Expansion of Harrisonburg High School

Harrisonburg City Public School’s School Board plans to expand Harrisonburg High School because the building currently holds 1,760 students, 300 students over its capacity, and continues to grow creating problems for current and future students.

Three solution plans were drafted by hire-outs of the school board to support continued population growth. First, a separate annex building close to the current school building could accommodate 800 more students. Second, an expansion onto HHS could accommodate 800 more students. Third, a second high school independent of HHS could split students between two schools. There is no set date when a decision will be made. Facts are still being gathered to support this decision.

HCPS superintendent Scott Kizner believes gathering sufficient facts is important before a final decision. “This is really a legacy decision...so I think they need to really have data to drive a lot of the decisions,” says Kizner. [The School Board has] a responsibility of looking beyond today.”

HHS principal Cynthia Prieto believes the best solution is building a second school. Said Prieto, “I think if you're looking at the possibility that we will be full in five years if we put on an addition, then what are we going to do in 10 or 15?” Since HHS is 12 years old, a rebuild plan is obsolete thus far.

However, ninth grade HHS student Lucas Raisch thinks a rebuild would be the best idea, keeping friends together at school. “I would probably build another like totally separate high school...it would be confusing if you had to like split up...all the people in it,” said Raisch. “I’m sure people would be upset with it.”

“[A large school is] not really an ideal high school experience,” said Raisch’s mother Cathryn Molloy. She believes a smaller high school would be ideal. “An annex is like a band-aide that's going to cost money, whereas building an entirely separate new high school...would be a better solution.”

“You need a more intimate setting...if done correctly, [a two high school solution] has a lot of possibilities,” said Prieto. A second school would double leadership possibilities. “You could create a really healthy rivalry that would unify the community.”

Kizner would like more programs available to students like STEM, fine arts, dance classes and structural support. “There would be greater opportunities for students to take more courses in which we pride ourselves,” says Kizner. “High performing school decisions like high performing companies are constantly looking at ways of innovating and improving, and that [includes] additional physical space.”

Reisch does not feel too impacted by over-crowdedness. “I don't really have trouble with bigger class sizes…I think that some people do,” he said. “I think it's more of a problem for the teachers because they have to bring [carts] all over the place.”

In addition to students, teachers are impacted by over-crowdedness. In addition to students traveling in the hallways, teachers also travel on carts because there is not enough space in addition to six outside trailers. “It has had an impact in the crowdedness of the hallways,” said Prieto.

Students are not always interested in traveling outside. “You have to go outside to get to [the trailers] obviously and sometimes it's like really, really cold out,” said Raisch. In addition, bus over-crowdedness makes traveling uncomfortable. “Sometimes the bus ride home is like three to four people to as seat, like the two person seats… that's a pain.”

Molloy had trouble transitioning her son to HHS after her family returned from a James Madison University semester abroad program. “Even the day before school I didn't even know if they were going to let him start until pretty late in the game so that was just a little [frustrating],” said Molloy.

“Any option that the school board puts in front of the city council is expensive, it's not an expensive luxury, it's a necessity,” said Kizner. According to Kizner, many statistics contribute to Harrisonburg population growth, making it difficult to predict growth projections, including housing, live birth rates, employment data, the largest employer JMU, business and organization growth. It is challenging to predict future student numbers because immigrant families’ kids are not born in Harrisonburg, so live birth rates are not accurate predictors.

Prieto and other HHS teachers participated in a think-pair-share activity where they designed additional learning spaces in a two-day process later drawn by architects. “There was a really creative conversation going on...you could actually picture it...like wow that would be really cool looking,” said Prieto.

Although no choice has been made, Prieto believes HHS students are managing well. Adds Prieto, “Kids are resilient… if we have more people in the halls they make it work, they navigate it.”

Harrisonburg City Public School’s School Board plans to expand Harrisonburg High School because the building currently holds 1,760 students, 300 students over its capacity, and continues to grow creating problems for current and future students.