Converting NK Historic School to elementary school on table

New Kent School Board members have unanimously approved a resolution to have school staff work with county staff to further explore the prospect of converting the county’s Historic School into an elementary school.

School board members made the move during a March 18 meeting with District 1 Board of Supervisors member Thomas Evelyn. Evelyn first proposed the elementary school concept during supervisors’ emergency meeting on March 15. The proposal, he said, would alleviate the county’s school overcrowding problem and do away with need for building a new elementary school.

“I just don’t see the board [of supervisors] approving a $30 million school in the future,” he told school officials, pointing to a new elementary school that appears on the county’s capital improvement plan.

For now, the idea is to move the county’s fourth and fifth graders into a renovated Historic School while grades K-3 remain at New Kent and Watkins elementary schools. Grade level assignments, however, could change.

If Evelyn’s proposal meets with approval, work currently under way by Marengo Management to convert the Historic School’s South Building into school board office space would cease. Work would then commence on creating classrooms.

Evelyn said his proposal for renovating the Historic School could carry a price tag of $10-$12 million, considerably less than the $28 million estimated for construction of a new school.

He said he believes that county taxpayers would be more receptive to a two to three cent real estate tax hike for Historic School renovation compared to a 20-30 cent increase for new school construction.

“Marengo Management is willing to work with both boards,” he said. “Right now, limited changes are needed because they are in phase one.”

Phase one consists of renovating the South Building. If both boards agree to renovate the facilities to fit the needs of the school, that phase would produce 10 classrooms. Relocation of students to the renovated school would commence in July 2014. Phase two work (north part of the facility) and phase three (finishing stages) would follow to increase the number of classrooms to 20.

School superintendent Rick Richardson said that the modifications from original floor plans to suggested ones would take time.

“Trying to get a handle from being changed from an office building to a school building will also bring up other issues,” the superintendent said. “There will be issues on redistricting to help relieve Watkins Elementary School, and we haven’t decided what grade levels will be placed in that building.”

Richardson commented later that he hopes to move upper elementary grades after redistricting. He expects that after expansion to 20 classrooms the building could accommodate 400 students for five or more years based on projected enrollment.

“It’s a great win-win for the county,” said Evelyn. “I came to get feedback from the board to see what they thought.”

“This presents good opportunities to meet our needs,” said School Board District 4 representative Sarah Barber. “The first phase will provide 10 classrooms in a permanent structure.

“We need to identify what we need to support the classroom and establish it efficiently,” she concluded.

Richardson said he has been in talks with New Kent Elementary School principal John Moncrief over the possibility of overseeing the renovated Historic School as principal, along with NKES.

Preliminary plans would place an assistant principal in the renovated school on a permanent basis while Moncrief would travel between there and New Kent Elementary.

Concerns were brought up by school board chairwoman Leigh Quick on having the building meet certain regulations, as well as its impact on students from the Bridging Communities Career and Technical Center (BCCTC) located in another building on the Historic School campus.

“I have major concerns about meeting ADA [American with Disabilities Act] requirements,” Quick said, speaking about installing a lift for wheelchairs for the stairwell in the facility. “I also want to keep it separated from the older kids so they won’t have to use the same restrooms.”

Director of school facilities Tim Pollock said plans to install walls were already in place and that since the structure of the building was already designed to be a school, that would make the transition easy to accomplish. Richardson, however, said some repairs would be necessary.

“I’m concerned over damage to the building,” he said, referencing holes in the ceiling and walls that were weak due to age. “There may be some real surprises when we go in.”

Overall, costs became a determining factor that Evelyn used as a selling point in his final comments.

“I’m expecting this to be a lot less in costs,” he said. “There is $3.8 million already set aside for renovations to the school.”

In an interview following supervisors’ March 15 meeting, Evelyn said, “The two boards will have to work together on this to make this work.”

As for finding other space for the School Board, Evelyn said he has been in contact with owners of vacant buildings in the New Kent Courthouse area.

“If we can work together through this process, I think we can find a school board building at a reasonable rate instead of having to build another school board building,” he said.

The proposed move will also have an impact on Heritage Public Library, which expected to relocate to the Historic School. Under Evelyn’s proposal, the library must find another site.

“We need to look at this from a needs basis,” he said. “Schools are a higher priority need than a library right now.”

During the meeting, District 4 representative Ron Stiers said a few places exist that could be available for library use.

“It’s possible for the library to move into the Trinity building [located south of the CSX Railroad tracks in Providence Forge],” Stiers said. “It should come up for sale. It has 2,000 square feet of office space as well as 6,000 square feet of storage.”

The building is listed at $850,000, but the price could be negotiable, he said.

Contacted later, Heritage Library director Barbara Winters said she believes Evelyn’s proposal can work and is optimistic about the outcome. She said she has alerted the library’s governing board concerning the matter.

Evelyn’s proposal, meanwhile, does not affect the county’s Parks and Recreation Department and Virginia Cooperative Extension Office. Both entities share office space in another building on the Historic School campus.