:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/BUMJIU3FUNE4HISHK26ODQ2JSM.jpg)
Norfolk — Three years ago, a consultant told Norfolk’s School Board it should consider closing or consolidating more than a quarter of the city’s elementary schools.
Save for one suggestion that was carried out — closing Poplar Halls Elementary and combining Fairlawn Elementary and Lake Taylor Middle — those recommendations have sat on a shelf since.
Now, the idea is back on the table.
School officials have restarted public forums and other talks to try and solve two persistent problems in Norfolk: declining enrollment and a collection of old buildings the district can’t afford to maintain. The School Board has no long-range plans, so both have been dealt with piecemeal.
The goal now, administrators say, is the creation of a 10-year facilities master plan. They’re calling it “Rebuild NPS 2030,” though the plan would extend past that year.
What exactly is “Rebuild NPS 2030”?
Beyond the broad goal — creating long-term plans for what to do with the district’s roughly 50 buildings — it’s a little hazy. A spokeswoman for the district didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment or answer questions, and neither did School Board Chairwoman Adale Martin. Vice Chairman Rodney Jordan deferred comments to Martin, saying the board’s policy is for the chair to address media questions.
Here’s what’s been shared publicly, mostly from a press release that was partially copied from one sent last year about the same campaign, which has been on the back burner since the pandemic began.
“Having the community weigh in is important,” different administrators were both quoted as saying this year and last about the series of public meetings the district plans to hold on this proposal. “While the professionals who have developed the initial options have approached this from a comprehensive and analytical perspective, we must also connect with the people who will live with our decisions.”
The school district’s chief spokeswoman, Kenita Matthews, sent out that press release at 5:09 p.m. on the Friday heading into Easter weekend, and this week is spring break. Matthews has not responded to a phone call or multiple emails.
What is known: The district’s working with the same consulting firm that made the largely ignored recommendations in 2018. That firm, Cooperative Strategies, has been advising the district since 2013 when Norfolk first started what it calls “educational planning.”
When “ed planning” started, the emphasis was less about buildings and more about the programs offered at each school. Facilities became a larger focus after other consultants finished a survey of all the district’s school buildings in 2017 and identified $124 million in urgent needs.
The latest 48-page draft master plan focuses almost exclusively on facilities without discussion of instruction. The exception is the two options presented for where to put a much-talked-about comprehensive career and technical high school: at Booker T. Washington or Lake Taylor.
Clusters and choices
In total, there are 19 schools the consultants say merit replacement within five years or sooner, including Sherwood Forest Elementary, where rat, roach and mold infestations drew public outcry two years ago.
The consultants haven’t made recommendations yet. They’ve divided the city into geographic clusters and presented options for the schools in each.
In the “elementary east” planning area, for instance, there are three options:
- Close Tarrallton Elementary and rezone students for other elementary schools;
- Build a larger school to replace the overcrowded Norview Elementary, then close Larrymore Elementary and send its students to the new Norview; or
- Rebuild Larrymore.
A similar range of options are given for the six other elementary zones and for secondary schools.
The goal of any change, consultant David Sturtz told the district’s steering committee when it met last month, is a “level up” for all students.
“If it cannot pass the test that we believe the outcome will be a better learning environment for all, then it should not be considered,” he said.
Along those lines, any rezoning should reduce the concentrations of poverty at schools, he said.
Some of the planning areas are clusters of poverty themselves, like the “elementary southside” grouping that includes Berkley/Campostella Early Childhood Center, St. Helena Elementary and Southside STEM Academy. At St. Helena, 86% of students are from economically disadvantaged households; one option would close St. Helena and send students to Southside STEM, where 90% of students are economically disadvantaged. The option fails the test Sturtz described, so it’s unclear why it’s presented as one.
Five other high-poverty schools are clustered in the “South” elementary zone, which includes the three housing public housing neighborhoods that the city’s in the process of demolishing. The existing neighborhoods are to be torn down and replaced with mixed-income housing as part of the city’s billion-dollar St. Paul’s redevelopment project.
The draft was prepared a year ago when the district first announced “Rebuild NPS 2030.” One community meeting was held, days before the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to close.
Since the draft was prepared, the pandemic has exacerbated enrollment concerns and added uncertainty. Public school enrollment nationwide is down this year, but experts generally believe it will rebound, though how much is anyone’s guess. In Norfolk, the drop was 6% — the steepest decline in a single year in at least the past decade.
The pandemic also has made many parents and teachers more worried than ever about the condition of buildings, especially how well their ventilation systems work.
Today's Top Stories
But the pandemic may also be what helps Norfolk finally catch up on years of deferred school maintenance, though. The district ended up with a nearly $18 million surplus at the end of last school year. A surplus is likely this year, too.
The School Board has asked the City Council to set that money aside for capital projects, though City Manager Chip Filer has advised council members to require a master plan as a condition.
The district is also the recipient of one-time federal CARES Act funding — $18 million last year, $50 million this upcoming year — that it could use to address maintenance related to air quality and ventilation, like replacing HVAC systems.
And on top of the surplus and federal grant funding, there’s $30 million from the sale of the Lambert’s Point Golf Course, which the city set aside for school construction projects.
The result is more money for facilities than the district has had in recent memory, but even so, the cost of work at the 19 schools with urgent needs dwarfs that sum.
Two community meetings, April 13 and April 15, are meant to help the district decide what to tackle first. Those interested in speaking or listening can sign up for one or both of the meetings at npsk12.com/Page/14999.
Sara Gregory, 757-469-7484, sara.gregory@pilotonline.com