The Board of Supervisors and School Board tried again this week to make sense of this whole school-construction mess. And they missed. Again.
It becomes more apparent with each meeting how different the two boards are, both in tone, thought-process, and goals.

The supervisors seem bound and determined to see the entirety of the county’s plans for school construction put on the November ballot for a bond referendum.

The School Board, while it admits to being without information on a possible addition to Goochland Elementary School, approached the supervisors this week with a simple request. Its members asked the county to consider giving the system the funds identified in the CIP—which it approved two weeks ago—for the planned bus garage and additions to Byrd and Randolph Elementary schools.

Even though those projects are widely considered a mortal lock to be a portion of whichever route the county eventually takes, the supervisors directed the School Board to bring the request back in several weeks.

While two weeks may not make or break this decision, doing something later is the exact reason the two sides are in this quagmire in the first place.

In January, the schools came to a joint meeting with long-range forecasts, plans, and theories. And officials were told, in no uncertain terms, that a new elementary school was off the table. One joint subcommittee recommendation and a budget later, everyone is still stuck.

The School Board has no desire to see a $54 million bond referendum. And the supervisors, according to comments this week, don’t want to “piece meal” the project.

What seems to be getting lost in translation is that putting everything off isn’t always the right move. Yes, sometimes, particularly when dreary economic clouds are gathering, governing bodies have to step back and look at the facts. But this impasse is almost laughable at this juncture.

Four months ago, statistics and capacities weren’t enough; the supervisors needed a subcommittee to look into the matter to make sure the new school was the right idea. But when said committee unanimously recommends approval of the same plan identified by the school system more than a year ago, now’s the time for more calculations and forecasts?

The devil, as they say, is in the details. And here they are somewhat staggering: Rather than vote up or down much-needed multi-purpose rooms at Byrd and Randolph or a replacement to the literally-falling-apart bus garage, the supervisors would rather focus on adding on to Goochland Elementary, an option the school division has yet to speak to. If this seems like smoke and mirrors, it’s because it is.

The county’s highest elected officials continue to shirk away from their duty, as the elected representatives of Goochland County, to make a decision and they continue to say that said county should make the decision in November.

It could lead one to wonder why we elect leaders in the first place.