Yancey school in Catch-22 despite respite

Though the Albemarle County School Board gave a warm reception to Superintendent Pamela Moran’s recommendation to keep open three small schools, it’s unclear whether her suggestion is feasible.

Instead of closing as many as three aging southern Albemarle elementary schools — which are becoming taxed by an influx of new students — Moran recommended making renovations and doing some expansions.

One of the key expansions would be at Yancey Elementary School, but school officials fear that might be impossible unless the county is able to acquire nearby private land for storing wastewater.

School Board member Pamela Moynihan predicted “the schools will stay open” if the land issue is settled, but fellow board member Diantha McKeel said if the county is unable to acquire private land surrounding Yancey, “we really go back to the drawing board.”

If the School Board votes to keep Red Hill, Yancey and Scottsville elementary schools, it will likely call for an expansion of Yancey to increase capacity to 222 pupils. That’s up from the current 176-student capacity.

But that poses a problem — there’s nowhere to expand the septic system on Yancey school grounds, according to a January letter from Gooch Engineering and Testing Inc..

Waltine Eubanks, whose relatives own land surrounding Yancey, has been advocating for the three schools to remain open. She said earlier this month that her family would likely donate or sell land for an enlarged septic system; family members are still discussing what kind of deal they’d be willing to offer.

“I will check with the deed holders and see if a donation is something that is possible,” Eubanks wrote in an e-mail statement shortly after Moran recommended keeping the schools open.

Though School Board members appear poised to keep all three schools open, some questions about feasibility remain unanswered.

“It sounded like there was a consensus among the board members to accept Dr. Moran’s recommendation, but the Yancey piece definitely [depends] on private property down there,” McKeel said.

The old, small schools need some renovations and expansions to catch up with newer schools in the division and accommodate an expected influx of new students in coming years. Combined, the three schools have about 525 pupils.

School officials have sought reaction from the community about options that include closing one or more schools in exchange for one or two larger schools.

Officials say maintaining a larger school would be less expensive per pupil, but parents have objected overwhelmingly to closing what they call “community schools.”

School officials estimate that it would cost about $17 million to renovate and expand the schools. That price tag, however, does not include the cost of the county acquiring land needed to expand Yancey.

Building one larger school and closing the existing schools would cost more than $20 million, officials estimate.

Maintaining the smaller schools is expected to cost about $708,000 more per year than maintaining one large school.

A public hearing on what should be done with the small schools is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Monticello High School. The School Board will have the final say on Oct. 22.