Residents talk future city middle school

A small group of residents gathered Monday to discuss having one sixth- through eighth-grade middle school in Charlottesville, raising questions about funding, enrollment projections and whether Walker Upper Elementary or Buford Middle School would be the better place.

The city School Board unanimously voted last month for the division to have one middle school, but it has not yet been decided whether Walker or Buford would be it. Area residents and city schools parents that attended the forum were asked to recommend which school they would prefer, and today a survey will be posted on the city school’s website at www.charlottesvilleschools.org.

If the city has one middle school with the three grades, fifth grade would move into to the city’s six elementary schools. Additionally, School Board members have said they would like to use the vacated Walker or Buford to house other programs, such as a centralized preschool center.

“I would think Buford would be much preferable [as a middle school],” said Dede Smith, a city resident and former School Board member. But Smith was concerned about having a centralized preschool once more — when she was a board member and the city had a centralized preschool at the Jefferson School, the data supported decentralizing preschool among elementary schools.

Referring to the Jefferson School program, Smith said, “It was a lovely program, but the kids were not performing well by the time they got into their test-taking ages.”

Consolidating to have one middle school would also allow the division to combine its administrative offices and stop leasing city buildings for certain programs.

The city has six elementaries, one upper elementary school, one middle school and one high school. Preschool programs are located at the six elementary schools, but having one middle school will necessitate that preschoolers move into one location to have enough space for the fifth-graders.

An initial report from VMDO Architects about middle school consolidation recommended that Buford was the better choice to be renovated and expanded for the sixth through eighth grades, and city schools administrators and board members have said Buford is long overdue for an upgrade regardless of whether another grade is added.

Pending funding availability, schools administrators have proposed that the sixth- through-eighth grade school would open for the 2013-14 year. Renovating and adding the sixth grade at Buford has been estimated to cost roughly $20.85 million, but including the costs of having a centralized preschool and moving several other division programs into school buildings could cost $36.15 million, according to newer estimates.

“Where will the funding come from?” asked parent Kathryn Buzzoni, a Fluvanna County resident who has a kindergartener at Venable Elementary and was concerned that those costs could result in a cutback in other services.

The division has estimated that it could save close to $570,000 annually in salary, benefits and rent costs by having one middle school and fifth grade in elementary schools, even with a unified preschool center and elementary school staff changes.

But Superintendent Rosa S. Atkins said the estimates that have been made so far are very preliminary.

“Once we go into the design phase of this, these numbers will be much firmer,” she said.