Henrico school redistricting committee releases 12 new boundary maps

Henrico’s school redistricting committee last night released 12 new school boundary options – more than doubling the number of options it has devised to date.

With the new additions, a total of 22 options now exist – eight for high schools and seven each for elementary and middle schools.

The committee also scheduled two new joint meetings for Feb. 6 and Feb. 19, adding them to a schedule that already included subcommittee meetings Feb. 4 (for the elementary school subcommittee) and Feb. 5 (for the secondary school subcommittee).

The committee is working to make a recommendation of new boundaries to the School Board, which is expected to vote to adopt new boundaries in late May. Changes are needed as the county prepares to open new editions of Tucker and Highland Springs high schools and a larger version of Holladay Elementary school in September 2021. The process also is designed to reduce the concentration of poverty in as many schools as possible and most effectively spread students to reduce crowded conditions at some schools.

The new maps don’t vary wildly from earlier options but do include a number of subtle differences. Much of the recent public debate has focused on two hot spots of particular contention in the county:

• the Virginia Center area in northern Henrico, where residents of the new River Mill community, Magnolia Ridge and several other adjacent neighborhoods are fighting an uphill battle to remain in the Hungary Creek Middle and Glen Allen High School zones instead of moving to Brookland Middle and Hermitage High instead (as all 14 middle and high school maps show).

At the middle school level, only new option D2 would restore a small part of the existing Hungary Creek zone east of Woodman Road and south of Greenwood Road to Hungary Creek. Most other options use the Woodman Road/Winfrey Road north-south line as the dividing line for that zone, sending students west of it to Hungary Creek and those east of it to Brookland.

High school Options D1 and D2 also would use that line as the divider between Glen Allen and Hermitage high schools, with students west of it going to Glen Allen and those east to Hermitage. Options E1 and E1 would move the dividing line farther west and move all students east of the Glen Allen train tracks (adjacent to Old Washington Highway) to Hermitage and those west of them to Glen Allen.

• the Crestview Elementary and Pemberton Road corridor communities, both of which want to remain zoned for Freeman High School – something that seems highly unlikely. Existing Option D and new options D1 and D2 would keep the Pemberton Road corridor at Freeman High School and send the Crestview Elementary School community to Tucker High School. Options E1 and E2 would reverse that, keeping Crestview students at Freeman but moving the Pemberton corridor to Tucker. Both options E1 and E2 also would extend the Tucker boundaries southwest into the current Godwin high School zone.

Options D and D1 are identical from Tucker’s perspective, but D2 would move a section of students south of Glenside Drive, north of I-64 and east of West Broad Street from Tucker to Hermitage High. Options E1 and E2 would instead pull students from the current Godwin zone who live west of Gaskins Road and south of Three Chopt Road into the Tucker zone, much as Options A and B proposed.

Another area that committee members have debated is West Broad Village, which currently feeds to Short Pump Middle and Deep Run High. All seven middle school proposals would shift the community to Pocahontas Middle, which it abuts, while high school options D, E1 and E2 would keep it at Deep Run and options D1 and D2 would move it to Godwin High.

The elementary school subcommittee will meet Feb. 4 from 5:30 p.m. to to 8:30 p.m. at Hungary Creek Middle School, and the secondary school subcommittee will meet the following day from at the same time at the New Bridge Auditorium.

The two newly scheduled joint committee meetings are planned for Feb. 6 at Henrico High School and Feb. 19 at Jackson Davis Elementary, both also from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. All meetings are open for the public to observe, but the committee does not accept comments.

When the school board adopts boundaries in late May, it’s expected to set an implementation date of September 2021 for some or all of them, though some boundary changes could be delayed until the following year or phased in over two years, according to school leaders.

For details, to view the new maps or to submit comments, visit henricoschools.us/redistricting.