Renovations at Indian River High to start year early.(Local)

By Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer

The Virginian-Pilot

CHESAPEAKE

The School Board voted unanimously Monday to move up plans to renovate Indian River High School by a year.

L ast fall, the board had decided to put off working on the school until the 2010- 11 school year. On that schedule, the school wouldnAEt have been completed until the 2013- 14 school year.

But on Monday, the board voted to begin asking companies now for their proposals to modernize the school, the first step in securing an architecture firm to handle the project.

Indian River, which is more than 30 years old, needs to be brought up to the standards of new schools such as Grassfield, or recently renovated schools such as Western Branch, board member Jay Leftwich said.

oIf we donAEt, I think people will avoid that district,o he said. oThe one way to keep that neighborhood a strong and vibrant is to keep that school state of the art.o

The modernization is estimated at about $35 million, although school officials said those numbers could be adjusted in the fall. Plans include installing new lighting, ceilings, white boards and classroom furniture; redoing the track facilities; and adding new technology such as wireless Internet and smart boards.

The money would come from the school divisionAEs construction fund.

Also at MondayAEs meeting, board members got their first look at last yearAEs Standards of Learning scores. According to preliminary results, all of the divisionAEs schools will be fully accredited for the third year in a row.

Two high schools u Grassfield and Great Bridge u scored 90 percent pass rates or better on all four core areas of testing: English, math, history and science.

Three middle schools u Deep Creek , Great Bridge , and Greenbrier u had pass rates of higher than 90 percent in math, an area where middle-schoolers across the state have struggled .

Alicia Wittmeyer, (757) 222-5216, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com