Henrico County's school redistricting effort will begin in earnest in the next few weeks as the county solicits applications for membership on a community advisory committee.

At a School Board work session yesterday, central office administrators presented a plan to involve about 70 people from throughout the county in the redistricting process.

Boundary lines for schools will be redrawn this year and will affect nearly every high school in the county. A middle school off Nuckols Road and a high school on Staples Mill Road are scheduled to open in 2010.

The board will determine a timeline in the next several days. It will announce locations for the public to obtain the forms via schools, county facilities and the news media.

Completed applications will be due in mid-September to the department of research and planning, which will forward the applications to the consultant who will recommend committee membership to the board at its Sept. 25 meeting.

In addition, at yesterday's work session, the board agreed to modify the proposed Capital Improvement Program, which identifies construction and maintenance needs in the county schools.

Changes in the latest plan call for increasing from four to six the number of additional planned classrooms at Tuckahoe and Dumbarton elementary schools; renovating the auditorium at Tuckahoe Elementary and moving up the construction schedule at Dumbarton.

Planned classroom expansion at Johnson and Fair Oaks elementary schools would be delayed. The Capital Improvement Program document is scheduled to be approved in September and presented to the Board of Supervisors later in the fall.

In other action, the board asked the school administration staff to further review plans for a Chinese language program in middle schools and a proposal to change the weight of honors courses.

Contact Lisa Crutchfield at (804) 649-6362 or lcrutchfield@timesdispatch.com.