CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Capacity is the operative word these days in Albemarle County, as the Board of Supervisors consider the ongoing issues around density in the development area, but the school division has its own set of issues in that arena as well.

The county has recently begun construction on multi-million-dollar capital projects, first at Center 2 on the Lambs Road campus near Albemarle High School, and Mountainview Upper Elementary, which is on Avon Street.  Center 2 is an alternative career development educational space for high school students which is being constructed to assist with overcrowding in the high schools, and Mountainview was viewed as absolutely necessary given the growth in the Avon/Mill Creek region of the county.

However, despite these efforts the county is now faced with the realities of rapid growth in the region and ongoing capacity issues specifically in the high schools.

Dr. Kate Acuff, the Chair of the Albemarle School Board told WINA Morning News that overcrowding is a serious issue at two of the three traditional high schools.

“Monticello is bumping up against capacity but they’re not over capacity yet; but between Albemarle high school and Western about 400 students over capacity so we have trailers,” Acuff said. “You know we have 16 classrooms in trailers at Albemarle, and I honestly don’t know at Western we have at least 8 so that is concerning.”

Among the options before Albemarle are to renovate existing high schools, continue to build educational centers (smaller buildings with specialized educational and training offerings) or a new high school altogether.

The challenge with a new high school is that the price tag could approach $200 million dollars, which the Board of Supervisors may have a significant “sticker shock” reaction to.  However, the school board has authorized their staff to look into all the complexities around the issue as they continue to weigh their options.

“We’re asking whether to continue building centers, which has always been difficult for people to sort of grasp even some of my colleagues on the board of supervisors  Or [the other choice] to build a new traditional high school,” Acuff said.  “The rationale for doing the centers 8 years ago when we launched that was to at the same time expand modest expansions of the high school, the current high schools and modernization plus a series of centers.  The center model was delayed for 5 years, and the center model itself was reduced by one third in size.  I think it’s still going to be the two centers we have wonderful hubs for specialized scholar students, but I am open to considering a new high school.  The challenge with a new high school is the price tag.  One of the challenges is up to $200 million dollars without land costs, it is the most disruptive we would have to completely re-draw the district lines and it’s not only the capital costs [but] the ongoing operational costs.”

You can hear the entire interview with Dr. Acuff below: