CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Construction is underway on a new elementary school in Chesapeake's Culpepper Landing neighborhood, and the rezoning plan that comes with it could affect thousands of families across four overcrowded schools in Chesapeake.
Culpepper Landing Elementary School is scheduled to open in fall 2027, serving students in grades pre-K through 5. Chesapeake Public Schools staff say the goal of the new school and the rezoning is to alleviate overcrowding at Cedar Road Elementary, Deep Creek Central Elementary, Deep Creek Elementary, and Grassfield Elementary. Great Bridge Primary and Intermediate schools could also see minor adjustments.
As of October 2025, all four primary impacted schools were operating well above capacity:
- Cedar Road Elementary: 123% capacity
- Deep Creek Elementary: 115% capacity
- Grassfield Elementary: 145% capacity
- Deep Creek Central Elementary: 159% capacity
Together, those four schools rely on 59 instructional portable classrooms.
Scott Lorimer, a parent of a Grassfield Elementary student, said the overcrowding has a direct impact on children's daily experience.
"Being over capacity just adds to chaos," Lorimer said.
He said the effects go beyond crowded hallways.
"Decreses time that the kids have on the playground at recess. Decreases time that they could be in the library. I mean because you start kind of, compacting all of those opportunities," Lorimer said.
Chesapeake Public Schools staff presented four proposed attendance zone options to the School Board in January, and again in February. The proposed new zones would take effect in September 2027 and are subject to School Board approval. Only students who reside within the newly defined zones and will be in grades pre-K through 5 during the 2027-2028 school year will be impacted.
Option 1 provides the greatest immediate enrollment reduction and builds a growth buffer for Grassfield Elementary, reducing its capacity utilization from 145% to about 85%. It eliminates an estimated 40 portable classrooms. However, Cedar Road Elementary would remain slightly above capacity at 101%.
Option 2 builds on Option 1 by aligning the Cardinal Meadows neighborhood with Grassfield Elementary rather than Cedar Road Elementary, bringing all impacted schools below 100% capacity. It also eliminates an estimated 40 portable classrooms. However, some students living near Cedar Road Elementary would attend Grassfield Elementary instead.
Option 3 is the staff-recommended option. It brings all seven affected elementary schools below 100% capacity and eliminates an estimated 39 portable classrooms. It reduces Cedar Road Elementary from 123% to about 89% capacity and Grassfield Elementary from 145% to about 96% capacity. The Chesapeake Public Schools Transportation Department also ranks it as the least operationally challenging option to implement.
Option 4 excludes Great Bridge Primary and Intermediate schools from the rezoning entirely, focusing only on the Deep Creek and Grassfield areas. While it provides the biggest immediate enrollment reduction for Grassfield Elementary, Deep Creek Central Elementary would remain above capacity at 112%, and it results in the smallest reduction in portable classrooms, from 59 to 24.
Dr. Pedro Martinez, the Administrator of Planning for Chesapeake Public Schools, said Option 3 stands out for its comprehensive approach.
"Reviewing the advantages of option three, we project that all schools will start operating at less than 100 percent capacity. This option also eliminates roughly 39 portable classrooms, leaving only 20 remaining," Martinez said.
Lorimer said he supports Option 3 but worries it may not go far enough to keep up with future growth in the area.
"I'm concerned that we're not gonna have enough offloaded. Hopefully we can have enough forethought as a community that we see that coming down the pipeline," Lorimer said.
The next public hearing and work session on the proposed attendance zones is scheduled for March 23 from 6:00-8:00pm. Families can use an interactive address lookup tool on the Chesapeake Public Schools website to find out which school their student would attend under each of the four options.
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