WJCC Schools Redistricting Takes Another Turn; Board OK's New Maps

By Amber Lester Friday, March 26, 2010

The Williamsburg-James City County School Board ordered two more redistricting maps after a little over an hour of debate in a work session Thursday night. Board member Joe Fuentes came up with a new proposal, the fourth edition of redistricting options and one the public had not seen.

 

The board deliberated in a conference room while an audience watched the meeting projected on a screen in the adjacent board room of Building F at the county complex. The meeting was projected so the audience could see how each decision affected the maps and numbers.

WJCC is redistricting to fill two new schools — J. Blaine Blayton Elementary and Lois Hornsby Middle — built on Jolly Pond Road in the northern part of the county.

The board worked off of charts and numbers provided by Fuentes, who came up with three options on his own. The options were not previously published on the school division Web site. While the numbers were provided to media, they were not published because it was not clear they would be used at the work session for deliberations.

That fact was a point of contention during the meeting, with several members saying they weren’t comfortable using options unseen by the public. Jim Kelly said, “We haven’t had those [Fuentes’ plans] out in the public and the paper. They’ve looked at those maps online and they’ve commented on those maps.”

He suggested using the maps derived out of a Feb. 9 redistricting work session as a baseline from which to work, because the public had commented on those maps and trusted the board to use them.

In an effort to correct potential overcrowding at Rawls Byrd while moving fewer neighborhoods affected in the last redistricting, the members agreed to follow a plan with minimal movement from current schools. That plan would affect approximately 163 students.

Under the new plan, Williamsburg West and Nottinghamshire would attend J. Blaine Blayton; Rolling Meadows, The Mews, Thompson Lane, Powhatan Secondary Two and Jesters Lane to DJ Montague; Graylin Woods and Hickory Sign Post to Clara Byrd Baker; Fieldcrest, Deer Run, Lafayette Square, Lafayette Woods, Greensprings Plantation and Springhill would attend Matoaka.

EDULOG representative Joe O’Dell said a map of that option could be ready Monday; it could be posted for the public by Tuesday, according to Bob Becker, assistant superintendent of operations for WJCC. The board will vote on the redistricting plan at its April 13 meeting at the Stryker Building in Williamsburg.

The board only made one change to the Feb. 9 middle school maps, moving Fox Ridge and Longhill Station from Toano Middle School to Hornsby.

The school board first discussed its criteria for redistricting at a retreat in July 2009. The board agreed to base its redistricting plan on three main criteria: capacity, proximity and diversity, with no priority.

In October, the board awarded its redistricting contract to Education Logistics, or EDULOG. Since then, EDULOG has drafted three versions of potential redistricting plans, tweaking the maps according to the board’s direction each time.

The board has continued to use the three main criteria, but over time has also made efforts to keep neighborhoods together and avoid moving neighborhoods that were redistricted in 2006. But a three-hour meeting at the division’s operations building on Feb. 9 made it clear the board would not be able to meet those goals.

The board’s original contract with EDULOG included funds for three maps; the board will now have to pay more money for the newest set. Board Chair Jim Nickols was unsure of the amount.

The board will not have a public hearing following the release of the newest maps, Nickols said. “People have expressed their concerns,” he said. “Now it’s a matter of trying to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the whole community.”