City schools may shuffle alternative programs

Shifting Lynchburg’s middle school alternative education programs to the Fort Hill School is one of several changes that would strengthen the city’s alternative offerings, school officials said.

Reorganizing the programs — which house a variety of students due to issues ranging from disciplinary to academic — is in the beginning phases.

Officials have discussed the move at several school board meetings and said it could create new opportunities for the division and strengthen programs.

The reorganization also would include moving all high school programs to the Amelia Pride Center, which is located next to Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation.

The school division’s proposal would house the Middle School Learning Center, the Homebound Learning Center and Pride eighth-grade students in the Fort Hill School. The school, owned by the city and currently vacant, is a block off Fort Avenue on Liggates Road.

The Amelia Pride Center would then house students from Pride Plus and the pregnant teens program. Pride Plus students would move from the current Hollins Mill location and pregnant teens would move from the LAUREL school.

Deputy Superintendent Roger Roberts said it’s long been a goal of the school board to beef up its alternative education offerings.

“We feel like it’s a real opportunity to increase the time for our middle school and high school alternative students,” he said.

With a larger facility, officials anticipate being able to lengthen the school day for alternative students. Eighth- graders would get three more hours of instructional time, Pride students would get an additional 30 minutes and Homebound Learning Center students would net another hour.

In addition, Roberts said consolidating programs would reduce costs. Less staffing will be necessary and the lease at the Hollins Mill site could be canceled. He said officials are still looking into the savings, but estimate they would spend at least $100,000 less.

Before any programs can be moved though, the facility is in need of repair. Roberts said it’s mostly cosmetic changes. The building has dingy carpets and walls with holes that are in need of paint. Roberts said major capital needs include replacing the roof and taking down some partitioned areas.

The division has budgeted about $450,000 in stimulus funding for the project. Roberts said an architect has reviewed the facilities and officials believe the work is within the budget. He said students likely could move into the facilities in December or January.

“We hope it will continue to move forward. We feel like it’s a win-win kind of situation,” Roberts said. “We would look at ways to be good neighbors.”

The school sits in a residential area. Looking out of its front windows, there is a neat line of houses just across the street. The parking lot behind the building is also mere feet from a residence. School officials have said they want to embrace the community.

Superintendent Paul McKendrick has reiterated during several school board meetings he would like to see changes at the Fort Hill site yield a community school.

“We don’t want to go into this building and be residents in this building. We want to be part of this community,” he said during a recent meeting.

The concept of a community school, McKendrick said, is to open a school’s doors after hours and on the weekend, to hold events, and instill a neighborhood sense.

Just what the surrounding community thinks of the plan to bring life to the vacant building is not clear; a community meeting is planned for May 18 at the Fort Hill School.

The site was originally a city elementary school until it closed in 1975. Since then, it’s been used by various organizations and private schools.

It was vacated in January by the Rivermont School, which is a private school for children with learning disabilities and emotional and behavior problems. Rivermont had been housed there since 2002; prior to that Fort Hill was home to New Covenant Schools.

Just before the city gave the OK for the Rivermont School to move in, some neighbors did raise concerns, citing safety issues and declining property values.

What ultimately happens to the Fort Hill School now lies in the hands of City Council. Because the city owns the building, division officials must seek council’s approval to move forward. Division officials are scheduled to present their plan to city leadership May 26.