Stafford County should have its sixth high school open by Spring 2025.
At the most recent meeting, the Stafford School Board was given a presentation concerning the breakdown of plans to bring High School #6 to fruition. The Stafford County Board approved the school in its Capital Improvements Program for the fiscal year 2021-2030.
With an old price tag of $125 million, new estimates indicate the balloon’s construction cost by $30 million. It would be one of the most expensive high schools ever to be built in Virginia.
A presentation made by Thomas Nichols, Chief Academic Officer for High School and Student Safety, outlined the timeline for High School #6.
The school division hopes to have a design team selected by spring. Nichols said that in addition to teachers that the school’s designed environment is important to prepare students to become successful, even though Nichols admitted that the school board has no idea what the jobs of the future may be.
Another goal of the proposed schedule is to have the planning and programming process ready for the school by Summer 2022. The planning and programming phase will see a steering committee headed by Dr. Nichols and will take into account the advice and concerns of various subcommittee that will share ideas and visions on various aspects of the design process.
These ideas will mainly be geared toward offering the best environment for learning. Some board members, such as Garrisonville District Board member Pamela Yeung, who is interested in applying these committees to the improvement of other schools its work prove to be successful.
The biggest concern is the construction of the building itself which the projections hope to begin in Summer 2022 and come to completion in Spring 2025. The Board hopes to be ready to open the high school’s doors to new students by Spring 2025 but have concerns about getting the land for the school to be built.
Falmouth District Board member Sarah Chase expressed concerns about a cart before the horse scenario where the school board would have the design completed and be ready to build before having an actual place to build.
These concerns were shared by Hartwood District Board Member Holly Hazard who hoped that the Stafford County Board of Supervisors would have a plot of land available by the time construction is scheduled to move forward.
High School #6 will be located in the Hartwood District but currently no parcel of land has been chosen on which to build the school.
The next step in the board’s process will be to form what will be known as the Project Advocate Group, with which the board will meet to develop a vision that will be designed to frame all future conversations regarding High School #6.
The board is also planning to hold a virtual meeting in May 2021 to update the local community on High School #6 and ask for feedback.
