New high school to use old floor plan after School Board motion fails

School officials will move ahead with a plan to use a 20-year-old design for the county’s newest high school.

The “13th high school” will be built somewhere in western Prince William County — either at a proffered site at the yet-to-be-approved Stonehaven development or Rollins Ford Road on a site bequeathed to the county by its former owner to be used for parkland.

The new school will cost $73.7 million and is slated to open in fall 2020. The price tag includes $4.3 million in needed improvements to the school building that make it complaint with current building codes, to include vestibules to entrances, and energy efficiency improvements to the roof and HVAC unit.

The school will hold 2,053 students. It is expected to be filled to capacity three to four years after it opens.

Unlike recently built schools like Patriot High School in Nokesvile, and the new Colgan High School to open next year on Route 234 near Independent Hill, the new building will look more like Battlefield, Freedom, Forest Park, and Hylton high schools.

The design is less expensive, and the county School Board resolved to use this design after it was criticized for approving construction of Colgan High School, one of the most costliest ever to be built in Virginia with a $111 million price tag. An aquatics facility and performing arts center are major price drivers for the school currently under construction near Independent Hill.

On November 4, the School Board was tasked with deciding whether to rescind a 2014 decision to use the older Battlefield model for all new high schools, and instead use build a hybrid model minus some of the the bells and whistles of the Patriot and Colgan models, like a smaller auditorium. The hybrid model did include space for 500 more students than the Battlefield model.

The motion to rescind the resolution, put forward by Brentsville District representative Gil Trenum and seconded by Gainesville rep Alyson Satterwhite, failed in a tie vote.

“Based on new hybrid, it would cost us $33,200 per seat… that’s a 22% cost reduction for cost per student,” Trenum.

The cost for using the more expensive model is about $42,700 per seat, he added.

Occoquan District rep Lillie Jessie argued for the smaller model and said the money could be better spent removing children from trailer classrooms at schools in eastern Prince William County and moving them into classrooms inside school buildings. School officials also said the Patriot model offers more windows for natural light.

“I have a real problem with providing more space and more lighting. There are ways to provide lighting in schools without building another model,” said Jessie. “I have 2nd graders in trailers that have no windows. I’m having a real problem with that.”

Prince William County Schools Superintendent Steven Walts said more than 4,000 new elementary school seats will be added in eastern portion of the county before the 13th high school opens, by adding on rooms to existing schools and with the construction of three new elementary schools.

“It’s not about east vs. west,” said Satterwhite, a direct comment to Jessie. “Let’s drop this east-west garbage. Let’s stop saying you can’t have this because ‘we’ve already approved the plan,’ or that ‘other children have needs.’

“I don’t usualy get mad and my blood pressuer is sky high, please think about our students,” Satterwhite added.

Neabsco District rep Lisa Bell adamantly opposed building another school based on the Patriot design, but she also encouraged the school system to rethink how its constructs its schools. With the number of available new school sites shrinking, Bell urged school staff to consider building three story buildings that take up less space than the required 80 acres needed for a new high school.

The School Board must now wait to see where the new school will be built. A proffered site at Stonehaven could come if the Prince William County Board of Supervisors approves the 1,006-home development in the Linton Hall Road corridor. 

The Board of Supervisors tabled a vote on Stonehaven last year, but School Board Chairman Milton C. Johns said a decision to approve or deny the site could come by January. The opening of the 13th high school would likely be delayed if a site is not chosen by January, he added.