Staunton Schools purchases former Eavers property for operations department

Staunton City Schools (SCS) has reached a major milestone in modernizing its physical plant by acquiring the former Guy C. Eavers Excavating Corp. property at 816 Middlebrook Avenue in Staunton.

The critical step will consolidate the school division’s transportation and maintenance departments into a single operations facility, streamlining school operations and significantly improving working conditions for department staff.

“The acquisition and future development of the new SCS Operations Center represents a significant advancement for Staunton City Schools. This project will ensure a more efficient and sustainable future for school division operations and position our schools for long-term efficiency and success,” Staunton Schools Superintendent Garett Smith said.

The school division finalized the purchase of the property today for $1.6 million, acquiring 7.5 acres of land and approximately 325,000 square feet of building space.

While the acquisition is a significant achievement, a substantial investment is still necessary to modernize the newly purchased operations facility. The SCS Capital Improvement Plan includes a $30 million allocation for fiscal year 2029 to fully develop the facility. The expense is currently unfunded.

For decades, the school division’s Operations Department, which includes maintenance and transportation, has operated in disjointed facilities that were inadequate, unsuitable and intended to be temporary.

To address longstanding challenges, SCS entered into an agreement in 2023 with Guy Eavers to lease his former excavating business property with an option to purchase. SCS transitioned the maintenance department and bus mechanic to the new site, which has already provided a much more suitable workspace for the school division’s skilled trades personnel who do carpentry, metalworking, plumbing and electrical work, in addition to servicing school vehicles, buses and equipment to maintain school property and grounds.

The initial relocation has enabled the completion of crucial renovations to Shelburne Middle School and allowed for new Career and Technical Education (CTE) classrooms that prepare students for careers in STEM and technical fields. The expansion project at Shelburne could not move forward until maintenance vacated the basement.

In the coming months, Staunton Schools will do what it can to develop the new operations center, including electrical upgrades, the addition of a refrigerated space for the nutrition department, centralized office space, and a central repository for school mail and package deliveries. The school division’s tradespeople will do much of the work in-house.

Once the operations center is fully developed, it will serve as the hub for:

SCS Transportation‘s management office; central depot for buses, cars, vans and trucks; bus repair garage; and training site for staff

SCS Maintenance‘s storage for equipment, furniture and materials

SCS Nutrition‘s cold and dry food storage, and commodity food preparation and distribution