During its most recent workshop, the Goochland County School Board got its first look at different options in a potential expansion and renovation project at Goochland Elementary School.

Last Tuesday, the board heard from Jim McCalla with Moseley Architects regarding the pending project at GES, which the Board of Supervisors has signaled it would prefer versus building a new elementary school in central Goochland.

While going through the varying options, the board members were able to see composite renderings of what GES could look like. And they were also able to voice their opinions on certain aspects, such as the outline of the building’s footprint and where student entrances could be.

One of the fundamental portions of McCalla’s presentation centered on the board’s determination as to whether or not pre-Kindergarten would be housed within GES in the future. The board did make that intention known, siding with the idea of having all of the students under one roof.

District 3’s Ivan Mattox said he was concerned about having a separate facility for pre-school changing “the complexity of this building” and that it went back to the board’s initial concerns about the safety issues.

“I just think that it makes more sense to have them under one roof,” he added.

In the course of the discussion, the board talked about what was at the core of planning funding ($618,773) the supervisors authorized last month for projects at all of the county’s elementary schools.

“I think there were really two things: Can a building the size of what is needed for the 700-student facility, will it fit on the site, with everything that would need to be done and what’s the estimated cost?” Superintendent Linda Underwood asked.

McCalla is currently working on putting together a study as to the feasibility of the project being done to GES versus building a new elementary school, which the School Board and a joint committee had previously recommended to the supervisors.

In discussing potential cost estimates for the project at GES, McCalla said the existing building’s 42,000 square feet would need to be coupled with roughly another 55,000 to provide for the same requirements as the 700-student new school, which was projected to cost right at $24 million.

“We’re going to see if we can accomplish the same things with a renovation,” McCalla said.

With preschool included, the project was looking at a potential total of $22.1 million. For comparison’s purposes, the concept without preschool included would be around $20 million.

Added McCalla, “I don’t think we’ll ever get the other concept under $20 million.”

In discussing the potential improvements, McCalla said there was no way to make GES work without a three-floor structure. The design would encompass the grouping of grade levels.

“There’s no grade level that needs to traverse more than two floors,” he said.

In all, the board looked at about eight concepts, spending roughly an hour and a half looking at designs, over-head photos, and models.

The School Board representatives seemed to lean towards a design that made the most use out of the land, which included not only the previously-improved portion but also some of the tree line that currently derives the site’s western boundary.

Board members were clear in their intention and desire to keep as much open space for student activity though not nearly with as much of a consensus on too many specifics.

McCalla said he planned to work more on the renderings and concepts in hopes of having the board see it before it heads to the supervisors, which is set for July.