Fairfax County General :
Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Urban-design expansion of Bailey’s Elementary moves forward; School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
Posted by:
Tax and Spend
()
Date: December 13, 2013 07:53AM
Urban-design expansion of Bailey’s Elementary moves forward
School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20131212/NEWS/131219624/1117/urban-design-expansion-of-bailey-x2019-s-elementary-moves-forward&template=fairfaxTimes
A controversial plan for the expansion of Bailey’s Elementary School is closer to becoming a reality.
The School Board voted last Thursday to acquire a vacant five-story office building on Leesburg Pike, across from the Seven Corners Shopping Center, that would serve as a second campus for the crowded Falls Church school.
The prospect of an urban-design school, the first of its kind in the county, brings both excitement and anxiety from both school officials and community members.
Bailey’s Elementary has the largest enrollment of any county elementary school, and the surge in student population is expected to continue in coming years. The current school building is operating at 33 percent over capacity, with 1,360 students enrolled as of November in a building meant to hold 1,020.
The school grounds hold 19 trailers to make room for the overflowing population, and the library has been cut in half so space could be converted into additional classrooms.
The brick office building at 6245 Leesburg Pike offers potential relief for the school. The school system’s current plan would see the 99,000-square-foot building converted into a vertical-design school to house grades 3-5 from Bailey’s, about 700 students in total.
The county’s goal is to acquire the building and complete the renovations in time for the 2014-15 school year.
Gwynnen Chervenic, the president of the Parent-Teacher Association at Bailey’s Elementary, could have both of her children — currently in second and fourth grade — in the new building next September. While Chervenic supports the move, she said she understands others’ hesitation.
“People right now see it as an office building,” Chervenic said. “They need to see it as walls that could hold a fantastic elementary school when they’re finished with it. I think most people will be open to a solution like this once they start seeing some of the plans.”
The lack of communication by the school system was one of the sticking points expressed by opponents in a public hearing before the School Board’s vote on Thursday.
Several community members did not come out against the solution outright but felt they needed more information before the county moved forward. Others worried about the 1.4 miles separating the Leesburg Pike property from the current school site, and its location on a busy highway and lack of outdoor play space.
“The community is now desperate for any relief, any solution,” said Ernie Wells, a neighbor of the office building whose son just graduated from Bailey’s Elementary. “The threshold for an acceptable solution is lower.”
School Board members noted before the vote that they had explored other possibilities in recent years, but all met with roadblocks. The office building is the best option available, according to Sandy Evans, the School Board representative for the Mason District, which includes Bailey’s Elementary.
“I do think people will be pleasantly surprised by what we have planned,” Evans said. “This will be a 21st century learning environment. This is not going to be kids in cubby holes.”
In a 9-3 vote, the School Board adopted a resolution directing the school system to acquire the property by condemnation or other means.
The building, constructed in 1987, has been vacant since September 2012. The school system already has tried to purchase the property, but so far, attempted negotiations with the owner have been unsuccessful.
The resolution reaffirms the School Board’s dedication to moving forward with their plan for this site, and opens up the possible use of eminent domain to acquire the property if other options fail.
School Board member Elizabeth Schultz (Springfield District), one of three dissenting votes, said she opposed the resolution because of her concern over using this legislative power, which grants school boards the ability to acquire private property “necessary for public school purposes.”
Still, she did note her overall support for the use of the office building to relieve overcrowding at Bailey’s Elementary.
“I think we’re between a rock and a rock and a rock and a hard place,” Schultz said. “So now what? Do we continue to allow 1,300 students to go to school at a school with 19 trailers without bathrooms? That’s a really bad decision.”
The Fairfax County School Board approved the acquisition of this office building on Leesburg Pike to ease crowding at Bailey’s Elementary School. However, the move has sparked fierce debate amid school parents and the community.
Attachments:
School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20131212/NEWS/131219624/1117/urban-design-expansion-of-bailey-x2019-s-elementary-moves-forward&template=fairfaxTimes
A controversial plan for the expansion of Bailey’s Elementary School is closer to becoming a reality.
The School Board voted last Thursday to acquire a vacant five-story office building on Leesburg Pike, across from the Seven Corners Shopping Center, that would serve as a second campus for the crowded Falls Church school.
The prospect of an urban-design school, the first of its kind in the county, brings both excitement and anxiety from both school officials and community members.
Bailey’s Elementary has the largest enrollment of any county elementary school, and the surge in student population is expected to continue in coming years. The current school building is operating at 33 percent over capacity, with 1,360 students enrolled as of November in a building meant to hold 1,020.
The school grounds hold 19 trailers to make room for the overflowing population, and the library has been cut in half so space could be converted into additional classrooms.
The brick office building at 6245 Leesburg Pike offers potential relief for the school. The school system’s current plan would see the 99,000-square-foot building converted into a vertical-design school to house grades 3-5 from Bailey’s, about 700 students in total.
The county’s goal is to acquire the building and complete the renovations in time for the 2014-15 school year.
