Panel backs plan for Henrico schools redistricting
After six months of work, a 70-member committee charged with facilitating the school redistricting process in Henrico County has made its recommendation.
At its final meeting yesterday, the committee voted to recommend "Pairing No. 2" to the School Board. Maps of the options will be posted today on the school system's Web site, http://www.henrico.k12.va.us.
Residents of several communities, including Wyndham Forest, expressed dismay.
Although students there may attend the new Glen Allen High School when it opens in 2010, the school is farther from their homes. "We'll be talking to the School Board," said Chet Wade, a resident of the neighborhood in northwest Henrico. "A lot of these issues are about transportation. It would be more costly" to bus students further to Glen Allen.
The neighborhood's students currently attend Deep Run High School.
However, some neighborhoods' residents applauded when the vote tally was read. If the School Board accepts the committee's recommendation, students from Cedar Station would remain at Mills E. Godwin High School instead of shifting to J.R. Tucker High School. Cedar Station and several other nearby communities had lobbied the committee heavily this week.
But the decision isn't a done deal.
Residents will have the opportunity to submit comments online from April 25 to May 7. The School Board will hold public hearings May 13 and 14. Should the board make any major adjustments to the recommended boundaries, another hearing may be scheduled.
The final vote is scheduled for May 28.
Contact Lisa Crutchfield at (804) 649-6362 or
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Reader Reactions
The previous comment posted by “lldyer” is grossly inaccurate, and I would like to think that a teacher employed by HCPS, entrusted with teaching our children, would get the facts straight rather than mislead them with incendiary propaganda.
The fact is that if the school board adopts the boundary proposal recommended by the redistricting committee (on which I served), JRT will have a higher enrollment than Freeman, Hermitage, Henrico and the new high school. Tucker will also have a higher enrollment than it has currently.
The redistricting committee sought and received a great deal of feedback from Henrico residents. We used that information to help us understand the wishes of the community, and we took that into consideration along with the redistricting guidelines provided by the school system. The overwhelming sentiment was NOT that parents didn’t want their children to attend any particular school, but that they wished to remain in their current school. Minimizing disruption of existing boundaries, wherever possible, was one of the criteria we were working with, so when we could accommodate those wishes, we made every effort to do so.
I encourage all interested parties to visit the hcps website and look at the data themselves, and not be swayed by false statements they hear on the radio, TV, or read on a newspaper discussion board.
Todd Rich
High School subcommittee
Upon reading this article, I chose to have a discussion with my students about the implications of the county’s decision on their education. When informed that during their junior and senior years, the school would have 200 fewer students than currently attend Tucker, they were saddened and confused. I told them that the cut in enrollment would affect their opportunites to take advanced courses, upper level electives {including foreign languages}, their ability to participate in sports, adversely affect the fate of such school staples as marching band and school plays. The students couldn’t understand why the county would want to strip them of their opportunity to an education because of a group of parents wearing t-shirts. They were hurt that parents would lobby so vehemently and react so immaturely to a decision that would prevent their children from experiencing all that J.R. Tucker has to offer. Instead of focusing on the age of or name a building, think about all the children this decision is depriving of an education. I thought that this redistricting process was supposed to even out enrollment at schools not cater to the whims of a few squeaky wheels. For once, Henrico County needs to do what’s RIGHT for the children and not what’s POPULAR with the parents.
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