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Teacher urges board to prioritize full gym addition at LC Bird, calls current plan inequitable
Summary
A 30-year LC Bird High School teacher urged the Chesterfield board to replace a piecemeal gym renovation with a full multi-court addition soon, saying the current design limits capacity and denies equitable facilities to students; the comment came during the FY2027 CIP public hearing on Feb. 10.
Crystal Barker, a 30-year Chesterfield County Public Schools health and physical education department head and LC Bird High School teacher, told the school board at the Feb. 10 CIP public hearing that the current renovation plan leaves LC Bird with inadequate gym capacity and unequal facilities compared with newer schools.
"I need you to reinforce the extreme need for LC Bird to have a gymnasium addition. Not in the far future, in the near future," Barker said, describing a long-running effort by staff and families to get a multi-court gym built and recounting that a mid-project scope reduction left half of the facility unchanged.
Barker said the existing gym configuration prevents the school from hosting championships and constrains curriculum and extracurricular programming. She listed decades of deferred expectations—original promises that have been postponed repeatedly—and urged the board to move LC Bird higher in the capital-improvement plan.
Board members received Barker’s comments during the public hearing on the proposed FY2027 capital improvement plan; the board closed that hearing after scheduled speakers concluded. No board motion on LC Bird was recorded at the Feb. 10 meeting; the transcript shows the board will take final action on the FY2027 budget and CIP at a Feb. 24 special meeting.
Why it matters: Barker framed her remarks as an equity issue—saying students and teachers at LC Bird lack the facilities available to other high schools—and urged the board to prioritize the project so current students can benefit rather than waiting decades.
The board’s formal capital decisions will be recorded at the February 24 special meeting and in the board minutes. Commenters and community members can continue to submit written feedback via the board’s public comment channels.