Gwynnen Chervenic, the president of the Parent-Teacher Association at Bailey’s Elementary, could have both of her children — currently in second and fourth grade — in the new building next September. While Chervenic supports the move, she said she understands others’ hesitation.
“People right now see it as an office building,” Chervenic said. “They need to see it as walls that could hold a fantastic elementary school when they’re finished with it. I think most people will be open to a solution like this once they start seeing some of the plans.”
The lack of communication by the school system was one of the sticking points expressed by opponents in a public hearing before the School Board’s vote on Thursday.
Several community members did not come out against the solution outright but felt they needed more information before the county moved forward. Others worried about the 1.4 miles separating the Leesburg Pike property from the current school site, and its location on a busy highway and lack of outdoor play space.
“The community is now desperate for any relief, any solution,” said Ernie Wells, a neighbor of the office building whose son just graduated from Bailey’s Elementary. “The threshold for an acceptable solution is lower.”
School Board members noted before the vote that they had explored other possibilities in recent years, but all met with roadblocks. The office building is the best option available, according to Sandy Evans, the School Board representative for the Mason District, which includes Bailey’s Elementary.
“I do think people will be pleasantly surprised by what we have planned,” Evans said. “This will be a 21st century learning environment. This is not going to be kids in cubby holes.”
In a 9-3 vote, the School Board adopted a resolution directing the school system to acquire the property by condemnation or other means.
The building, constructed in 1987, has been vacant since September 2012. The school system already has tried to purchase the property, but so far, attempted negotiations with the owner have been unsuccessful.
The resolution reaffirms the School Board’s dedication to moving forward with their plan for this site, and opens up the possible use of eminent domain to acquire the property if other options fail.
School Board member Elizabeth Schultz (Springfield District), one of three dissenting votes, said she opposed the resolution because of her concern over using this legislative power, which grants school boards the ability to acquire private property “necessary for public school purposes.”
Still, she did note her overall support for the use of the office building to relieve overcrowding at Bailey’s Elementary.
“I think we’re between a rock and a rock and a rock and a hard place,” Schultz said. “So now what? Do we continue to allow 1,300 students to go to school at a school with 19 trailers without bathrooms? That’s a really bad decision.”
The Fairfax County School Board approved the acquisition of this office building on Leesburg Pike to ease crowding at Bailey’s Elementary School. However, the move has sparked fierce debate amid school parents and the community.
Attachments:
Right decision on Bailey’s
Posted by:
Concerned Citizen
()
Date: December 13, 2013 07:59AM
Right decision on Bailey’s
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20131213/OPINION/131219469/1065/right-decision-on-bailey-x2019-s&template=fairfaxTimes
Anyone who has visited Bailey’s Elementary on a recent weekday morning understands why there’s such urgency to address the school’s crowding situation.
Designed to accommodate 1,050 students, Bailey’s enrollment currently sits at 1,331 with that number projected to rise to 1,593 within four years. As a result, Bailey’s leads all Fairfax schools with 19 on-campus trailers and half the school’s library has been commandeered for additional classrooms.
Crowding certainly isn’t an issue that’s unique to Bailey’s Elementary. Fairfax County’s school system has grown by nearly 20,000 students since the fall of 2006, and enrollment growth is projected to continue on that trajectory for several more years. The new students expected in the next five years could fill five new elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.
In Bailey’s case, none of the age-old crowding remedies can solve the problem. Adjusting the school’s boundaries isn’t an option because all three neighboring elementary schools — Glen Forest, Belvedere and Sleepy Hollow — are already over capacity.
Addressing the issue through the school system’s Capital Improvement Program isn’t likely, either. At least eight acres are needed to build a new elementary school and no such plot exists in or near Bailey’s Crossroads. Even if it did, funds are virtually non-existent. The school system cannot spend more than $155 million a year on renovation or construction projects and, at last check, there were nearly $1 billion worth of proposed improvement projects on the CIP.
To address the issue, it became clear that the School Board wouldn’t just have to think outside the proverbial box. They’d have to kick the box into another time zone.
And that appears to be what they’ve done.
On Dec. 5, the School Board last week approved a resolution to acquire “by condemnation or by other means” a vacant, five-story office building on Va. 7 to relieve crowding at Bailey’s. If they’re unable to reach an agreement with the building’s owners, they now have the authority to acquire it through eminent domain.
If everything eventually lines up, roughly 700 of Bailey’s 1,300-plus students will begin attending classes in the new building next September.
Not surprisingly, many are questioning the unprecedented move of placing a school in a five-story commercial space. How much traffic will be brought to the area? Will there be enough parking? Is there room for an outdoor playground and indoor facilities to meet physical education requirements? Can the current stable of administrators at Bailey’s oversee both campuses or will new staff need to be hired?
Although still in the early stages, the answers to each of those questions are encouraging and there’s reason to believe many aspects of the students’ educational experience will improve significantly. After all, it’s difficult for most 9- or 10-year-olds to learn math, history or anything else while sitting in crowded trailers and jockeying for a single teacher’s time with 31 other classmates.
