Cost was on everyone’s minds as the Prince William County School Board voted to utilize a new design for the proposed middle school and the Freedom/Battlefield High School prototype for the new western end high school.
School Board Chooses Middle School Design
Citing costs associated with modifying the existing Ronald Reagan Middle School design to accommodate the need for increasing student capacity, the School Board voted to order a new design to construct the Western Middle School in the Linton Hall corridor planned to open in 2018.
The School Division budgeted a $55.9 million ceiling for the new middle school in the capital improvement plan (CIP); the school division would apply this amount to the construction of a new middle school using either an existing or new design.
Occoquan District Board member Lillie Jessie favored a new design, citing her desire to see the new school more adaptive to accommodate variable class sizes and other advanced learning options such as flexible seating and opportunities for differentiated instruction.
However the so-called Reagan design is not new. Nine Prince William County schools currently use the Ronald Reagan Middle School design, which originated in 1987. When asked what he would suggest, Associate Superintendent of Facility Services David Cline said it was probably time to update the existing design.
Cline was hard pressured to say which design would be most cost effective, however, he explained that modifications to the Reagan model would increase costs, while a new two-story design could possible save on costs, at the very least property costs.
School Board members were at first reluctant to believe that the new design could be more cost-effective, associating an older model design with a less expensive price tag. However, once Cline pointed out that a new two-story model could help with land acquisition, they offered no major objections.
He explained that the cost of adopting a new design was minimal. And, although it would be more work for county staff, it would provide a blue print for future middle schools in the county.
Brentsville School Board member Gil Trenum asked if Cline could try to keep costs down, even bringing the overall cost for the school to $50 million. Cline said the suggested cost is a ceiling, not a basement, and he would try to find additional cost savings.
Lisa Bell was the only School Board member to vote against the new design.
School Board Approves Design for 13th High School
Following the new middle school discussion, the School Board decided to build the new western end high school using the Freedom/Battlefield High School prototype design.
Due to the controversy over the cost of the 12th high school, School Board members were reluctant to advocate for the similar Patriot model, especially once Cline said there was a $15 to 18 million cost differential between the more expensive Patriot building and a Battlefield or Freedom High School model.
Although he voted for a new middle school design, Brentsville District Board member Gil Trenum said he was concerned about the current state of the economy and viability of the capital improvement plan over time, leading him to favor the Battlefield model.
However, Gainesville School Board member Alyson Satterwhite brought up a major concern about the Battlefield model; mainly, that it lacks natural light. Satterwhite said she has spent a lot of time at Battlefield and always felt needed more windows. She said that more than 70 rooms had no natural light.
Satterwhite cited studies explaining that natural light affects health and well-being and is even being linked to increase test scores.
Cline said that more skylights could be added to the school within limits. Approximately 50 classrooms would likely still be without any natural light. Some other Board Members doubted that the school plan would have that big of an impact on student learning, as Satterwhite suggested, saying teachers and school culture are much bigger factors.
Jessie said she again believes they should be building schools for the needs of the students, but in this case she would abstain from voting, explaining that she felt the Board should be trusting the school division’s higher level staff to make these kind of decisions.
Chairman Milt Johns said he would vote for the Patriot design.
“I think building the Battlefield plan is a bad decision. I think it is a bad decision because it is not in the best interest of the children. If we don’t have to pay the $18 million, I think we can control that choice through the CIP,” he said.
Johns said it was not in the best interest of the community to build a school using a retired design, saying, “I think of the people who will have to move over from Patriot to the new high school.”
He even implied that choosing the older model was absurd, saying, “let’s build Gar-field and adapt it. It’s not a good decision for the students. It’s not a good decision for the community.”
Johns was not afraid of criticism, saying, “they are going to call us names either way. They are going to bash us either way, but maybe I’ve just got used to it.”
He also noted that it is not “the community” that has been critical of the School Board’s choices, but a small group of individuals who pay close attention to the school’s actions and conduct their own research.
Although Dr. Michael Otaigbe of the Coles District and Betty Covington of the Potomac District previously voted for the 12th high school, including the swimming pools, they cited cost as the reason they would prefer the Battlefield model in this case.
Otaigbe pointed out that cost savings could be better spent elsewhere, such as providing pre-K classes, for which the Board Members were criticized in the Washington Post for not offering.
Even after Cline explained that the annual debt service costs between the two schools would come to $1.5 million per year, many thought that was still too much, and could be put to better use.
But Satterwhite pushed back, saying the community took no issue with the design of the 12th high school.
“It wasn’t the overall cost of the school, style of the school, it was what we were adding into it,” she said.
She asked if this could be reconsidered to give staff enough time to find additional savings while utilizing the Patriot design.
However, Cline said the number he cited already would be utilizing savings. Unlike Patriot and the 12th high school, the district was not planning on including any major design elements to accommodate specialty programs. Not that there wouldn't be any specialty programs, only that the 12th high school's visual and performing arts program simply had different requirements.
In the end, the vote was close. Trenum, Covington, Otaigbe and Bell voted for the Freedom/Battlefield design. Johns, Satterwhite and Williams voted against the Battlefield design, and Jessie abstained.
In a recent Bristow Beat survey, 73 percent of respondents preferred the School Division use the Patriot prototype to construct the new school.
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