Redistricting, school closures on table for Bedford schools
A view of Bedford Primary School on College Street in the town of Bedford.
Big Island Elementary School in Bedford is shown in 2019.
Students enter school for the first day at Big Island Elementary School in this August 2021 file photo.
Drivers pass through the intersection of Forest Road and Thomas Jefferson Road in Bedford County, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Matthew Perschall/The News & Advance)
Forest Elementary School is pictured Thursday. School capacity in the Forest attendance zone is a major concern from residents.
Mountains sit beyond the intersection of Forest Road and Thomas Jefferson Road in Bedford County, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Matthew Perschall/The News & Advance)
Homes within the Farmington at Forest development in Bedford County, pictured Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Matthew Perschall/The News & Advance)
BEDFORD — A presentation to the Bedford County School Board on Thursday showed four options to address uneven school capacity across the county, including potential consolidations – or closures – and redistricting of the three attendance zone boundary maps.
The school board partnered with Demographic Analytics Advisors (DAA) to evaluate division-wide enrollment trends and determine whether redistricting in the Forest, Staunton River and Liberty zones is necessary. Chris Dick, founder and CEO of DAA, gave the board a lengthy report on Thursday on trends and potential options to consider.
Earlier this year, the board voted to close Stewartsville Elementary School, the division’s lowest-capacity school at the western end near Roanoke County, but delayed the effective date until the 2027-28 school year.
The presentation lays out four options for the board to consider soon, the first being the consolidation of Stewartsville Elementary with boundary adjustments throughout the county to balance elementary school populations. The scenario moves 476 students and has an annual cost savings of $1,027,481, according to the presentation.
Demographic Analytics Advisors (DAA) founder and CEO Chris Dick presents capacity data to Bedford County School Board at a work session Tuesda…
All options assume the closure of Stewartsville Elementary School.
Option 2 includes closing Big Island Elementary School on Virginia 122 and consolidating students into other schools, which is projected to move 601 students and save $2,054,962 per year. The third option is to close Otter River Elementary School on U.S. 221 between Forest and the Town of Bedford and consolidate students into other schools, which projects to move 722 students and save $2,054,962 per year.
The final option is to close Bedford Primary School, a pre-K through first-grade school on College Avenue in the Town of Bedford, which is estimated to move 523 students and save $2,054,962 per year. That option includes making Bedford Elementary School, which currently has grades 2 through 5, a traditional K-5 school and the division figuring out how to house its pre-K program.
Bedford Primary was targeted for closure in 2011, but the closure did not come to fruition due to community opposition and a threat of a lawsuit from the then-Bedford City Council. A gym was recently added to the school campus, a long-awaited project.
The board agreed by consensus on Thursday that no option is off the table as a series of town hall meetings will roll out to gauge public feedback.
“The enrollment across the division has become unevenly distributed,” the Bedford County Public Schools website states. “Some areas are growing while others are experiencing declining enrollment, and as a result, some schools may now be too small to operate efficiently, while others may be nearing or exceeding capacity.”
In June, the board voted to contract with DAA as a third-party vendor to collect data from multiple sources, including information provided by the division, the county planning and zoning department, and the state, to inform school officials’ assessment and any future recommendations.
Dick said a problem BCPS faces is that it has buildings with empty seats and others with full ones at the same time.
“At the end of the day, we have a set of buildings that is sized for almost 11,000 students,” he said. “We’re now serving about 8,500, and the forecast says that gap is going to persist or essentially get worse. To me and my professional opinion, really, the question is not whether to adjust but how much and where.”
District 1 board member Jordan Karnes said he believes Option 1 is the least disruptive and anything beyond that concerns him.
“My big fear would be if we did go to closing a second school, it’s going to hamstring us a bit, and I’m super not happy about the bus rides,” Karnes said, referencing transportation effects tied to the options.
He said the board has no idea what the future holds and asked if anyone saw COVID-19 and the multitude of ripple effects at this time seven years ago.
“I am really struggling to consider closing a second location at this time,” Karnes said. “We have a tough decision to make… Other than Option 1, I can’t wrap my head around anything else. I need more time.”
