180 Chesterfield students could change schools under redistricting proposal

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — About 180 Chesterfield County elementary school students could be one step closer to changing schools Tuesday night as the School Board prepares to vote on a redistricting proposal aimed at easing overcrowding at Curtis Elementary School.

Curtis is already out of room, with 10 trailers on campus and the school operating at 100.2% program capacity as of September.

“That school is very, very full,” Chesterfield County Chief of Operations Reid Wodicka said. “As I mentioned before, we have eight trailers, we added two trailers this year as a result of continued growth. So we have a very full school.”

The proposed solution would shift students from Curtis to nearby elementary schools with additional capacity, starting next school year.

Under the proposal:

• 60 Curtis Elementary students would move to Bellwood Elementary.
• 53 Curtis students would move to Wells Elementary.
• 67 Bellwood students would move to Bensley Elementary.

Bellwood is currently at 79% program capacity, Bensley is at 72% and Wells is at 76%.

The changes would bring all four schools closer to what Wodicka described as the county's “sweet spot” of between 80% and 90% capacity.

But some Curtis parents say redistricting addresses only part of a larger problem.

Kortne Kellam, the PTA president at Curtis, said her daughter currently attends class in a trailer and loses instructional time because of the distance students have to travel for things such as bathrooms and lunch.

“She’s out in a trailer. They are not very secure, there’s no bathroom out there,” Kellam said. “I mean, just the amount of instructional time the kids are missing to just go to the bathroom. She’s averaging about 12 minutes that she’s missing from just going to the bathroom, to just going to lunch. Everything is such a long walk.”

Kellam said she believes continued residential development around Curtis is contributing to the school's capacity challenges.

“We have just so many apartments. I would say that’s the main thing,” Kellam said. “There is almost a new one on every corner that you turn around of Curtis. There’s either a new one being built or they’re outlining one to be built, townhomes, which is great, but the kids need a new and bigger school.”

While Kellam said she is not opposed to redistricting, she worries moving students now will provide only temporary relief as new students continue enrolling at Curtis.

“Changing a few students around isn’t going to change that problem long term, because we are going to have new enrollment, we are still going to have those younger kids coming into Curtis,” Kellam said. “We just need a new school. We need a bigger school. It needs to be expanded.”

The Chesterfield County School Board meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Public Meeting Room off Iron Bridge Road.

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