RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — It is still unclear when Richmond Public Schools will have a new George Wythe High School built. The school board discussed some of the preliminary steps to the construction process at their Monday night meeting.
Richmond Public School Board Chair Cheryl Burke motioned for the school district to accept the City of Richmond’s offer to work with them on a request for proposal of designs for a new school. A close vote of 5-4, shot the motion down.
Burke asked for the board to consider responding to the mayor and City Council who sent an offer to help issue a request for proposals, that offer expired on Monday. She asked if the board can sit down with city officials to tweak the request and add any changes the school board would like to add before Aug. 31.
She suggested the board “look at the [design] prototypes” of schools that the city already has the rights to, instead of hiring someone new to create a new, customized design.
Burke then motioned that, starting Tuesday, school board officials meet with city administration to discuss the request for proposal language and look at existing design prototypes the city owns.
Board member Mariah White questioned if this could be done because the city’s deadline to offer help was Monday. This question was echoed by board member Stephanie Rizzie.
White and Rizzi were among the school board members who voted against the motion.
The school board’s deadline of Aug. 31 to submit a request for proposal is quickly approaching. At the meeting Kamras asked board members what they’d like included in the request. Kamras’ posed questions about how they want to choose a design, how environmentally friendly the school should be, what programs they want the design focused around and if they want any community amenities added.
