Proposed design of new Dunn Loring Elementary School to be unveiled

Proposed design of new Dunn Loring Elementary School to be unveiled
The Dunn Loring Administrative Center will be transformed back again to its primary reason as an elementary university (employees photo by Angela Woolsey)

Neighborhood citizens will get their first glimpse of the planned Dunn Loring Elementary College later on this 7 days.

Fairfax County Community Educational facilities will kick off the community input portion of the project’s design and style course of action on Thursday (Nov. 10) with a assembly at the Gatehouse Administrative Centre (8115 Gatehouse Street) in Merrifield.

The conference will get area from 6-7 p.m. in the building’s initially ground cafe, wherever capacity will be restricted to 150 folks. As a consequence, a Zoom link will also be sent to those who sign up in advance.

Advanced by the Fairfax County Faculty Board in March, the funds challenge will repurpose the Dunn Loring Administrative Centre at 2334 Gallows Road as an elementary school expected to accommodate 900 college students.

From a message that FCPS despatched to location people:

The Dunn Loring Administrative Middle was at first created to deal with the wants of a fast increasing inhabitants. Additions ended up required all over the 1940s and 50s as the Toddler Boom generation entered elementary school in this thriving community. Demands modified and by 1978, the faculty was repurposed, eventually serving FCPS employees as an administrative centre. As our local community grows in a new era, we have the option to return the creating to its original purpose and aid the requirements of college students in the bordering community.

The repurposing of the Dunn Loring Administrative Heart will supply somewhere around 900 students with an elementary university rooted in history and poised to offer 21st-century learning, making ready young children for vivid futures. As a result of this single project, FCPS supports good quality schooling in 10 other universities by relieving the pressures of expanding enrollment growth.

The prepared renovations and additions will final result in a 118,000-sq.-foot facility, according to the challenge site.

The engineering business Samaha Associates was contracted to style and design the faculty, which is currently being funded by $36.8 million in bonds originally selected for a facility in the Fairfax/Oakton region.

The upcoming meeting will give members of the public their very first opportunity to see and weigh in on the long term school’s design and style, but “no major adjustments may possibly be made” at this phase, FCPS stated.

“Small adjustments could be viewed as,” FCPS mentioned, noting that the feed-back will be shared with the Fairfax County Scheduling Commission, Board of Supervisors, school board, and its staff.

Nevertheless at first pitched as a resolution to crowding fears at Shrevewood Elementary University, the Dunn Loring job has ruffled some feathers amid school board customers and people who experience it jumped the renovation queue that FCPS works by using for main capital projects.

The McLean Citizens Association, which urged FCPS to drop its ideas this earlier spring, shared a report very last week that argued the college system’s college student enrollment projections could possibly not thoroughly capture the development predicted in the Tysons region.

FCPS has taken care of that the future school’s boundaries stay to be determined.

“Boundary discussions will start out at the start off of design, which may possibly be as early as spring 2024,” FCPS reported.

At the very least a person far more neighborhood conference will be held on the school’s style, together with a assembly by a design suggestions and engagement committee. Remarks for the committee can presently be submitted on line.

Individuals meetings will precede a public listening to just before the county’s scheduling fee. No dates have been set outside of Thursday’s conference.

FCPS lays out possible timeline for new Dunn Loring Elementary School

FCPS lays out possible timeline for new Dunn Loring Elementary School
Dunn Loring Center (courtesy Fairfax Public Schools)

Planning for a new elementary school in Dunn Loring could begin as soon as the second half of 2022, Fairfax County Public Schools projects in its proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for fiscal years 2023-2024.

As approved by the Fairfax County School Board back in January, the new school will take over the Dunn Loring Administrative Center at 2334 Gallows Road, which started as an elementary school before being repurposed in 1978. The building is now being used for some special education and parent programs.

The project’s estimated $36.7 million budget is already fully funded by money from 2017 and 2019 school bonds that were originally destined for a new school in Oakton High School area.

Funding for the new school was welcomed by parents at Shrevewood Elementary School, which was at 118{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} capacity in the 2019-2020 school year. The CIP says its capacity dropped to 99{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} this year after an enrollment decline and minor facility modifications.

However, the boundaries for the Dunn Loring school have yet to be determined beyond it being “intended to relieve overcrowding in the Dunn Loring/Falls Church/Tysons area,” as stated in the CIP.

“School assignments for the repurposed Dunn Loring Elementary School will be determined as part of any boundary study for the school,” FCPS said in a statement. “The boundary study is currently estimated to begin toward the end of construction in 2026.”

The CIP indicates that planning for Dunn Loring Elementary will begin in fiscal year 2023, which starts on July 1. Permitting could start in FY 2024, followed by construction in FY 2025. The project is expected to be complete in FY 2027.

Other Tysons-area projects addressed by the proposed CIP include:

  • Madison High School: a 35,000 square-foot addition, currently under construction and expected to finish by the end of 2022 ($18 million)
  • Louise Archer Elementary School: renovation adding over 50,000 square feet to the building. The voter-approved 2021 school bond included funds for construction, which is expected to start this fiscal year and finish in FY 2024. ($39.9 million)
  • Cooper Middle School: renovation expanding the building by approximately 65,000 square feet. Construction is underway and set to finish in summer 2023. ($54.4 million)
  • Falls Church High School: approximately 126,000 square-foot renovation, in the permitting process with an anticipated construction finish in FY 2026 ($136 million)

FCPS staff will present the proposed CIP to the school board tonight (Thursday). The board will hold a public hearing on Jan. 4 and a work session on Jan. 11, with a final vote scheduled for Feb. 10.