School Board Revisits 13th High School Design

Image Courtesy of Prince William County Schools

The Prince William School Board revisited the designs for the proposed 13th high school Wednesday evening, which is to be located in the Brentsville district.

In April 2014, the board last voted upon the prototype for the school scheduled to open in 2020, resulting in a decision to adapt the Battlefield prototype.

The issue reemerged in September when the school division held two community meetings, where residents provided input on the location of the high school and which building design prototype they preferred.

Dave Cline, Associate Superintendent of Finance and Planning, estimated an overwhelming majority of community members favored the Patriot prototype based on the input they provided.

Brentsville School Board member Gil Trenum previously recommended modifying the less expensive Battlefield model to hold more students.

During Wednesday night’s discussion, Trenum maintained that he would ultimately like to see a design should be able to relieve overcrowding at Patriot, Battlefield and Stone Wall Jackson upon its opening in 2020.

“On a capacity basis, a 2,000 student high school will just about fill it with the overage from Patriot and Battlefield, so that doesn’t provide any relief for Stonewall Jackson...plus, any opportunity for future growth,” Trenum said. “I appreciate the trend towards smaller schools...I don’t think the option of building three or four more high schools is really feasible for us, so I do like the idea of increasing the capacity.”

Cline told Trenum that only the Patriot model could accommodate 10 additional classrooms, enough to add possibly 200-250 more students. Technically, there is also the option of redesigning an existing architectural plan or purchase a new plan; however, Cline said neither of those options are cost effective, nor would they allow the school to open on schedule.

Although, the School Board did not decide to reconsider the high school prototype Wednesday, they were informed that they could decide to rescind their previous vote.

Chairman At-Large Milt Johns, who is not seeking reelection, said he would not be motioning to rescind. However, he did request that time be set aside at the next school board meeting should someone else decide to make that motion.

Johns said he trusts the professionals who are advising the School Board to choose the Patriot model.

Board members agreed the Patriot design is superior, as it has more natural light; classrooms are bigger by 50 square feet; the hallways are larger and the roofs are better able to handle snow fall. However, they also commented that the design is more expensive.

According to Cline, adopting the Battlefield model would save PWCS roughly $13.7 million in debt services, during a time when the school budget is extremely tight and board members would like to prioritize teacher pay and reducing class sizes.

Alyson Satterwhite of the Gainesville District was interested in both the benefits of natural light in the new building and the possibility of a building that could serve more students. She said students told her it lightens their moods and keeps them alert.

However, Cline told her, he did not think serving 200 or 250 additional students was a real solution to the problem of overcrowding. He said, essentially, once the 13th high school is built, another new high school will be needed.

Potomac District member Betty Covington was more concerned with capacity then with the prototype.

“I’m worried about capacity; we do need to be building larger schools with larger capacity because land is not available,” Covington said.

Occoquan District member Lillie Jessie saw value in building larger schools, noting the county is short on land. However, she was not fully convinced on the importance of natural light, asking for further proof than a single study from 1999.

While some board members focused on capacity, others argued that cost dictates they should stick with the Battlefield model. Those who favored the Battlefield model also disagreed with the whole ideas of revisiting the issue.

Dr. Michael Otaigbe (Coles) and Lisa Bell (Neabsco), both of whom are not seeking reelection, were displeased that there was even talk of rescinding a vote.

Otaigbe said the board has never in his memory rescinded a vote.

Otaigbe also said he did not want to place too much weight on the community’s recommendation, saying that of course, when giving the option, the community would choose the nicer building. Ultimately, he said they ought to stick with the Battlefield design to remain fiscally responsible.

“The community really reacted when we built the 12th high school,” he said, “and they told us we should be careful spending the taxpayer’s money.”

Towards the end of the discussion, Johns suggested that redistricting students across the school division was another option,to alleviate overcrowding.

“No one has come up with a better plan in the last generation of how to keep up with schools...This School Board could redraw those boundaries if they wanted to: just go west to east and redraw all of them. I haven’t seen, frankly, a desire in 12 years to do something like that, but you could...and that would be a choice for another board. So, anytime after Jan. 1, you guys want to take a crack at that: I support you.”

Cline said if the School Board were to rescind their vote, they would need to do so before Nov. 1. Changes after that date could delay the school's opening.