Middle School Overcrowding to be Discussed In Joint WJCC Meeting

By Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, February 17, 2011

When the Williamsburg-James City County School Board sits down to discuss its budget with the city and county next week, overcrowding of the middle schools will be a big topic of discussion.

The School Board members do not want to approve any more construction at the middle school level, but the WJCC administration has included a recommendation to build additions at Berkeley and Hornsby Middle schools in the budget for Fiscal Year 2012. That recommendation is in the proposed Capital Improvements Plan that will appear in front of the Williamsburg City Council and James City County Board of Supervisors during a joint meeting from 8 a.m. to noon on Feb. 23 at Legacy Hall in New Town.

At Tuesday’s work session, Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Scott Burckbuchler presented the superintendent’s proposed budget, which includes the recommendation to build middle school additions. The idea was first suggested at a Nov. 9 meeting, when Burckbuchler, then serving as Acting Superintendent, presented projections that show enrollment could outpace middle school capacity by fall 2012. Hornsby Middle opened in fall 2010.

Burckbuchler presented both low and moderate projections, using numbers from an enrollment projection report produced by planning service Dejong Healy. The conservative estimate projects WJCC’s middle schools will be over capacity by 42 students in the 2012-13 school year; the moderate estimate projects they’ll be over capacity by 76 students. If growth continues at that pace, the middle schools could be over capacity by 148 students in 2017, according to the low estimate.

In November, Burckbuchler proposed building additions to Berkeley and Hornsby middle schools to add 250 spots for students. The board members immediately had concerns about that plan, questioning whether Berkeley has the infrastructure to support an addition and whether Hornsby might already be too full.

The board members said they’d rather use trailers to get by until a full fourth middle school is needed. James Blair Middle School is currently being converted from a middle school to a central office for the school division, but the conversion is constructed to be temporary so the school could reopen if needed. If additions are not built, the division might have to purchase trailers, because seven were sold over the summer.

Although the board was dismissive of the idea when it was first proposed, the administration put the additions in the first draft of the CIP plan, which was presented to the board at a Jan. 19 meeting. The CIP plan budgeted $1.4 million for an addition to Berkeley Middle and $2 million for Hornsby Middle. At that meeting, the board members reiterated their disapproval of the plan (read more here).

The superintendent’s proposed budget, which was released Friday, included the additions. On Tuesday, the board members pledged not to support the recommendation. Vice Chair Ruth Larson said she expected to discuss the issue further at next week’s meeting, but asked Burckbuchler whether the recommendation will continue to be put forward despite the board members’ objections.

“If everybody says, ‘Don’t do additions,’ the administration understands its role is to recommend it, then come up with a different proposal,” Burckbuchler said. “We owe you the obligation to give a professional opinion, but once a decision is made, we’ll come up with another plan.”

Another big topic of discussion will be changes to teacher salaries. In 2009, the board decided to phase out its expensive longevity pay supplement, which was awarded to teachers who spent 20 to 25 years with the division. At that time, they agreed to no longer offer the supplement to employees hired after March 26, 2009, but did not make a decision about how to handle teachers caught in the middle.

At the Feb. 3 meeting, the board members struggled with a proposal to cut off the longevity pay for anyone not eligible for the 20-year supplement by September. The administration also proposed reducing longevity pay supplements by $490 in order to facilitate a 1 percent base pay increase for all school employees.

Board members only approved the measure after Superintendent Steven Constantino said direction was needed in order to develop the budget, but the board could revisit the issue later. At Tuesday’s work session, several of the members were still concerned about the proposed changes, and said they’d like to find a way to extend more money to teachers on the cusp of serving 20 years in the system.

Constantino said he expected next week’s conversation to not only be a discussion about finances, but also about “methodology and pedagogy and everything that goes into the decisions the board will make.”