Do you know what's at risk for Lafayette High School students?

This petition is to the James City County Board of Supervisors (BOS), requesting that the urgently needed Lafayette High School auxiliary gym receive funding, at the latest, in the Fiscal Year 17 (FY 17) budget.

We need you in the final stretch! Our community’s strong outreach to the WJCC School Board and administration, and then the JCC Planning Commission, were successful. The three key Lafayette facility needs were included the Schools’ proposed multi-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), with the auxiliary gym in Fiscal Year 17. Most recently, the County’s Planning Commission elevated the ranking of the aux gym need to #5 (the top school need) from #14 (second to last).

Unfortunately, the first draft of the James City County budget does not currently include funding for the gym, even though James Blair- the offsite gym space on which LHS depends - will be demolished soon.

Nearly half of LHS’s sports teams must travel off campus for games and practices. This creates unnecessary risks to our student athletes, additional time away from their studies (due to travel and late practice times), a logistical burden on parents and coaches, an inconsistent environment for activities to take place, time constraints to access the athletic training staff after school, additional transportation/fuel costs paid by taxpayer dollars, and an extraordinary responsibility to the school system.

The LHS Athletic Boosters continue to seek collaboration with our local leaders to address 3 key long-standing projects for Lafayette High School that are necessary for equity within our district. All of the following have been included in past plans but never implemented:

1. An auxiliary gym. This is a long-standing need for a 4A school with over 1200 students with 22 school athletic and theater programs. With the nearing demolition of James Blair, there is now an urgent need to get started on building an auxiliary gym to support the students and various programs.
2. A walkway from LHS to the County’s Warhill Sports Complex fields. LHS has numerous teams that traverse a ravine and creeks, while transporting their gear, to get to the Warhill Sports Complex fields for practice.
3. Lighting on LHS practice fields on campus. LHS is the only high school in the WJCC Public Schools that doesn’t have any lights for practice fields. Lights were included in the original plans for LHS practice fields, as well as a recent CIP, but never implemented. Approximately 10 teams, and our Ram Band, are impacted.

We urge our local leaders to be part of the solution- to remedy the inequities and alleviate safety concerns for LHS students, coaches and parents.

Please feel free to leave a personal message if you want the BOS to receive your individual comments.

Thank you,
LHS Athletic Boosters