WJCC School Board OK's Redistricting Plan

By Amber Lester Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Williamsburg-James City County School Board approved a plan to redistrict its elementary and middle schools during a 20-minute special meeting Tuesday.

The vote brought an end to a nine-month process marked by frustration and criticism from both parents and board members. Representatives Jim Kelly and Denise Koch voted against the elementary map; the board approved the middle school map unanimously. The plan approved is the one most recently posted to the school division’s website.

The division is redistricting its elementary and middle schools in preparation for the opening of two new schools, J. Blaine Blayton Elementary and Lois Hornsby Middle. Both schools were built on a plot of county land on Jolly Pond Road in an area where growth is anticipated.

Prior to the vote, the board members briefly addressed concerns about an increase in the free and reduced lunch population at Berkeley Middle School and the potential for overcrowding before a fourth middle school, James Blair Middle School, is brought back online. But the board had no discussion prior to its vote to approve the elementary maps, leaving it unclear whether it met all its criteria.

The board’s criteria for redistricting were capacity, proximity and diversity. The three criteria were agreed upon at a July work session and official definitions were adopted at an Oct. 13 meeting. Capacity was defined as keeping the population of each school between 85-88 percent of the school’s capacity; proximity was defined as no travel beyond 30 minutes; and diversity was defined as maintaining a free and reduced lunch ratio between 7.5 and 10 percentage points of the district average.

On Monday, Board Chair James Nickols indicated the board would have to adjust the elementary maps to reflect new capacity numbers for J. Blaine Blayton Elementary School. Last week, Assistant Superintendent of Operations Bob Becker gave the board updated capacity numbers for the new elementary school. The numbers were updated after school administrators, including Blayton Principal Jeffrey Carroll, agreed to use two classrooms previously set aside for preschool for regular elementary education. That change increased the capacity of J. Blaine Blayton Elementary, leaving the school 76 percent full. The board did not discuss the changed capacity numbers at Tuesday’s meeting.

Following the special meeting, the board allowed public comment at the start of its work session. Four parents spoke, all pleading with the board to apply lessons learned from this process to its next redistricting. Jeff Long and his wife, Leana, each said using a third-party vendor, as the board did, was a good idea, but the process became complicated when the board began dictating moves at a Feb. 9 work session. The couple lives in Powhatan Secondary, a neighborhood that will be split between Matoaka and DJ Montague elementary schools using News Road as a boundary.

“I think we’ve seen that the results of this process were not so good. The cohesion of the neighborhood is not what I think it could be … I would ask that you spare that to our communities to the degree which you are able,” Jeff Long said.

At the end of the work session, some board members shared their thoughts about the process and thanked the community for its input. Member Joe Fuentes said the board struggled over the past weekend about their impending votes and thanked parents in Powhatan Secondary for their work to review the numbers. Ruth Larson said she shared the discouragement of parents, but hoped that when the buses roll up to schools next year, everyone will be ready to start a new year. “We also have the opportunity now to respect our teachers and our staff by not overcrowding buildings,” she said.