Coraggio Consulting
Henrico County School Board Town Hall, Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Place: Henrico County School Board, Virginia
Length: 15m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RqmX3yLCoI
Official meeting portal (Henrico County Public Schools, Diligent Community): https://henricoschools.community.diligentoneplatform.com/Portal/MeetingTypeList.aspx

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-25. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:02] good evening again everyone thank you for being here i am alicia atkins henrico county school board member representing the varina district i am joined this evening by my school board colleagues beginning with mrs shea chair of the tuckahoe district chair and representative of the tuckahoe district mr madison irving vice chair and representative of the three chop district Mrs. Kristi Kinsella, representative of the Brooklyn District and Mr. Ryan Young, representative

[00:00:42] of the Fairfield District. Welcome to our second of three meetings to gather feedback on potential school boundary adjustments. We recognize that conversations like this touch on matters, on what matters most, our children and their future.

[00:01:02] Your willingness to come together, listen, and share your feedback strengthens our community and ensures that thoughts are considered and perspectives are valued. Your input, combined with new data on student enrollment and projected school capacities, will be essential as the school board considers options.

[00:01:28] So where are we in this process? In August, the school board requested information on possible school boundary adjustments. A few weeks ago, we received responsive scenarios.

[00:01:43] On September 18th, we held our first town hall and launched a community survey. Last week, we removed two scenarios from consideration. Those were Jackson Davis and Ridge, as well as Hungry Creek and Holman.

[00:02:02] We also altered one scenario, removing part of the QMS option based on community feedback. This process is ongoing, and your continued input will help guide decisions ahead.

[00:02:19] This school board is listening, learning, and working together. Mr. Young, Representative of the Fairfield District, and I will start with a brief overview of the scenarios under consideration next you'll have the chance to join small group sessions to explore maps share your ideas and provide feedback each session will have a facilitator and a note taker to guide the discussion and capture your input which will be shared directly

[00:02:56] with the board. During the session you'll also receive a note card. Please use it to ask questions or share your thoughts. You can also email redistricting@nhimrocco.k12.va.us. Your input tonight will help guide our decisions. Each year the school division thoroughly evaluates all of our school buildings and the way in which spaces are used hcps follows the recommendation

[00:03:32] of the virginia department of education and the functional capacity of each building is determined through an analysis of each room used for educational purposes additionally we report student membership counts at each school using september 30th as the point in time date students consistently move in and out of schools all year long and that is why the state designates the date

[00:04:05] on which all school divisions will use to report enrollment the 2526 school year enrollment numbers are not yet finalized the current year's enrollment will be released to the school board and the public at the October 9th school board work session so let's look at some of these adjustments each of the boundary adjustment scenarios being considered reflect 24 25 enrollment numbers and

[00:04:40] what's projected in the years ahead this will be updated once we have this year's data they also take into account current and new academic programs hcps is home to 17 specialty centers international baccalaureate programs and dual language immersion programs with more exciting offerings on the horizon including the new center for cyber security specialty center at Henrico High School, which will open in the fall of 2026.

[00:05:19] The division's second middle school center for innovation is set to open at Guiacasin next school year. A new dual language immersion program at Moody for students who are currently enrolled in a similar program at Holiday Elementary and expanded ACE Center programs, which will grow from 120 seats to 2,350 seats by the fall of 2027.

[00:05:50] We also have to consider the phased rebalancing of IB Middle Years Program as seats shift to Tuckahoe Middle from Moody Middle School. I'm sharing this information with you because I want to reassure that we are giving a lot of thought to these scenarios using a significant amount of data the maps and scenarios you'll see tonight have different impacts on neighborhoods and feeder patterns the neighborhoods

[00:06:26] on the slides are not comprehensive list of subdivisions impacted a complete list of all All subdivisions impacted by each scenario and all current and proposed feeder patterns changes are linked on the HCPS boundary adjustment webpage.

[00:06:48] Additionally, families may now enter their address into a locator map to determine if or how they are impacted by the proposed scenarios, which is also linked on the HCPS boundary adjustment webpage.

[00:07:06] So let's take a look at this scenario. This is the Carver Elementary scenario, and it involves a small adjustment to move one neighborhood, Patterson West, from Mayberry to Carver. Carver Elementary is actually closer to this neighborhood geographically.

[00:07:27] The result is approximately nine students changing schools with no significant impact on functional capacity at either school.

[00:07:43] Now we're going to look at Cuyacuson Middle. When the new building opens in 2027, some neighborhoods would shift between Cuyacuson, Tuckahoe, and Pocahontas to improve feeder patterns.

