Residents, staff urge board to count preschool students as rezoning work session begins

Residents, teachers and school staff urged the Chesapeake School Board on Jan. 14 to count all preschool students — including those in the Chesapeake Preschool Initiative (CPI) — when drawing attendance lines to assign students to the new Crestwood Elementary School or the renovated B.M. Williams Elementary School.

At a public hearing, Alice Frazier, an employee of Chesapeake Public Schools who said she is based at B.M. Williams, told the board, “When the 115 preschool students on our campus are included, actually I think it’s 116 now, the new proposed attendance zones would have B.M. Williams at 107 to 114% capacity, not the 91 to 98% that’s listed on the charts.” Lynn Bell, a B.M. Williams teacher and parent, echoed that concern: “Do the 115 students not matter? Now, 116.” Jimmy Schuette, who said he has worked at B.M. Williams for many years, said planning documents in past years counted all students and that the school’s actual daily load includes children housed in portables.

Staff presented three rezoning options and reiterated a recommendation for Option 1, a north–south boundary along the Chesapeake Expressway. Planning staff member Alex Pope explained that the division’s official enrollment calculations do not include CPI because that program is funded and reported separately by the state, although staff said they still consider the facility impact of CPI students. “To clarify, I was misspoken in the last presentation. The CPI students are not included in the enrollment numbers that we provided,” Pope said.

Why it matters: Parents and staff said the difference between including or excluding CPI students materially changes the capacity calculations and the practical use of space, including restroom access, playground time, cafeteria meals and the workload for custodial, food service and health staff. Several speakers and board members pressed staff for specifics about how many preschool students are counted in each option and whether existing portables could be moved inside the building.

Board members sought clarifications. Dr. Brittany Walker said CPI students at B.M. Williams historically have not been able to access some building resources because of the master schedule; she asked staff to confirm that counting rules used in rezoning matched the public-facing VDOE school profile. Planner Alex Pope and operations director Paige Stutz said CPI and other state-funded special programs are not included in the division’s official enrollment tabulations used for funding or rezoning — but that the planning team is reviewing building utilization room by room with Principal Taylor to identify available space and to reduce the number of portables.

Staff numbers and next steps: During the presentation, staff said Option 1 would reduce roughly half of the portables at B.M. Williams, Option 3 would provide the most immediate relief there, and Option 2 would better mitigate a traffic concern while providing the least relief. Pope said the division will publish a community survey (open through Jan. 24), hold additional faculty briefings and return public feedback and survey results to the board at the Jan. 30 meeting; a final vote is scheduled for Feb. 10. Staff reiterated that CPI’s 72 students housed in portables (and other preschool placements referenced by speakers) are served by separate state grant funding and therefore are not included in the division’s official enrollment counts used for rezoning calculations.

Board context and concerns: Several board members said they wanted more detail about near-term development on the Crestwood side and whether projected housing growth justified assigning more capacity there. John McCormick asked staff to distinguish between land that is already rezoned or has active applications and raw, undeveloped parcels that would require rezoning by City Council. Dr. Walker reiterated a policy preference to avoid prioritizing future development over current students’ needs.

What was not decided: The board did not vote on a rezoning option at the meeting. Staff said the formal rezoning vote remains on the Feb. 10 agenda after additional community input is collected.

Ending: The board will consider community survey feedback and faculty input at a Jan. 30 update and hold a second public hearing Feb. 10 before taking final action on attendance zones for Crestwood Elementary School and B.M. Williams Elementary School.