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Henrico public forum spotlights auditorium maintenance complaints and redistricting criticism
Summary
At its Dec. 18 meeting, the Henrico County School Board heard a drama teacher warn that auditorium lighting and sound systems are unsafe and unmaintained, and a resident sharply criticized the day’s redistricting adjustments as inadequate. The board did not respond during public forum; staff will follow up.
Tom Harris, a drama teacher at Shorepump/Short Pump Middle School, told the Henrico County School Board on Dec. 18 that multiple school auditorium systems are failing and that efforts to get durable repairs have gone unanswered. "These systems are incapable of functioning as intended, with some becoming more unsafe," Harris said, recounting emails and work orders submitted on Feb. 12, Nov. 4 and Dec. 3 and asking the district to secure contracted vendors when county electricians could not produce lasting fixes.
Harris said the district’s performance spaces suffer from chronic maintenance problems that affect lights, sound, computers and projections, and that teachers who know the equipment have been excluded from decisions about repairs. "We continuously offer our assistance as trained and knowledgeable resources...yet we are left out of the conversation to the detriment of the school and its students," he told the board.
Also during public forum, Fairfield District resident Marlene Sherlock criticized a redistricting decision the board made earlier that day. Sherlock said the action moved "a few hundred students" under policy p10-08-002 (and its recently revised regulation) but left other overcrowded schools—named in her remarks as Freeman, Deep Run and Glen Allen—largely unaddressed. "What we've learned...is that while a school is, yes, a building, it's mostly made up of people who can and do change over time," Sherlock said, urging broader remedies and warning that developers could pressure supervisors if enrollment imbalances persist.
The board’s stated public-forum practice is to not respond during remarks; the chair reiterated that staff will follow up with speakers after the meeting. No formal board action on facilities or redistricting was taken during the public-forum portion. Earlier in the evening the board approved the meeting agenda and a consent package; staff follow-up was promised for the comments made at the podium.
The public forum rules announced at the meeting give each speaker three minutes to address the board and instruct speakers to state their names and affiliations before speaking. Written comments submitted in advance were noted as having been provided to board members and posted in board documents.