[00:07:59] This is one of the more complicated scenarios, so we're going to walk through it piece by piece. Students in the Brandon, Deer Lodge, Moreland West, and Sleepy Hollow neighborhoods, who are currently zoned for Tuckahoe Middle, would move into Cuyacusin Middle. Students living in Andover Hills, Malin Towns, Pemberton Oaks,

[00:08:31] and West Breyer would move out of Cuyacusin to Tuckahoe. Students living in the crossings at Short Pump would move from Cuyacusin to Pocahontas Middle. Just last week, The school board eliminated the part of the original Cuyacuson scenario that would have moved 210 students from Pocahontas Middle School to Cuyacuson Middle School. Here is what the potential boundary

[00:09:08] adjustment impact looked like now. Cuyacuson Middle School is projected to have a net loss of nine students and a functional capacity of 71.2 percent. Tuckahoe would gain approximately 227 students through the boundary changes and continued balancing of IB seats, bringing the school's functioning capacity to 99 percent. And enrollment at Pocahontas would increase by 37

[00:09:47] students creating a functional capacity of 95.3 percent. Elementary feeder patterns are adjusted within this scenario with Skipwith and Colonial Trail no longer feeding into Cuyacuson Middle School and Mayberry now feeding QMS Cuyacuson Middle School. At the high school level in this scenario quiakasin middle school would no longer feed into tucker high school now fairfield

[00:10:27] district board member ryan young will walk us through the high school scenarios good afternoon everyone i'm ryan young fairfield district school board rep i'm going to walk you through the high school scenarios first we're going to go with douglas freeman high in this scenario the neighborhood you see on the screen will shift from freeman to godwin high school to address overcrowding

[00:11:01] at freeman where the school is currently operating at 104.5 percent as a reminder these are the primary neighborhoods that could be impacted but it's not necessarily a comprehensive list of subdivisions a complete list of all subdivisions impacted by each scenario is linked on the hcps boundary adjustment webpage in total freeman is estimated to have a net reduction of 129 students lowering the school's functional capacity to approximately 97 percent. Godwin would have an

[00:11:34] estimated net gain of 129 students, putting the school's total functional capacity around 93 percent. These percentages are lowered daily when students leave the school to participate in A-center programs. Just as some schools are experiencing overcrowding, other schools have space and resources to accommodate more students than are currently being served through zoning and specialty center programming. Henrico High School is an example of this. In the Henrico High School scenario, students from existing neighborhoods and one future development would shift from Highland Springs or Hermitage High

[00:12:11] School to Henrico High School to make better use of the space. You can see some of the neighborhoods listed on the screen. Students living in Chamberlain Farms and Lakeside Terrace would move from Hermitage to Henrico. Students in Central Gardens and Woodville would shift from Highland Springs High to Henrico high school between boundary adjustments and participation in the new cyber security specialty center henrico high school would gain 405 students for the 2006-2026-2027 school year highland springs highland springs loses 67 students hermitage is reduced by 171 students

[00:12:50] which helps balance capacity at each school next we'll be moving on to jr tucker high school this scenario is designed to bring capacity relief to tucker high school which had a functional capacity 104.5% last school year. Several neighborhoods would shift to Hermitage and Godwin to balanced enrollment and relieve crowding at Tucker. The primary neighborhoods are listed on the screen, but again this may not be a comprehensive list of impacted subdivisions. If you are unsure, if your family is impacted, you can input your address and a boundary adjustment locator

[00:13:25] on the HCPS website to check. In this scenario, Tucker High School would lose 299 students, reducing functional capacity to 89.4%. Hermitage High School would gain 280 students, and Godwin would gain 19 students. As Ms. Atkins said at the beginning of this presentation tonight, we need to hear from you. In small groups, we will be seeking feedback related to the following questions: Which scenarios make sense to keep exploring? Which ones raise concerns? How should we think about timing of changes, especially for students in key transition years like 5th,

[00:14:02] 8th, 11th, and 12th. And what supports are needed for students should we proceed? Historically, when there's been a boundary adjustment, students in these grades have the option to remain at their current school. Should that continue or are there other factors we need to consider? We are especially eager to get your opinions on these topics. When you arrive, you receive a color slip of paper with a room number. In just a minute, we are going to dismiss you to breakout sessions. Staff will be available outside of the auditorium to direct you. There, you will have a chance to look at posters

[00:14:36] or the maps and indicate which ones you support, oppose, or are neutral on. You can also share comments and provide written responses to a series of questions. You will also have the opportunity to let us know what other information or resources you need. Submit any questions you may have. Board members will be visiting small group sessions. We also encourage you to complete the online survey that sent that was sent to families and staff earlier this month finally we want to briefly review our anticipated timeline for the action the board will review and continue to review community

[00:15:11] feedback and refine options if necessary with the goal of making final decisions in december thank you again for coming out and being a part of this important conversation school board members will be available in the commons after the breakout session which concludes at 8 pm we will need to to clear the building by 8:30 to allow staff to reset classrooms and clean the building for tomorrow. At this time everybody is dismissed to the breakout rooms and our board members will be stopping by each room. Thank you all so much for coming out tonight.

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