Just over 1,200 Hanover County students will attend different schools starting in the 2026–27 school year under redistricting maps the school board unanimously approved Tuesday.
The board started the redistricting process last year to address future enrollment needs.
MGT, a consulting firm, drew multiple sets of potential boundaries based on population data and survey responses from Hanover residents. Lance Richards, an educational performance manager at MGT, presented those scenarios to the board Tuesday before delivering the firm's final recommendation.
“You've had a lot of feedback from your community, a lot of opportunities to share this information and it doesn't mean everybody has to like it, but they have to understand the need for it going forward,” Richards said.
MGT researchers analyzed population, economic and business development data to forecast enrollment trends for the next five to 10 years. The firm found that several school facilities are marginally above their recommended capacity, like Cool Spring Elementary, while others are underutilized, like Cold Harbor Elementary.
Both Cool Spring Elementary and Washington-Henry Elementary are at high levels of utilization, because the number of students in each school is close to or exceeds building capacity.
As of September 2024, around 852 students are enrolled at the 760-capacity Cool Spring. Washington-Henry has 361 students enrolled with a capacity of 378 students. Chickahominy Middle School and Atlee High School are also overcrowded.
Hanover has addressed the increase in enrollment at Cool Spring with the installation of temporary learning cottages.
Richards said the plan would help create “feeder patterns” where in most cases, all students at each elementary school would be zoned for the same middle and high schools.
MGT recommendations also include exceptions for small neighborhoods — like the Giles Farm community — that are set to be reassigned to Washington-Henry ES in the 2027-2028 school year, as the facility’s redevelopment takes place and new school buildings come online.
However, some parents said they aren’t on board with these changes, like Scott Robertson, whose daughter is a freshman at Atlee High, where the boundary changes may force her to move to a new school for her junior year.
“These students will be juniors, the most critical academic year of high school,” Robertson told the school board. “Forcing them to transfer schools at this point will be disruptive, unnecessary, and frankly, harmful.”
Ryan Martin, the Mechanicsville District representative, said families like Robertson’s should be allowed to make the choice that’s best for them.
“Allowing them to have the freedom of choice is an immaterial impact to the overall goal of this plan,” Martin said. “However, it is far from immaterial for those 41 kids and families like one of the speakers we heard.”
Martin proposed an amendment to the redistricting plan that would allow those 41 high school students — 35 at Atlee and six at Hanover High — to remain at their current schools. The amendment was voted down by a 4–3 margin, with Chickahominy representative Bob Seifert and Ashland’s Karen Lynne joining Martin.
School officials encouraged rezoned students who are currently in eighth and ninth grade to move to their new schools as soon as the start of the 2025–26 school year, to ease the transition to a new high school.
Hanover will also offer waivers for students who will enter fifth, eighth, or 12th grade during the 2026–27 school year, so they can complete their final year at their current schools. Waivers will be processed in the order received and will be considered based upon each school's capacity.
