Proposed Henrico County Public Schools redistricting would change boundaries of 16 schools
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The Henrico School Board is considering a proposal that would change the attendance boundaries of five elementary schools, five middle schools, and six high schools in the division.
Following a school board directive, Henrico Schools Superintendent Amy Cashwell and her staff brought forth the proposal at a meeting Sept. 11. The proposal aims to balance out capacity at several schools, alleviating overcrowding, and address feeder patterns, allowing more students from the same elementary school to attend the same middle and high schools together.
The school board will not finalize any redistricting decisions until this December, and will hold several public input sessions both in-person and online over the next month.
Board members said that they would prefer that most of the redistricting occur by the next school year in fall 2026, allowing students who would be going in grades 5, 8, 11, and 12 that school year to have the choice to remain at their current schools.
The current proposal would impact the following schools:
Tucker High School, Hermitage High School, and Godwin High School
HCPS would move about 299 students out of the attendance zone for J.R. Tucker High School, which has faced overcrowding concerns this past year, into the zones for Hermitage High School and Mills E. Godwin High School.
• Section 1 and Section 2: Bonnie Brae, Glenside Woods, and Wistar Place neighborhoods (280 students) would move from Tucker to Hermitage;
• Section 3: Crossings at Short Pump neighborhood (19 students) would move from Tucker to Godwin.
Freeman High School and Godwin High School
About 129 students would be moved from Douglas S. Freeman High School’s district into Godwin’s district to address overcrowding at Freeman.
• Sections 1-3: Candlewood, Gates Head, Pinedale West, Ednam Forest, Cabin Creek, and Patterson West neighborhoods (129 students) would move from Freeman to Godwin.
Henrico High School, Highland Springs High School, and Hermitage High School
About 238 students would be moved into Henrico High School, which has the least capacity of any HCPS school, from Highland Springs and Hermitage high schools. Students from new housing developments, and students accepted into the upcoming Center for Cybersecurity at Henrico High, would bring Henrico High’s total number of new students to 408.
• Section 1: Chamberlayne Farms and Lakeside Terrace neighborhoods (171 students) would move from Hermitage to Henrico;
• Section 2 and Section 3: Central Gardens, Woodville, and Fairways neighborhoods (87 students) would move from Highland Springs to Henrico.
Quioccasin Middle School, Tuckahoe Middle School, and Pocahontas Middle School
For the 2027-2028 school year, about 1,029 students would be shifted among three middle schools – Quioccasin, Tuckahoe, and Pocahontas – to help keep school communities together through elementary to high school, and allow communities to go to the school geographically closest to them.
• Section 1: Brandon, Deer Lodge, Moreland West, and Sleepy Hollow neighborhoods (330 students) would move from Tuckahoe to Quioccasin;
• Section 2: Andover Hills, Mayland Townes, Pemberton Oaks, and Westbriar neighborhoods (452 students) would move from Quioccasin to Tuckahoe;
• Section 3: Crossings at Short Pump neighborhood (37 students) would move from Quioccasin to Pocahontas;
• Section 4: Cedar Hill, Harbour Cove, Heritage Oaks, and Stonequarter neighborhoods (210 students) would move from Pocahontas to Quioccasin.
Hungary Creek Middle School and Holman Middle School
The proposal would shift 76 students from Holman Middle School’s zone into the zone for Hungary Creek Middle School, which reverses a redistricting decision made in 2017.
• Section 1: Broad Meadows neighborhood (76 students) would move from Holman to Hungary Creek.
Davis Elementary School, Ridge Elementary School, and Three Chopt Elementary School
With new capacity coming at the new Jackson Davis Elementary School, about 72 students would be moved from Ridge Elementary School into Davis, and a small neighborhood would be moved from Ridge into Three Chopt Elementary School.
• Section 1 and Section 2: Brinkhaven, Parham Hills, Westdale Estates, and Pinecreek Village neighborhoods (72 students) would move from Ridge to Davis;
• Section 3: A small area of three land parcels (0 students) would be moved from Ridge to Three Chopt.
Carver Elementary School and Maybeury Elementary School
About nine students would move from Maybeury Elementary School’s zone into the zone for Ruby F. Carver Elementary, and the boundary shift would also accommodate new housing developments coming in along Patterson Avenue.
• Section 1: Patterson West neighborhood (9 students) would move from Maybeury to Carver.
Longan Elementary School
Despite increased capacity at the new R.C. Longan Elementary School building, no boundary changes are proposed for the school. However, HCPS has proposed that some pre-kindergarten classes be moved from Elizabeth Holladay Elementary School to Longan.
If the school board chooses to go forward with the redistricting, Cashwell said the division will try to ensure “smooth transitions” for the students and families impacted and make sure that resources are allocated fairly to schools.
During the Thursday meeting, the school board also decided to reject two proposed scenarios that would have impacted students at Glen Allen and Tucker high schools, as well as students at George H. Moody, Brookland, and Douglas L. Wilder middle schools.
The first scenario would have moved 81 students from Tucker High’s district into Glen Allen High’s district, which would put Glen Allen at over 106% capacity.
The second scenario, which was supported by board member Kristi Kinsella (Brookland District), would have moved 300 students out of Brookland Middle and into Moody Middle and shifted 81 students from Moody into Wilder Middle. As a result, Moody would be at almost 103% capacity and Brookland would be just over 50% capacity.
But Kinsella argued the change would have been worth it, as it would allow communities geographically closer to Moody to attend the school. The addition of the International Baccalaureate program to Moody has displaced over 62% of the zoned population, Kinsella said, and families have consistently advocated for action over the past six years.
“Families have driven their children past the school they should attend, which used to be Moody many moons ago, to go to Brookland for way too many years,” she said. “This is neither fair nor equitable for my Brookland District community.”
However, the board ultimately voted against the scenario, with members saying the removal of 300 families from Brookland would negatively impact the school.
“That level of disruption is beyond concerning to me. I think that families are going to face hardships with that move,” said Alicia Atkins (Varina District). “All of our schools deserve to have the very best resources, and the goal is to work to get them there – Brookland too.”
Brookland Middle School, which is located in the Fairfield District, is one of Henrico Schools’ Opportunity Schools, meaning that the school has recently struggled with staff vacancies. Teachers who work at the school receive an extra annual stipend of $3,500 – but if teachers were moved out of Brookland to a non-Opportunity School, such as Moody, they would lose that stipend.
Members of the public will have the opportunity to provide input on the proposal at three in-person town halls held at different areas in the county, on Sept. 18, Sept. 30, and Oct. 7. A designated email address will also be created so that community members can provide direct online feedback, as well as an online survey that will be translated into multiple languages.
The board will review public input at the Oct. 23 school board meeting and then review a final proposal at a Nov. 23 meeting, before voting to approve or deny the scenarios at a Dec. 18 meeting.
Throughout this fall, the school board aims to be thoughtful and careful when making any redistricting decisions, said Atkins, making sure that families have the chance to be heard.
“These decisions are not abstract, they touch real lives every single day,” she said. “We must ensure that families are seen, heard, and included – their voices, their experiences, their choices must help us guide our decisions. And this is not only about numbers, this is about the story of each school, its culture, its history, its students, and its communities.”
Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s government and education reporter. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.
