NORFOLK, Va. — There’s now a new option on the table to preserve Maury High School in Norfolk.
For months, Norfolk Public School Board members have asked the public to weigh in on four options to either restore Maury High School or demolish it and create a brand new campus.
But, in a unanimous vote on Wednesday, Norfolk School Board members decided to consider a new option to build a new Maury while also restoring the old building for a new use.
School leaders said the building needs many upgrades and has water damage.
“It gives the school board, the parents, everything that we heard from the students, is that they want a new school and what we have heard from the community is they really love the historic building,” said Mel Price, co-founder of Work Program Architects (WPA).
WPA, along with Heartland Construction and VMDO Architects, is proposing a four-story new high school. They also want to restore the old building and turn it into new housing.
“Our proposal does the following: it constructs a new, modern school, incorporating all the spaces and educational specifications, including all the athletic facilities,” Price told school board members. “It uses a build first, move second approach to make sure no one is in mobile classrooms or trailers. Avoids fracturing the community over demolition. Provides much-needed housing for the community, including 10% affordable housing."
Next, Price said school leaders will make her team’s concept public and start gathering ideas from anyone interested in making a proposal.
“Typically, after 90 days, then all of those design ideas would be evaluated by the school board,” Price said. “Then vetted and they can decide if they want to proceed with one of them.”
It’s unclear right now what happens to the four previous options board members have considered to either restore Maury High School or demolish it and build new.