Making that decision up front will have implications for actual design and construction of the facility. The preferred configuration of staff and community based on past discussions and present practice is K-5, 6-8 but retaining that configuration in the future would require construction of another elementary school (perhaps an additional $13–15 million in construction costs). Construction of the combined facility and either initial or ultimate use of it as a K-4, 5-8, along with changing other elementary schools in the city to K-4 and Thomas Harrison Middle School to 5-8 would utilize the new combined school and existing schools in a way that would not require building an additional elementary school. The question that had been previously raised by board members was whether it would be better to do an initial redistricting for the new combined school and keep the K-5; 6-8 configuration as long as possible after it opens, and then when elementary schools become crowded, change to a K-4; 5-8 and redistrict again; or would it be better to make the change to K-4, 5-8 division-wide when the new school opens and thus avoid having to redistrict again. Of course, at any point in the future redistricting might be necessary due to population shifts in the city regardless of grade configuration choices. School board member Kerri Wilson proposed that the board consider an alternative to the above. Her proposal is to make the four current elementary schools K-3 schools, using Thomas Harrison Middle School as a division-wide 4-5 school. And instead of building a combined school, build a new 6-8 middle school for the city. K-3 students would attend existing elementary schools and the size of each school would eventually be 400-450; 4th and 5th grade students would be educated in a single school facility at Thomas Harrison and the enrollment there would eventually be 850-900; and grades 6 to 8 would at "build out" be in a single school of 1300-1400 students. Each school would, of course, begin with smaller numbers than those listed above since there are about 325 students per grade level currently division-wide. Mrs. Wilson discussed her reasons for her proposal and agreed to send to the board her list of advantages for this configuration. Construction of Second High School In May 2019, Harrisonburg City Public Schools initiated a two phase process of Programming and Design for a second high school, with a targeted