a “gallery walk,” where attendees can peruse large foam-mounted maps of two draft redistricting options – options “A” and B.” Committee members will be present to answer questions.
The committee considered six draft options and chose to present the two it believes best satisfy the aims of redistricting:
• to efficiently use available space and plan for growth;
• to account for the addition to Holladay Elementary School and the increased capacity of the new J.R. Tucker and Highland Springs high schools, opening in 2021;
• to reduce concentrations of poverty, while balancing that goal with a neighborhood-school concept.
Interactive maps of the two draft options are available online at henricoschools.us/redistricting/. The webpage also includes a link to a survey to comment on the two options. Nothing in the drafts has been finalized, and the committee needs public input to guide changes. The School Board, which will welcome three new members in January (Kristi Kinsella of Brookland, Marcie Shea of Tuckahoe and Alicia Atkins of Varina) will vote o the plan in May 2020.
The school division is examining and redrawing elementary, middle and high school attendance zones which may be phased in for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years. Students entering grades 5, 8, 11 and 12 in the year a new boundary takes effect would be “grandfathered” and would be able to finish at their current school, provided they secure transportation.
Last week, the school system threw a wrench into the proceedings, announcing their desire for two new elementary schools to be built (one in or near the River Mill subdivision near Virginia Center by September 2022 and another somewhere in the Far West End) and for a middle school (likely Hungary Creek) to be expanded by September 2022.
But because those plans are not finalized, the two draft options don't incorporate any of those projects. Officials have said that the new River Mill school would affect a limited number of school boundaries and would not necessitate a wholesale change to countywide draft maps.
For those who cannot attend the Nov. 7 or 13 events, both will be livestreamed at henricoschools.us. The sessions will also be recorded and made available at henricoschools.us/redistricting/ in the days after the event.
Wilder Middle School is located at 6900 Wilkinson Road. Godwin High School is located at 2101 Pump Road.
