Harrisonburg board approves CIP and discusses school expansions, mobile units and cost updates

The Harrisonburg City School Board approved a revised capital improvement plan on Aug. 5 and discussed options to add capacity to city schools rather than building new facilities. Board members said the CIP will guide conversations with the city about funding and priorities.

Why it matters: Several elementary and middle schools are operating at or near capacity. The board reviewed a 2012 architect expansion study and recent updates: the 2012 Keister expansion was estimated at $2,000,000 to add 120 seats; more recent architect input for additions suggested escalation to roughly $600 per square foot and an Elon project estimate of about 40,000 square feet at $28.8–30 million. Board members urged updating older designs before committing to construction.

Key points from the presentation: Mr. Prince walked through campus-specific considerations — Keister’s sanitary sewer and pump needs near primary wings, Spotswood’s cafeteria constraints, Stone Spring’s Head Start mobile units and parking challenges, Skyline’s possible stairwell addition and chiller modifications, and Elon’s geothermal well area that constrains where additions could go. Discussion emphasized that effective capacity figures exclude mobile units and that expansion to eliminate mobile classrooms would require larger additions.

Board action: Dr. Cohen moved to approve the proposed CIP so staff can meet with the city to prioritize funding; the vote was unanimous. Members asked staff to monitor housing and enrollment trends and to bring updated architect assessments and RFP recommendations back to the board before major capital commitments.

Next steps: Staff will bring funding requests forward to the board and, if warranted, pursue an updated architectural study or RFP so the division can make apples-to-apples cost comparisons and better estimate capital needs.