PMMS Planning Changes Study Urged For Adding Onto PMHS
The Buena Vista school facilities committee has decided to move forward with a programmatic study on adding a middle school wing to Parry McCluer High School, after concluding that the former Mountain Gateway Community College building is not a viable site for a new middle school.
Superintendent Heather Ault and City Manager Jason Tyree told the committee Monday night that they recently met with representatives from RRMM Architects to review the Mountain Gateway building’s potential. Ault said the architects identified a long list of barriers that would make conversion prohibitively expensive.
“Schools are required to have certain facilities,” Ault explained. “The Virginia Department of Education will not approve a school that doesn’t have them — and it’s not negotiable, for all the right reasons.”
She said a new gym, media center, and additional classrooms would more than double the building’s size. Six of its seven classrooms fall below the DOE’s minimum 700 square feet, and the only place available for expansion sits atop the parking lot and stormwater system, which would have to be relocated. “That would result in some drastic site improvement,” Ault said.
The building’s layout also poses functional challenges. “Bathrooms are in one section of the building, not near the classrooms,” she said. “For middle school, that would be a real challenge.” And access to the property is poor — school buses can’t make the first turn onto the road, she said, and nearly all students would need transportation because they couldn’t walk to school.
Tyree agreed, saying the structure was “really not going to be a feasible building to use for the school.” He added that DOE standards would require expensive “upfitting,” making it cheaper to expand the high school campus instead.
The more cost-effective alternative, since an addition would be built anyway, would be to build a middle school addition onto the existing high school, according to the RRMM representatives.
One “pro” to this idea, according to Ault, is that “it would also expand middle school sports with access to high school facilities.”
The programmatic study, to be conducted by RRMM Architects, will identify the division’s specific needs and design requirements, drawing input from teachers, staff, and administrators. “We’d bring in six or seven stakeholders from our middle school world, and they’d use that input to create something that’s specific for us,” she said.
The study will also outline a conceptual building plan and a “current order of magnitude” cost estimate for adding middle school facilities to the high school campus, Ault said in a follow-up email Tuesday.
“It will provide information including a macro-level conceptual building plan for a middle school addition as well as a current order of magnitude cost estimate for the proposed renovations and expansions,” she wrote. “That information will help the school division and the city determine if this is the best next step for our middle school.”
Ault emphasized that the study is an independent step meant to inform the next phase, and does not commit the city to working with RRMM beyond this project. If the division and city later decide to move forward, she said, the project would go through a competitive bid process under the Virginia Public Procurement Act. Committee members, including School Board members John Roberts and Lisa Kerr and City Council members Michelle Poluikis and Ron Cash, raised concerns about cost and timing. Poluikis noted that the last major facilities plan produced an unaffordable price tag.
“We’ve got to beat every bush possible to find the money,” Poluikis said, suggesting the committee look at reusing a brick-walled section of the high school for the wood shop to save on costs.
She also asked about conclusions that were brought to the committee when they underwent a similar process with a study from Energy Systems Group, earlier this year. Those conclusions had suggested that an addition to the high school would not be that much cheaper than a new building, and had shifted the committee’s focus to the possibility of a new pre-K through seventh grade school building – a focus that ended when it was deemed too expensive.
“That was not the opinion shared by RRMM,” explained Ault, clarifying that the officials felt an addon to the high school would be much more affordable.
Tyree acknowledged price concerns but said it was important to take the next step. “Why go for a Cadillac when a Chevy will do?” he said, referring to the scaledback plan. He also encouraged the committee to move forward, sharing that he and Ault had had “a good discussion … about the budget.”
Ault estimated that once design and bidding phases begin, construction could take 18 to 24 months to complete.
“It’s a long process,” she said. “Even if we do the programmatic study and decide that the high school option is the financially best option — not that it’s a great option, but the best option — it still takes time.”
She also reminded the committee that “there is still the school construction grant,” funding from the state that covers up to 30% of new school construction costs. But “with leadership changes coming in Richmond, I don’t know how long that will last,” which underlines the need for quick decisions.
As for the vacant Mountain Gateway building, Tyree said it could still be used for another purpose, such as the school board office or even a tax-revenue-generating business or data center. “We’d rather have that money going toward our kids,” Ault remarked.
Poluikis made the motion to authorize RRMM to conduct the programmatic study focused solely on the high school site. Tyree chimed in that the motion matched his recommendation, and the action passed unanimously.
The issue will next be brought before the School Board at its Oct. 23 meeting, after which, if it passes, the study will begin.
