New Kent schools’ $36.5 million preliminary CIP addresses enrollment growth

Emphasizing the importance of renovation and construction to address an increasing school enrollment, New Kent schools released a $36.5 million Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) during the school board’s Nov. 7 regularly scheduled meeting.

Three projects to address enrollment top the expense list for school projects. A new elementary school is attached with a $20 million price tag, while New Kent Elementary School’s renovations come in at $13,642,550. Rounding out the expenses for construction is an addition to New Kent Middle School at $2 million. Those three recommendations have been discussed among school board members as well as in joint conversations with the county’s board of supervisors over the previous two months.

New Kent Superintendent of Schools Dave Myers indicated that another possibility for the location of a middle school addition has been identified. The superintendent said that a meeting earlier in the day with the CIP committee along with Director of Maintenance Tim Pollock centered on a new location.

“Mr. Pollock indicated to me that there is a one-story section in the rear of the middle school that can have an addition on it and make it two stories,” Myers said, receiving an acknowledgment from Pollock who was in attendance. “It has the proper square foot space that we would need, it has bathroom facilities, and will have some space for teachers as well.

“The addition will have the square footage for five classrooms,” the superintendent added. “If we are able to do that as well as convert two computer labs to classrooms, we may be able to take the proposed trailers for future years out of the budget.”

Myers concluded by saying that costs may come in lower than a proposed budget of $2 million for the project that has been discussed with county supervisors.

Other CIP items addressed on the $36,517,931 request include bus replacement ($377,824), adding a modular trailer ($117,557), trailer renovations ($100,000), technology one-to-one digital conversion ($100,000), lighting at the middle school ($70,000), roof maintenance ($50,000), HVAC replacement at the middle school ($35,000), and miscellaneous improvement projects ($35,000).

The five-year proposed CIP totals $39,761,056. The only future items listed include annual replacements of buses, middle school HVAC units, and miscellaneous school improvement projects.

School board members are expected to vote on the plan at their regular December meeting.