Kinsella: What happened to Henrico's planned Glen Allen HS ACE Center?

What happened to the proposed Glen Allen High School ACE Center?

Henrico voters in 2016 approved a $419.8-million bond referendum, which included (among other projects) $37 million for the construction of the advanced career education center – which would train students in a number of careers – but the money intended for that project no longer exists, spent instead to cover cost-overruns on other school projects from the referendum or held in reserve in case meals tax money slated for other projects didn’t materialize because of the pandemic.

Now, the Henrico School Board member whose district was slated to receive the facility wants to know why.

During a School Board work session last week, Brookland District member Kristi Kinsella didn’t hold back her frustration about the disappearance of funding for the project.

“This school board, these five members had nothing to do with the Glen Allen ACE Center disappearing,” she said. “But as the Brookland District representative, let me be clear: $37 million of a project needs to happen in my district.”

Superintendent Amy Cashwell, who assumed her role in 2018, said that the bond’s approval predated her arrival, but told Kinsella that $1.5 million in funding was spent for the design of the center. Cashwell wasn’t certain how much of the remaining amount had been applied to other bond projects and how much had been held in reserve for meals tax projects but said she’d check with finance officials to find out.

The county’s meals tax revenue is applied entirely toward school projects, but at the outset of the pandemic, officials were bracing for those revenues to shrink drastically, as restaurants closed. Henrico Deputy Manager for Administration Brandon Hinton told the Citizen last week, though, that while the meals tax revenue has decreased, it has performed better than the county’s worst-case estimates.

As recently as last November, school planning officials showed $35.5 million for the Glen Allen ACE Center as part of their proposed capital improvement program for the current fiscal year. Of that amount, $27 million still was slated to come from bond referendum funds.

Kinsella, however, said the money’s disappearance from the project was cause for concern.

“I question the integrity of the bond if we’re going to vote on things that don’t come to fruition, and the public does not have a say-so,” she said.

Tuckahoe District representative Marcie Shea echoed Kinsella’s concerns, saying that voters should feel confident knowing that what they’re approving will actually be built.

“While legally [school bond money] can be used for whatever school project, I know that members of the board previous to us. . . went community to community to talk about how impactful this Glen Allen ACE Center would be in order to help get the bond approved, and it makes me concerned about going forth for new bonds,” she said. “If we don’t use the previous money for what we said we were going to, or even similar projects as to what we said we were going to, how do we have the voters’ confidence that we will use future bonds in the way that we have marketed it to get the bond approved?”

Other bond money rearranged, too

The Glen Allen ACE Center wasn’t the only such facility identified in the referendum that hasn’t come to fruition. The plan also called for construction of a $42-million ACE center in Eastern Henrico, but that money was applied instead to the construction of a new $98.3-million Highland Springs High School (a project that came about after the referendum passed).

Other school projects funded by the 2016 referendum:
• $55 million for the renovation of Tucker High School (money that later was applied to the $92.7-million rebuild of the school instead);
• $28.2 million for the renovation of Tuckahoe Middle School;
• $20 million for a new Brookland area elementary school (which ended up being used to double Holladay Elementary instead after a suitable site for a new school couldn't be identified);
• $19 million for the renovation of Adams Elementary School;
• $14 million for the renovation of Chamberlayne Elementary School;
• $13 million for the renovation of Skipwith Elementary School;
• $12.8 million for the renovation of Seven Pines Elementary School;
• $12 million for the renovation of Crestview Elementary School;
• $5.5 million for an addition to Glen Allen Elementary School.

It wasn't immediately clear which of those projects received some of the funds that were earmarked for the Glen Allen ACE Center.

Henrico Schools Workforce and Career Development Director Mac Beaton told the board that when his staff began planning several years ago to revamp and expand the ACE program – which includes existing centers at Hermitage and Highland Springs high schools that opened in 1972 – it did so with the expectation that new facilities would be built and the existing ones updated.

