NK School Board nixes office move to high school

By Andre Jones | October 3, 2012 12:13 pm

Last month, New Kent School Board members met with county supervisors in connection with temporarily relocating offices into high school classrooms while the New Kent Historic School is renovated. Now, that move seems unlikely.

Superintendent of schools Rick Richardson spoke to school board members during Monday’s meeting and said that after thorough examination of available space and speaking with school board office employees, he recommended staying in the current school board building until completion of the renovation. Richardson said that current office employees would rather “gut it out” for one more year than move in and out of two buildings within a 10-month time frame.

Richardson said there were several other factors guiding his recommendation. Among them were the need to build separate walls for office space, installation of telephone lines, and the labor that would be required for the move itself. While Richardson liked the space that was provided by the high school classrooms, he believed relocation would prove hectic.

“Knowing that the move would be only temporary and the manpower it would take to move around the necessary furniture and equipment, I believe that by the time we get settled in the classrooms we would have to move back out,” he said. “There was pretty much a strong consensus with those office workers that they could gut it out one more year in the current building.”

Richardson said to help accommodate staying inside the current school board building, there would be some rearranging.

“The conference room will be a place we can look at,” he said. “After that, we will find ways to put things together to make it work.”

In another matter, board members voted unanimously to extend Richardson’s contract as superintendent of schools an additional four years.

“I greatly appreciate the vote of confidence from the school board,” he said. “But it’s the hard work of the administration, staff, teachers, and other employees who make working here pleasurable and keep things going.”