NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Community opposition over a proposed school facilities plan has Norfolk parents worried for the future.
On Wednesday, Norfolk Public Schools hosted a public hearing about the district’s facility master plan proposal.
18 people from the community spoke out asking the Norfolk school board to change its plan and keep Lindenwood Elementary, a school with a high population of minority students, at the center of the Lindenwood community.
The district’s master plan draft seeks to close Tidewater Park Elementary and rezone those students to Ruffner, consolidate Easton preschool into Fairlawn, close and relocate Madison Alternative School to Lindenwood Elementary, and send Lindenwood children to Taylor Elementary and Willard Elementary schools.
Parents, grandparents, community leaders and teachers protested the plan.
“Historically within our communities we have been placed near railroad tracks, we’ve had trucking companies placed in our communities the air that we breathe is even dangerous itself so now the air of despair is a message that we want to send,” said Tracy Beckford, an NPS teacher and Lindenwood resident.
Many asked district leaders to relocate Madison to another facility and renovate Lindenwood Elementary so that it can stay open for the current students.
“The message of positivity and education is what we need in our community not negativity and incarceration,” Beckford stated.
According to the facility master plan draft, Lindenwood does not have the capacity to house all the necessary resources for its students.
The Norfolk school board has yet to take a vote.
You can view the master plan draft here.