Currently, the school system’s Career and Technical Education program (of which the ACE centers are part) has 950 seats, but about 1,900 students apply each year, Beaton said – meaning that there are about 1,000 applicants annually that the school system can’t serve. But the addition of two new centers could give the program the ability to accept as many as 3,500 students at a time, he told the board.

“Everybody knows I’m very passionate about this, because I’ve seen it change young people’s lives, and personally I feel like every time we miss a student, we miss an opportunity,” Beaton said. “We’re doing everything we can with continuing to try to meet the needs of our students, but we’re just out of space at this point in time.”

Students who complete ACE Center programs have a 100% graduation rate, Beaton told the board.

Beaton and his staff began gathering input during their planning process from businesses in a think tank formed by the Henrico Economic Development Authority.

He envisions a new ACE location with new programming that could focus on hospitality and tourism/marketing and would have 500 first-year seats and 500 second-year seats for students. Along with new programs, the existing web design, radio broadcasting, graphics, culinary, criminal justice and hospitality and tourism programs would be moved there.

Beaton also proposed innovation programming with 600 seats at a new “innovation center” for grades 7-12.

That type of comprehensive update of the ACE program would allow for the addition of new courses; the shifting of existing courses to locations that make more sense; and the ability to serve more students, he said.

Currently, the Hermitage ACE Center includes courses in 21 industries, from automotive technology to landscaping, practical nursing to veterinary science. The Highland Springs center includes courses in 15 industries, from auto body repair and hotel catering to radio broadcasting and journalism.

The two existing ACE centers were located near businesses related to the programs they offered, Beaton said – a critical component for ensuring their success and that of future centers.

“The important piece is the synergy with the businesses,” Beaton said. “For instance, a doctor at Henrico Doctors’ [Hospital] can, at lunch time, run over and meet with students [at Hermitage], because it’s right up the street, versus driving across the county [to Highland Springs]. Looking at the map, the location of the major healthcare facilities and the proximity to Hermitage provides enhanced opportunities for internships, externships, work-based learning experiences for our students, guest speakers, field trips, etc.”

Future ACE plans

Beaton offered two plans for the future of the ACE program:
• maintaining the programming planned for the two new centers and rethinking current spaces in the two existing centers;
• or using part of the existing Highland Springs High School building to expand the Highland Springs ACE center and create the new innovation center.

In the first plan, the nursing and nurse aide, pharmacy and auto body programs would be moved from Highland Springs, to allow that location to focus on skilled trades and high-tech industry prep, Beaton said. Meanwhile, the electricity, HVAC, computer-aided design and precision machining programs would be moved from the Hermitage center.

Regardless of which plan the division adopts, the current ACE centers need to be renovated, Beaton said. Plans to do just that are included in future capital improvement program projections – designed to coincide with the construction of a new facility or facilities – but no funding source has been identified for the work, Cashwell told the board.

Crowding has diminished the abilities of the existing centers, Beaton said; two programs are taught in mobile learning cottages at Highland Springs.

“Programs have been placed where there was available space over the years, losing the original synergy that was planned for this building,” Beaton said.

At Hermitage, closets have been turned into classrooms, and sports medicine is taught in the field house. Beaton proposed narrowing that center’s focus to health and medical and transportation.

Three Chopt District board member Micky Ogburn said that for now, using the existing Highland Springs site would make the most sense.

“We’ve got a building sitting there that we can expand the ACE Center there, which is sorely needed — it’s in tough shape — and if we can use the old school, I think that’s great,” until the board learns more about the rest of what Beaton presented, she said.

Kinsella expressed her desire for a joint meeting between the School Board and Board of Supervisors to discuss the situation and other capital project needs and timing.

* * *

Our journalism is free to read, but it’s not free for us to produce. It requires time, research and analysis to provide fair, comprehensive, meaningful coverage of issues that matter to Henrico County. If you value education reporting like this, please consider a tax-deductible contribution to our Education Fund, made possible through a partnership with Facebook and the Local Media Foundation.