Chesapeake school's expansion imperiled

CHESAPEAKE

Last week, the School Board was tossing around some thoughts about the best way to expand Indian River High School. How big to build it? Should it accommodate 1,750 students, which might create a better learning environment? Or should the school be bigger - 2,100 students, which could save money down the line?

Meanwhile, the discussions taking place just down the road at City Hall could mean those questions have just one answer: No.

City administrators said this week they don't want City Council to approve any extra construction money for schools.

If the council goes along, the whole Indian River project - along with many of the school division 's other major building priorities - could be put on hold.

"We would not be recommending to the council that we provide additional money for construction... and we would expect the schools would plan accordingly," said Deputy City Manager Betty Jean Meyer.

Still, at last week's board meeting, the School Board talked about the pros and cons of both Indian River High plans.

Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols said he'd prefer the smaller of the two expansions - the ideal high school size is around 1,600 students, he said, but external pressures caused school divisions to build bigger. Grassfield High School, for example, holds about 2,400, he said, because council members pushed for a bigger school.

Some, said Board Member Thomas Mercer Sr., "would want us to build (Indian River) bigger because it would maybe put off the radar for some time the other high school" - an eighth public high school in the Elbow Road and Centerville Turnpike area.

And City Manager William Harrell did say he thought a bigger school "makes perfect sense, to take some of the pressure off the eighth high school."

But without the extra funding, the question about size might be little more than a topic of conversation.

In Chesapeake, the City Council has the final say on funding for school division construction plans. But this year, it's being asked to go a step further.

The money that's been set aside to pay for school construction is running low, and earlier this month, Nichols urged board members to go to the council to ask for more.

Otherwise, he said, "all capital projects in the school division will come to a halt."

The school administration has its eye on fiscal year 2014-15, the year the city pays off a major school construction debt. At that point, the city could start directing the $16.5 million it was using to make debt payments toward more new school construction, if council members agreed to it.

But that, city administrators say, would not be a good idea. The city recently laid off 23 employees to save $400,000.

"The economy is still really very challenging, and we are looking at probably additional revenue reductions," Meyer said. "We're not going to make a commitment about that debt until we see what the revenue looks like."

Without that money, the school division could still pay for the smaller Indian River High School expansion, said Assistant Superintendent for Budget and Finance Vicki Lucente. But it would leave them with very little money for anything else, including regular maintenance work such as roof replacements and heating and air conditioning repairs. The technology upgrades the administration hopes to do at four of the city's high schools could also be on the rocks.

School and city officials plan to meet to discuss financing before their final vote on the capital improvement plan, scheduled for Nov. 30.

Alicia Wittmeyer, (757) 222-5216, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com