Schools

Fairfax County Pays Millions for Building That Will Ease School Overcrowding

County aims to have Seven Corners building ready for students by Fall 2014

Mary Ann Barton, editor

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has acquired a five-story office building in the Seven Corners area which will be converted to an elementary school to provide enrollment relief for Bailey’s Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences. 

“I’m pleased that we have been able to purchase the building at 6245 Leesburg Pike through negotiations with the property owners without having to resort to other legal means,” said School Board Chair Ilryong Moon, in a news release.

“It is our goal to open a new school at this site for Bailey’s students by Fall of 2014," he said. "There is sufficient space within the building to support FCPS educational specifications and the architects chosen for the project have experience in this type of building conversion." 

"I also want to commend Mason District School Board Representative Sandy Evans for her efforts and diligence in pursuing a feasible solution to the longstanding overcrowding problem at Bailey’s,” he said.

FCPS is acquiring the Leesburg Pike office building for $ 9.37 million with funds being utilized from the 2013 school bond referendum. The building will be retrofitted and converted to a vertical design school, and would be the first of its kind in FCPS.  

Estimates are that it will cost another $8 million to renovate the building, according to a story in The Washington Post last month.

The new building will provide relief to the Bailey’s overcrowding. Bailey's Elementary is currently at 130 percent capacity with more than 1,300 students housed within the building and in 19 on-site trailers. 

A portion of the school library has been converted to classroom space and the SACC program and pre-kindergarten classes were removed from the Bailey's site to make room for the growing number of students. 

By the 2017-18 school year, it is projected that 1,593 students will be enrolled at Bailey's and having the second building will address the projected increase in population. 

The FCPS Board vote on acquiring the school:

Yes: Jane K Strauss, Sandra S Evans, Ryan McElveen, Kathy L Smith, Tamara D Kaufax - Vice Chairman, Ilryong Moon - Chairman, Patricia Hynes, Patricia S Reed, Theodore Velkoff

No: Elizabeth Schultz, Megan McLaughlin, Daniel G Storck


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