Soil study may have ended debate over what to do about Halifax County's high school

HALIFAX COUNTY, Va. – Halifax County needs a new high school.

That's why the school district is considering roughly $88 million in renovations to the current campus or $100 million to build a brand-new building.

"There's really no reason that you'd want to renovate," Halifax County School Board Chairman Joe Gasperini said.

Gasperini said renovation doesn't make sense now, given the results of a new study of the soil around the current high school.

The $7,800 study found the soil around the school is too soft to support a school.

"We tested eight different sites in and around where the existing school was to determine what the water is," Gasperini explained.

So, if the new high school can't be built next to the current one as originally suggested, where will it be built?

Gasperini said one likely spot is where the parking lot for the current school is.

"That is substantially higher and it's firmer," he said. "Before we started building, we would do soil studies at different places where we wanted it."

He said a bond referendum could be up for Halifax County residents to vote on next November to pay for a new school.

He's also hopeful state Sen. Bill Stanley's plan to use an internet sales tax to help fund school projects will pan out.

At an event last week, 10 News spoke to Stanley about the tax.

"We're in the final throes of putting together a legislative package for school modernization throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, especially down here in Southside and southwest Virginia, where we're going to utilize funding that we get from internet sales tax to create a bonding referendum which could bring $4 billion," Stanley said.

Gasperini said construction of a new school could start as early as 2020.