Charlottesville’s pre-K center will be at Walker Upper Elementary School, not Oak Lawn

In February, demolition crews took down an older section of Charlottesville Middle School that had held the sign with the former name of Buford. The work is part of an ongoing renovation to get the facility ready to add sixth-grade students later this year.

When the rehabilitation is complete, Charlottesville City Schools plan to move forward with an early education center at a temporary location first and there is funding in the draft capital improvement plan to move forward with design and construction of a permanent location.

Last year, the city worked with the University of Virginia on a long-term lease to potentially use the Oak Lawn estate in Fifeville for the center rather than at Walker Upper Elementary School. Oak Lawn is adjacent to Charlottesville Middle School.

On March 2, Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders told Council a decision has been made to convert the place where fifth and sixth grade students now attend into the pre-Kindergarten center.

“It will occur at Walker because the Oak Lawn property is not available to us to be able to do what we would like to do there,” Sanders said. “So our capital development division is back now working on activating a pre K center at Walker.”

The draft capital improvement plan anticipates $10 million in FY27 and $20 million in FY28 for what is referred to in the budget as Charlottesville Pre-K Center.

On March 4, Charlottesville School Superintendent Royal Gurley formally announced the definite new home of the Charlottesville Early Learning Center.

“This fall, the CELC will open as planned in a temporary location within the main academic building at Walker,” Gurley said. “We look forward to constructing the new Early Childhood Center on this same campus.”

Gurley’s announcement sheds more light on why the Oak Lawn site has discarded as an option. The lease came with provisions that historic preservations remain on the property.

“The City was unable to resolve various preservation covenants on that property in the time frame needed to advance the CELC project at that location,” Gurley said. “That said, the Oak Lawn site continues to offer exciting opportunities for our schools, such as the potential to open a welcome center for families.”

For more information on the early learning center, visit the project page on the school system’s website.

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