
DATE: Friday, July 18, 1997                 TAG: 9707170517

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: EDUCATION

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:  145 lines

EXPANDING SCHOOL CAPACITY

Capital Improvement Plans.

The phrase itself does not exactly capture the imagination. Neither do stories about roofs needing repair or schools being ``over capacity.''

But when the roof falls in and the children are learning in what used to be broom closets, then people wonder how things got so bad. Isn't there supposed to be some kind of plan?

Yes.

Every year districts develop capital improvement plans to keep their schools in good shape. Locally, the challenges districts face can range from how to keep older schools in good working order to building enough new schools to keep up with the rapid growth of cities such as Chesapeake and Suffolk.

While the ideal is to keep all schools in good shape - which nowadays includes buildings able to handle the demands of increased technology in the classroom - often it comes down to figuring out what absolutely has to be done this year and what can wait until budgets aren't so tight.

``Virtually all communities, even some of the wealthiest, are wondering how to balance school infrastructure needs with other community priorities,'' said a 1996 U.S. General Accounting Office report on the state of school facilities across the nation.

Here's a look at where specific construction projects in the area stand:

NORFOLK

By September 1998, Granby High School students might be able to play basketball in a new gym. A few months later, between December and April 1999, Taylor Elementary students should have new digs.

The district hopes to complete three major projects during the next three years, including work on Granby and Taylor, and renovating and expanding Bay View Elementary School - which is scheduled to begin in June 1998 and be completed in the summer of 2000.

The three schools represent only a portion of the building needs for the school system. The district's capital improvement plan, a map of the construction and renovation work, calls for $139 million worth of needed work during the next five years.

PORTSMOUTH

The one school-building project here is a biggie: the new I. C. Norcom High School, rising three stories above the 1800 and 1900 blocks of London Boulevard. Students are scheduled to move into the new building in January.

The beige brick building is 85 percent complete, said Rock Bell, an assistant city engineer overseeing the $27.6 million project. That's not to say there's not a lot to be done - heavy equipment and pallets of concrete blocks remained on site this week, workers on scaffolds were closing gaps in the outside walls . . . and the tennis courts remained unlined.

The new high school will be able to handle 1,800 students, and will serve as a science and technology magnet school for the city.

``We're going to have pretty much state-of-the-art computer facilities in there,'' Bell said. ``Every classroom basically can be turned into a computer lab.''

CHESAPEAKE

Two new middle schools - Hickory and Hugo A. Owens - have both been behind schedule during construction, but are expected to open in September as scheduled. Each carries a price tag of over $20.5 million and each will have a capacity of 1,500 students.

At Hickory it's just a matter of putting the finishing touches on the school, said John Rawls, coordinator of new construction for the district.

Hugo A. Owens Middle School is running behind Hickory Middle School, in part because more extensive site work had to be done before construction even began, said Rawls. He said he expects the classrooms and library to be completed by late July and teachers should be able to move in by Aug. 15.

Further down the line, the district hopes to build another middle school in the Chittum/Southwestern area.

VIRGINIA BEACH

Christopher Farms Elementary School is scheduled to open in September to about 700 students. The project should meet its budgeted cost of $8.9 million, though construction work is about two months behind. Officials, however, are ``cautiously optimistic'' that it will open on time.

Corporate Landing Middle School will also open in September with an expected enrollment of about 1,750. The project is expected to cost $22.3 million. Staff members have started moving into administrative offices with classrooms ready by the end of July. The gymnasium and auditorium are slated for completion in late August, about 30 days behind schedule.

One of the most closely watched CIP projects in the division's future is the proposed renovation of W.T. Cooke Elementary School.

A preliminary architects' report estimates the cost of renovating the existing building at about $11 million; the cost of tearing down the existing structure and rebuilding would be about $11.5 million. Cooke's facilities committee has endorsed the concept of constructing a new building.

SUFFOLK

Old Oakland Elementary School is dead. Long live new Oakland Elementary School.

Well, not dead, really. Just ``absorbed'' by a massive expansion and renovation that surrounded the old school in red brick and a green roof, with virtually all new fixtures inside, from gray chalkboards to built-in TV stands to green and red accents in the white floor tile.

There's still outside paving to be done, and a gym floor to install, and workers were scrambling this week installing light switches on walls and kick plates on doors, but officials said the school will be ready well before students return in September.

Although earlier this year the School Board had requested $128 million for five new schools and seven renovations to accommodate student enrollment growth, the City Council, citing the burden on taxpayers, delayed all but one $10 million elementary school project.

This week, school and city officials were to act on a proposed site for the school on the lower end of Nansemond Parkway, to open in September 1998. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Norfolk:

Ivan Cuffee finishes concrete on Granby High School's courtyard as

part of an addition to the school. The district plans to complete

new digs for Taylor Elementary and an expansion for Bay View

Elementary in the next three years.

GARY C. KNAPP

Chesapeake:

Hugo A. Owens, above, and Hickory middle schools should open in

September despite being behind schedule. Together they will hold

3,000 students. Already the district is thinking about a third new

school.