School Board Outlines Dire Need for Funding to Address Population Growth, Other Issues

Members of the School Board of Alexandria City Public Schools pleaded their case before the City Council on Monday night, asking it to fully fund the first three years of a request for $372.6 million over 10 years as the school system careens toward a situation of overcrowding, dilapidated buildings, an ailing bus fleet and reduced learning services.

Total enrollment of the school system increased by 1,700 students over the last five years and elementary enrollment has risen by 1,300 students over the same period, School Board Chairman Yvonne Folkerts told the council during a work session at George Washington Middle School.

Schools have reached capacity if not overcapacity, Folkerts and other board members reiterated. “Staff offices are now classrooms. Some teachers use the trunk of their cars to store school supplies” because they have no storage space, said Folkerts, who led the meeting.

At Lyles Crouch Elementary, as with many Alexandria schools, the computer room and science lab have been eliminated. The band and orchestra practice in the hallway due to the shortage of space. Many schools begin serving lunch at 10:30 a.m. to accommodate the large number of students who must use the cafeteria.

Council member Frank Fannon asked if all the classes have “maxed out” to the highest number of student capacity possible.

School board member Blanche Maness said the state determinant is 30 students to one teacher, “which we do not agree with. We as a board have worked very hard to keep our class sizes small. Teachers and parents want it.”

A more typical class size in Alexandria is about 23 to 1.

Maness said the school is trying to be inclusive about [English Language Learners] and special education students and increasing the class size does not dovetail with that strategy. 

School Superintendent Morton Sherman, who spoke few words at the meeting, said nearly one-third of the school community is designated ELL.

“From a policy question, it’s obvious that better academic performance is fewer students, but in the meanwhile you may have to have 27 students in a classroom,” said Fannon.

School Board Vice Chairman Sheryl Gorsuch said the increase of students in a classroom “creates stress everywhere. The square footage of our buildings doesn’t allow a quality education.”

School Board member Arthur Peabody said the school system's middle schools "historically...have not been fountains of achievement" and if we push the system beyond its limits "don't expect the test scores to go up."

Councilwoman Alicia Hughes, who taught science in Texas, said she was concerned that “we’re teaching science off of a cart” because there’s no room for a lab, and added that class sizes were too large even at their current level.

Construction plans for the next four years call for a new Jefferson Houston K-8 school to open in fall 2014 and a new K-8 school on the Patrick Henry site to open fall 2015.

The average size of an Alexandria public school building is 55 years old and six of the buildings average 75 years. 

Councilman Paul Smedberg pressed Folkerts to answer if capacity is the issue “would Jefferson Houston come before Patrick Henry” in terms of priority.

Folkerts said Jefferson Houston is “not a capacity issue,” but a poor building and a population that needs to have a better learning environment. Board member Helen Morris said Jefferson-Houston needs $10 million to $15 million just in maintenance. Gorsuch said: “I don’t want to see the conversation become capacity vs. maintenance.”

Maness, who taught at Jefferson Houston, said the building is “flat, questionable and strange,” to which Councilman Kerry Donley quipped “sounds like my prom date from high school." 

City Councilman Rob Krupicka added that “it is true Jeff Houston as a school is not at capacity, but every other school around it is, which means that [George Washington] is on a track to being as well.”

Folkerts told Patch after the public meeting concluded that “I don’t want [City Council] to think that getting a new Jefferson-Houston and Patrick Henry is going to solve everything.”

Mayor Bill Euille recalled during the meeting that when he sat on the school board from 1974 to 1984, “it was the opposite. We were closing buildings…We feel your pain…However, there are very few dollars that are available to accomplish all of your needs." 

Donley said: “Part of our dilemma is not one of disagreement or desire…We are faced with the challenge of our fiscal capacity.”

Board member Charles Wilson said “If what was decided is that we’ll go to the max if we can, but as Ms. Gorsuch said, the space that we have now is not working. Another impact of deferring cost is sometimes that impact is great and sometimes it can produce a catastrophe…I urge the council to add to this impact a report on the long-term impact of deferring the inevitable.” 

City Manager James Hartmann said in a memo issued at the meeting that for whatever school CIP funding the council approves, city staff recommends a financing plan mixing 25 percent cash and 75 percent bonds “because it is both less expensive in the long run and more in line with the city’s practice of using diverse funding sources to maintain its AAA/Aaa bond ratings.”

The groups agreed to meet again Mar. 30.