THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409070148
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: W12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
The next 10 years will be crucial for Chesapeake schools.
Planners and the School Board either will cope or be overwhelmed by the burgeoning number of students seeking an education in the state's fastest-growing city.
That was the unwritten message in a 10-year Capital Improvement Plan presented last week by school officials to the School Board. The plan has a $213.6 million pricetag for 32 projects over the first five years.
If adopted by the board and given the nod by City Council, the plan would cost $89.8 million this year.
``The driving force behind the situation that we're in now is that Chesapeake is just a desirable place to live,'' said Lenard Wright, the school system's program administrator for planning and development.
The Capital Improvement Plan would pay for eight new schools and two new buildings to replace old schools. Six existing schools would get additions and partial renovations. Three others would get just additions.
The plan would include money to renovate the Truitt Middle School building and convert it to an intermediate school, housing grades four and five. Four schools would get new roofs, and Crestwood Intermediate would get a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. Eight schools would be outfitted to accommodate students with disabilities.
Construction alone, however, will not solve Chesapeake's space problems. School officials also are considering attendance zone changes to make way for new schools, to relieve crowded schools and to use other buildings more efficiently.
The School Board, for example, is weighing a proposal to shift parts of the Great Bridge and Deep Creek high school attendance zones to the new Hickory High School, scheduled to open in Southern Chesapeake in 1996.
The board will have some new ways to help pay for its ambitious Capital Improvement Plan.
In the past, the board had to rely on the city's limited charter bond authority - bonds the city can issue without voter approval - or referendums held every few years. This year, the General Assembly granted the city broader authority to tap into the state's Literary Fund, a pot of money used to help Virginia's 134 school districts pay for school construction projects.
The Literary Fund, though limited, will provide money to subsidize the interest on loans. Essentially, the city will get low-interest loans for school construction projects, making them more affordable.
Deputy Superintendent William R. Nichols said that should allow the school system to complete construction projects sooner. MEMO: The School Board will hold public hearings on the proposed Capital
Improvement Plan and the attendance zone proposals for the new Hickory
High School at 7 p.m. Monday in the board room of the school
administration building at the city's municipal center off Cedar Road.
ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Capital Improvement Projects
For copy of graphic, see microfilm
by CNB