Four Bermuda District elementary schools — Bensley, Bellwood, Curtis and Wells — are the latest to be impacted in Chesterfield’s redistricting to fit future development.

During its Tuesday meeting, the school board unanimously approved shuffling students around these four schools.

The county says Curtis’ program capacity is overflowing at 100.2% as of Sept. 30, and more students are expected as nearby development wraps up. During his presentation to the board, Chief Operations Officer Reid Wodicka noted this stat has increased since September.

“Redistricting is never easy. It is sometimes a necessary evil,” said Bermuda representative Ann Coker. “We’ve got to make some adjustments to accommodate growth.”

This board-approved plan would siphon off some of Curtis’ population to comparably empty schools — including a brand-new Bensley.

Based on the four schools’ current numbers, this will move:

• 60 Curtis students to Bellwood Elementary
• 67 Bellwood students to Bensley Elementary
• 53 Curtis students to Wells Elementary

For reference, the other schools’ program capacity is:

• 79.4% at Bellwood
• 71.4% at Bensley
• 75.8% at Wells

The new districts will set program capacity at:

• 86.9% at Curtis
• 78.4% at Bellwood
• 78.5% at Bensley
• 83.4% at Wells

This comes a month after the board also adopted a redistricted high school map that would level capacity between Midlothian and Cosby high schools with West Ridge, which is set to open for the 2027-28 school year.

“I would like staff to continue to monitor Curtis, because, as [Wodicka] mentioned, numbers are still growing” Coker said. “We need to make sure we’re staying ahead of those for the future school years.”

Contact Eleanor Shaw at eshaw@richmonder.org. She is a Report for America corps member.