Parents, students and teachers press Caroline County supervisors for faster school expansion and preschool support

Public commenters filled the board dais on March 25 to press Caroline County supervisors to prioritize school facilities, classroom space and preschool services as the county’s population grows.

More than a dozen speakers — parents, teachers, students and school officials — described full classrooms, hallways used for instruction and inadequate athletic fields at Caroline High School, Bowling Green and Lewis & Clark elementary schools. Student speakers cited crowded hallways and unsafe, uneven practice fields. Teachers described delivering special‑education and intervention services in hallways, libraries or shared corners because dedicated rooms are unavailable.

Parent Kevin Collins told the board he participates in public meetings "because I care about this county and my family's future in it" and asked for a written statement about allegations raised at a prior meeting. Several other parents urged faster action, saying Bowling Green and Lewis & Clark were already over capacity.

Michael Mudd, assistant superintendent for instruction, presented preschool program details on behalf of the school division: "CCPS offers preschool for 3 and 4 year olds and a full day service model," he said, and reported 252 three‑ and four‑year‑olds this school year across 15 preschool classrooms at three elementary schools (five classrooms at Lewis and Clark, six at Bowling Green, four at Madison). Mudd outlined funding streams: Head Start ($1,296,479.08), Title I (~$120,000), Virginia Preschool Initiative (~$638,531) and other state/local and special education funding, plus required local match for VPI.

The division and its chief operations officer, Marcia Stevens, also told supervisors an engineering and architectural assessment of the former Lotus Academy building showed high deferred infrastructure needs. Stevens said limited repairs over six years would cost nearly $9.7 million and that a full renovation would run about $15 million — roughly 86% of the cost of a new school — and would still fail to meet modern educational design standards. Based on projected growth and the condition of the facility, school staff recommended new construction rather than renovating Lotus.

School staff said they would provide the board with a fuller, hard‑copy presentation on preschool enrollment, funding and program details. Several speakers asked the board to allocate current available county dollars toward school capacity — including pay‑as‑you‑go capital — rather than other proposed projects.

Supervisors thanked commenters and noted they planned a joint meeting with the school board to discuss facilities and budget timing; the board tentatively discussed a joint facilities/budget work session in mid‑April to continue the conversation.