Mayor, City Council and School Board Agree on Plan
Mayor Dwight C. Jones attended today’s informal session of Richmond City Council to speak in support of expediting a resolution to accept the Richmond Public Schools Phase 1 Construction Plan. Eight members of City Council signed on as co-sponsors of the resolution with the Mayor.
“Education remains a top priority for the city of Richmond and this administration,” said Mayor Jones. “We have waited too long to deal with the long-overdue problem of antiquated schools. This is a fiscally-prudent and educationally-imperative plan. We are at a juncture now where we are ready to move forward together and develop very specific timelines for the construction of our schools.”
Phase 1 of the school’s construction plan consists of two parts, the building of new schools and substantial renovations to some existing schools. Phase 1A of the plan includes a new Huguenot High School, Broad Rock Elementary School, Oak Grove Elementary School and Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School. The new Huguenot High School would be the first high school built in the city in more than 40 years. “I look forward to working with City Council, Richmond School Board and staff of Richmond Public Schools to begin the community and neighborhood input phase,” said the Mayor. “It is incumbent upon us to quickly agree on the designs so that we can move forward and start construction of a new school in 2010.” Contact: Michael Wallace, (804) 646-2772
The city anticipates total construction cost of Phase 1A to be $173.5 million. The next step in the construction process is to solicit community input for the design of the new schools.