Orange County board backs new K–5 at Gravelly Hill, directs redistricting and master plan work

Orange County Board of Education members voted May 5 to direct staff to pursue a new K–5 elementary school adjacent to Gravely Hill Middle School and to begin redistricting and a district portfolio master plan to guide remaining bond work.

The board’s move sets the district’s next design and public-engagement steps for a bond package the district has been developing since late 2024. Superintendent Dr. Jones said staff will use the decision to select and brief a design team, pursue a preferred project-delivery method and produce the attendance-zone work needed to right‑size building usage across Orange County Schools.

The decision matters because the district is balancing aging buildings, uneven enrollment trends and roughly $125 million in bond capacity to prioritize construction and renovations. Project consultants summarized two main strategies the board had reviewed: build a new K–5 at a county‑owned site near Gravely Hill, or replace facilities with a new K–8 on the Orange Middle / Orange High campus. The board’s vote favored the K–5 option and directed staff to proceed with the related planning steps.

Steve Hess, a consultant working with district staff, said the next steps include hiring a design team and completing a redistricting study. “The utilization rate you choose — industry guidance tends to be 85 to 95 percent — will determine how many facilities we need to keep and where to invest the bond money,” Hess said.

Board and staff presentations described several inputs to the decision: historical enrollment trends, multiple enrollment projections (including a Wolpert facilities review and independent demographic projections), facility‑condition indexes, and community feedback collected in several public sessions this spring. Staff emphasized that final renovation scopes and exact building sizes will be determined during design and after the redistricting work.

Board members asked detailed questions about site zoning, traffic and the possible effects of a recently approved charter school in the western portion of the county. Board member Carrie Hazard noted local zoning and watershed constraints near the Gravelly Hill site and urged staff to test enrollment sensitivity, particularly given how openings of charter schools have previously affected enrollment patterns. Hess and district staff said traffic and site utilities are part of the design team's scope and that a traffic consultant has already flagged workable approaches to campus circulation at the Orange Middle / Orange High campus.

Mr. Atherton moved the motion directing staff to pursue the K–5 strategy together with a district master plan and redistricting process; Ms. Dole seconded. The motion passed 6–1. Board materials and staff comments made clear that the vote was a directional step to begin design and planning, not a final authorization of construction contracts, final school sizes, or specific renovation scopes.

District staff said they will return with design‑stage cost estimates, a recommended project delivery method, refined enrollment projections from a retained demographic vendor, and proposed attendance zones. Those studies will inform final project budgets and the sequence of renovations or replacements tied to the bond funding.

What’s next: staff will issue an RFQ/RFP for design services and restart the paused redistricting work, using board direction on an optimal utilization rate to guide school sizes and the distribution of bond dollars. The board and staff said they expect multiple public meetings and a transparent schedule of decision points before any construction contracts are signed.