The campus at Virginia Randolph is getting a big makeover – and a do-over

In 1894, the current site of the campus at Virginia Randolph was the site of a one-room schoolhouse where Virginia Randolph – the daughter of former slaves and a woman who would later become one of the most prominent educators in the American South – began her teaching career in Henrico.

During the next 20 years, Randolph, often using her own money, worked to repair and beautify the dilapidated schoolhouse and traveled across the county recruiting students, transforming the one-room school into the multi-classroom Virginia Randolph Training School, later renamed the Virginia Randolph Education Center.

But by 2018, VREC – Henrico’s school for students with disabilities – was marked with considerable challenges. A report conducted by former Virginia Secretary of Education Anne Holton found the VREC facilities in much need of repair, with building conditions even prompting safety issues for the students and staff. VREC staff were noted to be “not adequately licensed and trained,” and Black students were found to be disproportionately placed at the school.

The 2018 report made a request of Henrico Schools: either significantly revamp the VREC program, or shut it down.

Now, VREC and the Campus of Virginia Randolph may be getting their “second chance.”

On March 27, HCPS leaders announced that the campus would be getting a $78.6 million upgrade, with all renovations set to be completed by January 2026.

The campus’ new facility for the Academy at Virginia Randolph, an alternative program for high-schoolers, already has opened to students and staff this week. The expanded Advanced Career Education Center also was completed for students this past fall. All other programs are set to move into their upgraded buildings by the end of this year.

HCPS’ facilities team has worked to interweave Virginia Randolph’s legacy throughout the new building upgrades, according to HCPS Chief Learning Officer Lesley Hughes, using the guiding theme of “Her Legacy, Our Future.”

“To be able to honor Virginia Randolph’s contribution to education and celebrate her legacy has reminded us of her spirit and passion, and it has been humbling and even emotional times,” Hughes said. “[The team has] put their heart and soul into this.”

HCPS’ special education team has also redesigned and expanded the VREC program, with the “revitalization” of VREC having been a “priority focus” for the school system, according to HCPS Exceptional Education Director Katie Smith. The center will also be provided 52 new staff positions, which will be filled by “highly-qualified staff,” Smith said.  

The goal, she said, is to turn VREC into a “world class special education program,” and make the Campus of Virginia Randolph a hub for all of the school division’s exceptional education and alternative programming.

‘A place for second chances and new beginnings’

The new campus, which totals 170,000 square feet, includes a brand-new comprehensive building that replaces older buildings from the 1950s and ’60s. Students from the Academy at Virginia Randolph already have moved into the second floor, and students in exceptional education classes will move into the first floor once construction is complete on June 2.

The campus also features an upgraded ACE Center, which now has new programming such as welding, motor sports, horticulture, and a fire sprinkler installation program that marks the first high school-level program of its kind in the country. Since the renovations, Virginia Randolph’s ACE Center has seen a 300% increase in enrollment, according to HCPS leaders.

But some older buildings on the campus will be preserved, including “Building B” – the oldest building on the campus – to “remain as a part of Virginia Randolph’s legacy,” according to HCPS Facilities Director Susan Moore.

From now until December, the facilities team will work to renovate Building B for the rest of the campus’ programs, with remaining students moving in over the upcoming winter break.

Since construction started in the summer of 2023, the facilities team has worked to immerse Virginia Randolph and the significance of her educational career throughout the designs of the new building and renovations, Moore said. 

“Throughout the planning process, there was thoughtful discussion on how to merge key aspects of Virginia Randolph’s teaching philosophy and legacy,” she said. “We have taken a journey to recognize all of the aspects of the legacy of Virginia Randolph and what she created, along with the impact that community has on education.”

The new building will feature “carefully designed graphics” with “inspirational action word labels” – such as “dream,” “inspire, “grow,” “connect” – related to Virginia Randolph’s philosophy, with each corridor of the building having certain graphics that correspond with a different color. The graphics will also include various parts of a sycamore tree – a nod to Randolph’s efforts to launch the first Arbor Day in Virginia by having her students plant 12 sycamore trees.

Images of Virginia Randolph and her students from the old school also will be placed throughout the campus, highlighting a time period during which Henrico schools were still racially segregated and Randolph, the supervisor of all of Henrico’s Black schools, often had to fundraise for simple equipment such as textbooks. The school’s auditorium also will feature an exhibit wall about Randolph’s legacy.

“This is so much more than what I envisioned. . . it’s a totally different campus,” said Henrico School Board member Ryan Young, of the Fairfield District. “We’re keeping Virginia Randolph, who was an African-American educator, at the forefront. . . what I hear is a place of second chances and new beginnings.”

The campus’ museum about Virginia Randolph, housed in the old school cottage that dates back to 1937, also will be preserved on the campus. The 55-year-old museum is both a Virginia Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark.

“I think Miss Randolph would be very proud. Understanding her history and understanding that struggle, and knowing that students won’t have to struggle here, is a powerful testimony to what I believe Henrico County Public Schools is striving for.”

– Alicia Atkins,
Varina District representative, Henrico School Board

‘Students won’t have to struggle here’

Following the 2018 report, which highlighted several issues with Henrico’s special education programs – including the higher rates of discipline of students with disabilities, particularly those who were Black – HCPS began efforts to redesign and expand programming at the Campus of Virginia Randolph. The work has been “seven years in the making,” according to HCPS Superintendent Amy Cashwell.

In the last several years, HCPS has added a middle school program to the campus, the Program for Academic and Career Empowerment that helps remediate overage middle-schoolers, and the Elementary Intervention Program for younger students who need temporary remediation.

Now, HCPS leaders and Exceptional Education Director Smith are working on an overhaul of VREC. The new VREC will include an early childhood special education program, K-12 autism programming, and “SOL and Adaptive” programs for elementary, middle and high, as well as extended summer programming for all students.

VREC also will be awarded 52 new staff positions, including behavior analysts and technicians, music therapists, speech language pathologists, reading specialists, classroom teachers, and a team of school-based mental health professionals comprised of a school counselor, social worker, and psychologist. 

Staffers will work with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Autism Center for Education to develop the skill sets needed to support students “with challenging behaviors while providing rigorous instruction,” Smith said.

“I want to thank the [school board] for your commitment to the students at Virginia Randolph Education Center,” she said. “With the new 52 positions that you have provided to ensure that as we expand student services at VREC, we will have highly qualified staff to meet both the complex learning and behavioral needs of the students on our campus.” 

For a school that serves some of the division’s most marginalized students, the redesigned programming will leave a significant impact on those that come through the campus, school board member Alicia Atkins (Varina District) said, and hopefully provide them with an experience much different from the challenges the school endured in the past.

“My mind is kind of noodling over what will our children experience. . . what are the stories that they’re going to have when they say, ‘I went through Virginia Randolph,’” Atkins said. ‘“And some of the perceptions of what it was and how their experience was nothing like that at all.”

The campus also will now house the county’s second full-service community hub, staffed by HCPS’ Family and Community Engagement team. Wrap-around services such as telehealth services, a family resource center, after-school opportunities, and community engagement programming will be provided by FACE at the campus.

The new campus “speaks to heart,” Atkins said, and to the message Virginia Randolph spread throughout her career: that no child should be left behind.

“I think Miss Randolph would be very proud,” she said. “Understanding her history and understanding that struggle, and knowing that students won’t have to struggle here, is a powerful testimony to what I believe Henrico County Public Schools is striving for.”

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.