He said, however, that the board should try to minimize the disruption as much as possible.
Board Chair Chris Daniels said the division must consider capital improvement project (CIP) needs, a host of other pressing items needing funding, and a $ 750,000-per-year shortfall tied to the former city of Bedford reverting to a town in 2013, which is going away within the next few years. The board has to be mindful of generating annual savings that could be directed to students, he said.
“We need time to digest this information,” Daniels said.
District 5 board member Dora Purvis said she’s trying to be an optimist in hoping for a better economic outlook.
“I’m hoping there’s more babies coming,” Purvis said.
District 6 board member Kurt Hubach said he is reluctant to close another school because of community backlash over the closure of Stewartsville Elementary.
“I think it would be very difficult to swallow,” Hubach said. “Stewartsville, we know, needed to close and remember the backlash we got from that. It’s an emotional decision.”
Daniels said he knows some counties, Bedford not among them currently, are considering referendums to ask voters whether a 1% sales tax should fund school construction needs.
“That’s something else to consider,” Daniels said, pointing out the division’s wide range of CIP needs.
He said he would ask BCPS administrative staff what could be done if $2 million annual savings were realized from one of the options under consideration. Daniels said the board needs to take public input from town halls and make the best possible decision for the county.
“There’s no perfect decision,” Dick told the board. “These are hard, emotional decisions. I think in both directions, you have negative and positive outcomes.”
Purvis asked about the ramifications of closing one or two schools and receiving less funding from the county board of supervisors. Superintendent William Dupere said at the end of the day, the board of supervisors has a responsibility to fund the school division.
“The town halls are going to be robust; they need to be,” Dupere said of the options generating passionate views among residents.
Daniels said the school board is in discussions with supervisors and understands the position school officials are in.
“We have to make the best decision we can with the cards we have in front of us,” Daniels said of the school board’s budget limitations.”
He said he is sure the school board will hear input from the board of supervisors as the options generate discussion among families throughout the county.
“I don’t think we’re shying away from our responsibility,” Daniels said of tough choices on the horizon. “We’re not taking any decisions lightly.”
A look at school capacity trends
DAA’s presentation shows Bedford County’s elementary school capacity utilization is 71%. Usually, for a district with declining enrollment, the desired percentage is between 80% and 90%, Dick said.
The report included a map of residential development proposals throughout the county, mostly in the Forest attendance zone. The county has 3,549 known housing units on file, of which 1,694 are not yet built. Bedford County builds about 284 homes a year, and the net effect on the division, strangely, is slowing and decreasing growth in some areas, according to the report.
Two pressures are at play: enrollment is shifting east toward the Forest corridor, while schools at the western and southern ends of the county are running well below capacity. By school, the trajectories diverge: the Forest area schools are holding near capacity, while several western/southern schools have lost a quarter or more of their students.
Between 2010 and 2020, the county gained 10,786 residents while K-12 enrollment fell by 1,359 students, according to the data.
The county is adding people and losing children at the same time.
“Your migration is bringing in adults, but not children,” Dick said.
Enrollment peaked at nearly 10,961 students in 2006 and fell to 8,495 last year, a drop of roughly 22%, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
Town halls
The board will hold the following town meetings to gather public input before deciding on an option this fall.
Sept. 16: Staunton River High School auditorium, 1095 Golden Eagle Drive, Moneta, 6 to 7:30 p.m. (Karnes and District 4 board member Jill Dobson to attend).
Sept. 21: Forest Middle School Cafeteria, 100 Ashwood Drive, Forest, 6 to 7:30 p.m. (Dobson and Purvis expected to attend).
Sept. 29: Forest Recreation Center, 1088 Rustic Village Road, Forest, 6 to 7:30 p.m. (Dobson and Steven Hill expected to attend)
Oct. 3: New London Academy and Thomas Jefferson Elementary soccer fields, 10 a.m. (NLA) and 11 a.m. (TJE). & TJ Soccer Fields 10:00 AM (NLA) & 11:00 AM (TJ). Daniels and District 3 board member Steven Hill expected to attend.
Justin Faulconer, (434) 385-5551
