How We Got Here
Our mission at Save Our Schools Lynchburg is to ensure that every student in our community has access to a high-quality education in a safe, supportive, and equitable environment. We do understand and agree that the bottom line is there are necessary changes that have to be made within LCS due to the conditions of the facilities or there is no future for LCS. We are asking that those changes be to achieve a clear, detailed vision and decided upon with a thoughtful plan, consistent collaboration, effective communication
Where It Started
Lynchburg City Schools began a Facilities Master Plan recently to determine the best vision and learning opportunities for students in our public school system. By looking at educational needs, current facilitates, and community feedback. In 2018, Lynchburg City Schools hired Dominion 7, an architecture firm in Lynchburg, to evaluate every school in the city for capital improvements. The city also asked them for recommendations on how to improve the physical infrastructure.
Dominion 7 evaluated the buildings and reported that every building is in disrepair due to the city failing to make capital improvements on a yearly basis. In their analysis, they gave every school a rating. Every elementary school is below an 80, with most in the high 60s to low 70s.
Dominion 7 also included utilization percentages to inform whether the district had too many classrooms. In their findings, Dominion 7 states there are 20 extra elementary school classrooms in the district. This analysis influenced their recommendations for the district resulting in the presentation of three recommendations: (1) build new larger schools, (2) close multiple schools and build a new school, and (3) close multiple schools and make safety repairs. To perform the evaluation, it was assumed that every classroom across Lynchburg City School would operate at maximum capacity according to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) standards.
This completely overlooked the fact that the district receives federal funding specifically to maintain class sizes below this maximum capacity.
From these recommendations, Lynchburg hired MGT Educational Consulting in May 2022 to give multiple scenarios for school closures and improvements. In June 2023, MGT presented four scenarios that included closing, repurposing, and renovating schools. The scenarios all included re-zoning for close to home, improving elementary buildings, expanding pre-k options, expanding CTE, and removing portable classrooms.
The city had four community meetings to gather input on what scenario they supported, and 70% of the community voted for Scenario 1.
At this point, no closures are expected until 2025 and teachers at schools then proposed for closure were told their schools would not be closing. This all changed when Dr. Day of the Finance Committee individually orchestrated a plan for school closures. He created a fifth scenario - close the two magnet schools, T. C. Miller and Dearington Schools of Innovation. It was later brought up and the Board agreed that they would close T. C. Miller and Sandusky Elementary School. Sandusky was switched out for Dearington due to the condition of the building that Sandusky is in.
The vote passed in September 2023. Save Our Schools as well as many other school staff, organizations, parents, guardians, family members, and the community have continued advocating for these schools to remain open as there is no solid plan in place as to where these students will go or how the school district would implement all of the changes from Scenario 3.
As of August 2024, the school board has voted to rescind the decision to close schools for a number of reasons. They also voted to set a vision and work towards rebuilding Sandusky Elementary School. The future of T. C. Miller is still not secure other than it is to remain open for the foreseeable future. Our work continues to help make the new vision a reality as well as secure a better future for the entire Lynchburg City School System.
MGT Scenarios
In June 2023, MGT Education Consulting presented the district four recommendations or proposed scenarios for capital improvements and closures in the city. This phase of planning only considered improvements and closures of the elementary schools.
Rezoning close-to-home was included in all four scenarios. This raised concerns about LCS trying to gain unitary status and be released from a 1971 desegregation court order. This can only be obtained when a district proves they no longer operate a dual segregated school system or dual opportunities for different groups of students. They try to prove this through presenting the district as providing equal opportunities and experiences for all students but Lynchburg still has residential segregation that would influence the educational quality and opportunities in at-risk schools.
After presenting the four scenarios to the district, MGT and Lynchburg City Schools hosted four community meetings, met with community groups, and sent out a survey to get feedback on the possible situations. From the survey and community meetings, 70% of the feedback called for scenario 1.
Scenario 1 closes Fort Hill, the alternative school, and repurposes Heritage Elementary School as the alternative school because they are in need of a larger space. The students from Heritage Elementary School would then be rezoned for the surrounding schools.
The board voted on and passed the decision to go with a revised Scenario 3. MGT's scenario included the rezoning closer-to-home, closing Sandusky Elementary, closing or converting T. C. Miller to support expanded Pre-K programs, renovating the remaining elementary buildings and other improvements. The revised scenario included a 10 classroom expansion to Bass Elementary and requesting $15 million from City Council to fund it.
This decision raised several concerns. City Council had voiced several times that they were not going to give any additional funding due to what they believed to be lack of transparency and responsible fiscal decisions in the previous years that have lead to this situation. There were concerns from the community about what the impacts that the expansion would have on Bass Elementary. W. M. Bass Elementary uses a year-round calendar and uniform requirements for students. Would new students zoned here be forced to switch to the year-round calendar or would Bass be required to switch to the 10-month calendar that the rest of LCS uses? How would the culture of that school be altered? We continually asked these questions with no answers.
Master Plan Scenarios
The LCS Master Plan Scenarios and more details are located on their website here. You will find changes to utilization rates as well as community benefits and trade-offs of each scenario.
MGT Scenarios
Linked on the LCS Master Plan Scenarios is the document provided by MGT with an in-depth look at each step in every scenario. Find it here.
Master Plan FAQ
There is a Frequently Asked Questions page about the scenarios on the LCS website here.
Contact Info
Email: saveourschoolslynchburg@gmail.com