In a meeting just shy of four hours, the Norfolk School Board agreed on a proposed plan to start closing buildings next year, but delayed a vote until Oct. 15 so the public and City Council can comment on it.
Where students in those buildings will move will be determined after the completion of a district-wide school boundary rezoning in February.
"The next steps are putting this into a format that people can actually understand," said board chair Sarah DiCalogero. "The public will have almost two weeks to let us know what their thoughts are. We're not making everybody happy, but we're trying to do what's in the best interest of our students."
During the session, which covered two other proposals, board members discussed school capacity, bussing schedules, deconcentrating poverty, merging district-wide programs into one building at Rosemont and a building’s facility condition index (FCI), a measure of its need for repair.
The plan, another revision of previous options, was mapped out on a whiteboard over the last portion of the meeting.
It would close Norview Elementary School and the Willoughby Early Childhood Center in 2026.
Tarrallton Elementary, Granby Elementary and the Ghent School would close in 2027.
P.B. Young Elementary, which is adjacent to the Young Terrace public housing complex, would tentatively close in 2027, but that could change depending on Young Terrace’s redevelopment schedule. School board members want students to move before demolition begins.
In 2028, Chesterfield Elementary would be repurposed for the Southeastern Cooperative Education Programs (SECEP) because that building will also close. A new Jacox Elementary would be built.
Left undecided was what would happen with Suburban Park Elementary and St. Helena Elementary.
In 2029, the Berkley Early Childhood Center would close. From 2030 to 2032, the technical education center would move to Lake Taylor High School.
Rosemont Academy of International Studies, for grades 6-8, could be repurposed for Ghent School students, and continue to house the academy.
Administrators would move out of that building to make room for international studies students, Young Scholars students and Ghent students. There is sufficient capacity at the school to include the three programs, which draw from throughout the district and allow for growth.
There was no public comment permitted at the special meeting, but parents, staff and others emailed board members after the latest plan became public.
Jene’ Wilkerson, the Parent Teacher Student Association head for Rosemont Academy, sent an email following the meeting, noting that she was copied on more than 50 emails from concerned staff, alumni, students, and parents before the meeting.
"We did it," she wrote, adding that their earlier campaign delayed the vote to allow for community input.
School board and city council members will meet on Oct. 7 to go over the plan. It’s their first joint session in years.
The City Council in March passed a resolution that required a minimum of two schools to close per year starting before the 2026-2027 school year, "until the number of school buildings no longer exceeds the amount needed." That spurred closing decisions by the board that have been delayed for years.
Before an earlier school board meeting, City Council member Tommy Smigiel warned in an email that a delay in closing schools could lead to council reexamining the formula and the conditions under which the city funds the schools.
"That is a step I do not want to see us take or want to be forced to vote on," he said. "This is not a threat but will be a necessity in order to secure our fiscal future."
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