Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras is insisting that it will take six years to produce a replacement for George Wythe High School, or three years longer than City Hall has insisted it would take if its personnel led the construction.

Mr. Kamras already has expressed that view to Richmond City Council and to the School Board, five members of which have voted to retake charge of building schools for the first time in 12 years.

The Kamras administration restated its view that the board cannot meet the August 2024 completion date in the “Estimated Phase I Construction Timeline” that was presented to the School Board Monday in response to a request made at a previous meeting.

The timeline the board received included the hiring three school construction personnel, funded with state dollars, who are to be in place by October to manage the building project.

In spelling out the process, the report also takes into account the School Board’s desire for a larger building that could include a community health clinic and library. The plan assumes the board would take the long route, including hiring a design firm to develop a unique plan that would not rely on a prototype and could take up to two years to complete. A fresh design, the report noted, would cost more than selecting a previously built design, which was the process used in building the three newest schools – Henry L. Marsh Elementary, Cardinal Elementary and River City Middle School.

The Kamras administration also based its timeline on its understanding the board would want to have the designs in hand and then bid them out to a construction company, called design-bid-build, rather than hiring a construction manager at risk or a design-build firm.

School Board Chair Cheryl Burke asked Mr. Kamras to provide the timeline so the board would have accurate information. She also opposes the board taking over school construction instead of partnering with the city’s staff.

“It has been stated in numerous board meetings that Wythe will be completed by 2027,” the 7th district representative told the Free Press the day after the board meeting. “We needed to see that information in writing to stop the flow of misinformation. This report serves as documentation of the manner in which the project will flow to get a new George Wythe.”

Mr. Kamras’timeline projects that a request for proposals for design could be issued at the earliest on Jan. 1, with the design contract awarded six months later. Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration already has a bid request for design firms that it has declined to issue now that the School Board has taken the lead position.

Board Vice Chair Jonathan Young, 4th District, and other members who voted for the School Board taking the lead have insisted the new high school could be designed, built and opened in 2024.

Based on the process outlined, the timeline states that the district’s construction contract could be awarded, by Jan. 1, 2025, with a two-year construction process to follow that would allow the building to be done by July 2027, followed by the demolition of the old school and the construction of new outdoor athletic fields by 2028.

The board’s majority was not happy with the timeline. That majority includes Mr. Young, Mariah White, 2nd District; Kenya Gibson, 3rd District; Stephanie Rizzi, 5th District; and Shonda Harris-Muhammed, 6th District.

In response to the timeline, Ms. Harris-Muhammed moved to instruct Mr. Kamras to produce and issue a request for design services within 90 days.

Mr. Kamras reminded the board that the administration is already busy preparing to reopen all 44 school buildings in September. He said the staff also is focused on recruiting and hiring health and mental health care professionals and on buying new cleaning equipment and training janitorial staff. He said the staff also is involved in getting teachers trained in the new curriculum platforms.

He also noted that the school system’s procurement staff has little to no experience or expertise in the school construction process.

Mr. Kamras said the timeline was developed and issued to manage overall expectations about how quickly RPS could act to build a new George Wythe.

The superintendent also stated an eagerness to get a director of construction on board so that person can get involved in creating the bid documents and in the selection of a prototype the district could use to speed up the construction process and lower the cost.

“That would be wonderful and could save the district time and money,” he informed the board.

During the discussion of RPS building schools, Ms. Gibson stated that the mayor has gone full throttle to block the school system’s efforts to handle construction. She claimed the mayor had a conflict of interest.

“It appears to me that the administration is providing timelines that seems to align with the mayor’s agenda rather than the board,” Ms. Gibson told her colleagues.

Ms. Harris-Muhammed withdrew her motion.