Elected officials are talking about where to place the 13th high school in Prince William.
At Supervisor Jeannine Lawson’s first press conference, she along with Supervisor Pete Candland and school board member Gil Trenum, spoke about the school possibly being placed on the site that was slated to be Rollins Ford Park in Gainesville.
“All you have to do is look at the statistics on overcrowding – especially at Patriot and Battlefield [high schools]. I really wanted to locate a high school site that was not necessarily dependent on residential proffers, for new residential development. I’m happy to announce…a very strong possibility…of what may be the next high school site for Prince William County’s 13th high school,” said Lawson.
Following this year’s budget cycle, the county board of supervisors directed County Executive Melissa Peacor to send a letter to Superintendent Walts about placing the high school on the park site.
The 69-acre Rollins Ford Park site was meant to hold six athletic fields, according to county documents.
If the proposal was to go through, the athletic fields would then be placed on a 60-acre site which was proffered under the Avendale residential development, stated the letter sent to Walts.
The Avendale site is about five miles away from Rollins Ford Park site, according to Candland.
Since both sites are already county owned land, the county could approve a proffer swap and place the new high school on the park site, stated Lawson.
According to Candland, a 13th high school is needed to deal with the overcrowding in schools in the Gainesville and Brentsville districts.
“Working with the school board this past budget season, we saw an unprecedented move – to try and address the overcrowding in our classrooms. We’ve looked at some very good proposals [for high schools]…the board hasn’t come to a decision on that one, so we had to seek out other opportunities. It is paramount that we find a school site on the western end of the county… We’re already behind on alleviating the overcrowding in western Prince William,” said Candland.
Construction for the new high school was scheduled for completion in 2020, but may be further delayed if they cannot settle on a site, according to the letter sent to Walts.
