Harrisonburg City Public Schools
Encyclopedia
The Harrisonburg City Public School division
is the home of the Blue Streaks and is composed of a high school
(Harrisonburg High School
), two middle school
s (Thomas Harrison Middle School, Skyline Middle School), five elementary school
s (W.H. Keister Elementary School, Smithland Elementary School, Spotswood Elementary School, Stone Spring Elementary School, and Waterman Elementary School) and a vocational school
, Massanutten Technical Center. It is located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley
in Harrisonburg, VA.
. The top foreign languages spoken by students are Spanish
, Russian
, and Kurdish
. More than 30 additional languages are spoken by students.
as well as the use of the old building. Initial discussions indicated the old building was to become a 5th and 6th grade intermediate school. However, in March 2005, the school board voted to turn the old high school property over to the city. This allowed Harrisonburg City Council to enter into a five-year $7.5 million lease of the old high school property (building, athletic fields, and parking lots) to James Madison University
in July 2005. The agreement included an option to purchase the property, which JMU
capitalized on, in May 2006, with an offer to purchase the property at $17 million. In June 2006, the sale was approved by the city council, as a method of funding street improvements and a new school.
Construction of Skyline Middle School And Smithland Elementary was completed in 2008. The schools are distinctly separate student bodies, but are located within one physically consolidated building. The fifth grade is located on the middle school side in the central connecting hallway, to allow the fifth grade to return to the elementary student body - should the school system decide to change grade configuration.
School board member Kerri Wilson proposed that the board consider an alternative to the above. Her proposal is to make the four current elementary schools K-3 schools, using Thomas Harrison Middle School as a division-wide 4-5 school. And instead of building a combined school, build a new 6-8 middle school for the city. K-3 students would attend existing elementary schools and the size of each school would eventually be 400-450; 4th and 5th grade students would be educated in a single school facility at Thomas Harrison and the enrollment there would eventually be 850-900; and grades 6 to 8 would at "build out" be in a single school of 1300-1400 students. Each school would, of course, begin with smaller numbers than those listed above since there are about 325 students per grade level currently division-wide. Mrs. Wilson discussed her reasons for her proposal and agreed to send to the board her list of advantages for this configuration.
School division
-Canada:In Canada the term is used to the area controlled by a school board and is used interchangeably with school district, including in the formal name of the board. For example, see List of Alberta school boards.-United States:...
is the home of the Blue Streaks and is composed of a high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
(Harrisonburg High School
Harrisonburg High School (Virginia)
Harrisonburg High School, part of the Harrisonburg City School System, is located in Harrisonburg, Virginia.HHS serves grades nine through twelve, and is home of the Harrisonburg Blue Streaks. There are currently 1381 students enrolled...
), two middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
s (Thomas Harrison Middle School, Skyline Middle School), five elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
s (W.H. Keister Elementary School, Smithland Elementary School, Spotswood Elementary School, Stone Spring Elementary School, and Waterman Elementary School) and a vocational school
Vocational school
A vocational school , providing vocational education, is a school in which students are taught the skills needed to perform a particular job...
, Massanutten Technical Center. It is located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
in Harrisonburg, VA.
Enrollment
More than 4,000 students are enrolled in HCPS, and of these more than 35% are English language learners (English as a Second Language, ESL), making the school system one of the most diverse in the state of VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The top foreign languages spoken by students are Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, and Kurdish
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
. More than 30 additional languages are spoken by students.
History
In recent years, controversy has surrounded the construction of a new high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
as well as the use of the old building. Initial discussions indicated the old building was to become a 5th and 6th grade intermediate school. However, in March 2005, the school board voted to turn the old high school property over to the city. This allowed Harrisonburg City Council to enter into a five-year $7.5 million lease of the old high school property (building, athletic fields, and parking lots) to James Madison University
James Madison University
James Madison University is a public coeducational research university located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the university has undergone four name changes before settling with James Madison University...
in July 2005. The agreement included an option to purchase the property, which JMU
James Madison University
James Madison University is a public coeducational research university located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the university has undergone four name changes before settling with James Madison University...
capitalized on, in May 2006, with an offer to purchase the property at $17 million. In June 2006, the sale was approved by the city council, as a method of funding street improvements and a new school.
Construction of Skyline Middle School And Smithland Elementary was completed in 2008. The schools are distinctly separate student bodies, but are located within one physically consolidated building. The fifth grade is located on the middle school side in the central connecting hallway, to allow the fifth grade to return to the elementary student body - should the school system decide to change grade configuration.
School Configuration Discussion of 2005
At the June 21, 2005 School Board meeting Dr. Ford, school superintendent, presented to the board for discussion whether when a new combined elementary school/middle school is opened it should open as a K-4; 5-8 or a K-5; 6-8 configuration. The issues are:- Making that decision up front will have implications for actual design and construction of the facility.
- The preferred configuration of staff and community based on past discussions and present practice is K-5, 6-8 but retaining that configuration in the future would require construction of another elementary school (perhaps an additional $13–15 million in construction costs). Construction of the combined facility and either initial or ultimate use of it as a K-4, 5-8, along with changing other elementary schools in the city to K-4 and Thomas Harrison Middle School to 5-8 would utilize the new combined school and existing schools in a way that would not require building an additional elementary school.
- The question that had been previously raised by board members was whether it would be better to do an initial redistricting for the new combined school and keep the K-5; 6-8 configuration as long as possible after it opens, and then when elementary schools become crowded, change to a K-4; 5-8 and redistrict again; or would it be better to make the change to K-4, 5-8 division-wide when the new school opens and thus avoid having to redistrict again. Of course, at any point in the future redistricting might be necessary due to population shifts in the city regardless of grade configuration choices.
School board member Kerri Wilson proposed that the board consider an alternative to the above. Her proposal is to make the four current elementary schools K-3 schools, using Thomas Harrison Middle School as a division-wide 4-5 school. And instead of building a combined school, build a new 6-8 middle school for the city. K-3 students would attend existing elementary schools and the size of each school would eventually be 400-450; 4th and 5th grade students would be educated in a single school facility at Thomas Harrison and the enrollment there would eventually be 850-900; and grades 6 to 8 would at "build out" be in a single school of 1300-1400 students. Each school would, of course, begin with smaller numbers than those listed above since there are about 325 students per grade level currently division-wide. Mrs. Wilson discussed her reasons for her proposal and agreed to send to the board her list of advantages for this configuration.
Elementary
HCPS Elementary Schools serve kindergarten through fourth grade.- W.H. Keister Elementary is home of the Cougars.
- Smithland Elementary School is home of the Rockets.
- Spotswood Elementary is home of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe.
- Stone Spring Elementary is home of the Eagles.
- Waterman Elementary
Middle School
HCPS Middle Schools serve grades five through eight.- Thomas Harrison Middle School is home of the Pride.
- Skyline Middle School is home of the Falcons.
High School
- Harrisonburg HighHarrisonburg High School (Virginia)Harrisonburg High School, part of the Harrisonburg City School System, is located in Harrisonburg, Virginia.HHS serves grades nine through twelve, and is home of the Harrisonburg Blue Streaks. There are currently 1381 students enrolled...
- Home of the Blue Streaks
Technical/Other Schools
- Massanutten Technical Center
- Massanutten Regional Governors School