(Danville) — Danville’s newest elementary school is about to get a lot bigger.
The Danville School Board Thursday adopted an updated Comprehensive Agreement with Branch Builds, the company that is building Arnett Heights Elementary School to replace G.L.H. Johnson.
Superintendent Doctor Angela Hairston says the new agreement calls for the design and construction of a 23,600 square foot addition to what’s already being built. “The school is built in pods, and so this would be adding an additional pod,” Hairston told the School Board. “This would enable us to serve all the children in the attendance zone. Right now we have several that we bus to another school.”
The extra room will allow the school to house 900 students instead of only 580. Hairston says it will also allow them to add a new cohort at the school. “We’re including a sixth grade I.B. (International Baccalaureate) Academy. Its for sixth graders who wish to stay at the school,” Hairston said. “Of course they could move on to Westwood or Bonner but this would give us the capacity to add the sixth grade Academy such as we have it at Active-8 and at Schoolfield.”
Hairston tells the School Board they can make this major addition without having to borrow any money. “With the grant funds that we recently were approved to receive from the VDOE, and the sales tax funds that are coming in, that combination would provide the funding for this additional pod to ensure the school is sufficient to serve all of our children in that community,” Hairston said.
The State Board of Education last year approved a total of fifty million dollars in state grants for three projects in Danville. The grants will cover nearly a third of the estimated costs for Arnett Hills Elementary School, renovations at the Langston campus, and upgrades at George Washington High School.
Langston will become the new home for the Galileo Magnet High School, along with the School Board’s central office. It will also host the new RISE STEM academy.
The School Board unanimously adopted the amended agreement. Danville City Council will have to approve the change as well.