Is acquiring nearby office buildings the solution for every crowded school in the county? Definitely not, but it appears to be the logical solution in this particular case. We understand some of the concerns being expressed by parents, neighbors and even some school personnel. That’s healthy. But we also applaud the Fairfax County School Board for recognizing that out-of-the-box solutions are necessary in tough budgetary times.
They got this one right.
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20131213/OPINION/131219469/1065/right-decision-on-bailey-x2019-s&template=fairfaxTimes
Anyone who has visited Bailey’s Elementary on a recent weekday morning understands why there’s such urgency to address the school’s crowding situation.
Designed to accommodate 1,050 students, Bailey’s enrollment currently sits at 1,331 with that number projected to rise to 1,593 within four years. As a result, Bailey’s leads all Fairfax schools with 19 on-campus trailers and half the school’s library has been commandeered for additional classrooms.
Crowding certainly isn’t an issue that’s unique to Bailey’s Elementary. Fairfax County’s school system has grown by nearly 20,000 students since the fall of 2006, and enrollment growth is projected to continue on that trajectory for several more years. The new students expected in the next five years could fill five new elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.
In Bailey’s case, none of the age-old crowding remedies can solve the problem. Adjusting the school’s boundaries isn’t an option because all three neighboring elementary schools — Glen Forest, Belvedere and Sleepy Hollow — are already over capacity.
Addressing the issue through the school system’s Capital Improvement Program isn’t likely, either. At least eight acres are needed to build a new elementary school and no such plot exists in or near Bailey’s Crossroads. Even if it did, funds are virtually non-existent. The school system cannot spend more than $155 million a year on renovation or construction projects and, at last check, there were nearly $1 billion worth of proposed improvement projects on the CIP.
To address the issue, it became clear that the School Board wouldn’t just have to think outside the proverbial box. They’d have to kick the box into another time zone.
And that appears to be what they’ve done.
On Dec. 5, the School Board last week approved a resolution to acquire “by condemnation or by other means” a vacant, five-story office building on Va. 7 to relieve crowding at Bailey’s. If they’re unable to reach an agreement with the building’s owners, they now have the authority to acquire it through eminent domain.
If everything eventually lines up, roughly 700 of Bailey’s 1,300-plus students will begin attending classes in the new building next September.
Not surprisingly, many are questioning the unprecedented move of placing a school in a five-story commercial space. How much traffic will be brought to the area? Will there be enough parking? Is there room for an outdoor playground and indoor facilities to meet physical education requirements? Can the current stable of administrators at Bailey’s oversee both campuses or will new staff need to be hired?
Although still in the early stages, the answers to each of those questions are encouraging and there’s reason to believe many aspects of the students’ educational experience will improve significantly. After all, it’s difficult for most 9- or 10-year-olds to learn math, history or anything else while sitting in crowded trailers and jockeying for a single teacher’s time with 31 other classmates.
Is acquiring nearby office buildings the solution for every crowded school in the county? Definitely not, but it appears to be the logical solution in this particular case. We understand some of the concerns being expressed by parents, neighbors and even some school personnel. That’s healthy. But we also applaud the Fairfax County School Board for recognizing that out-of-the-box solutions are necessary in tough budgetary times.
They got this one right.
Re: Urban-design expansion of Bailey’s Elementary moves forward; School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
Posted by:
build the wall
()
Date: December 13, 2013 08:06AM
I cant imagine why the elementary school is so far over capacity since no new housing has been built there in years......HMMMMM
Board buys office building for urban-design school
Posted by:
More Info
()
Date: December 26, 2013 03:56AM
Board buys office building for urban-design school
Purchase cements plan to ease overcrowding at Bailey’s Elementary
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20131224/NEWS/131229595/1117/board-buys-office-building-for-urban-design-school&template=fairfaxTimes
Students at overcrowded Bailey’s Elementary School soon have relief coming in an unorthodox package.
The county school system announced last Friday its purchase of a five-story office building on Leesburg Pike for $9.4 million. The building will be converted into an urban-design elementary school to serve the overflowing population at Bailey’s, which currently operates at 33 percent over capacity.
The vertical-plan school, the first of its kind in the county, will serve as a second campus for Bailey’s, likely housing students in grades three to five.
The county aims to see the new facility, open by next fall, according to School Board Chairman Ilryong Moon (At-large), bringing resolution to years worth of failed plans to ease overcrowding at the Falls Church school.
Bailey’s Elementary has the largest enrollment of any county elementary school, with 1,360 students enrolled as of November in a building meant to hold 1,020.
The school campus holds 19 trailers, and the library was cut in half this summer to make room for more classroom space. Child care and pre-kindergarten programs have been removed from the school to accommodate more students.
Previously, the school system had tried and failed to find workable plans. Discarded options included building a completely new elementary school in the Bailey’s area or adding classrooms to Woodrow Wilson Library, located next to the school.
Finally, this summer the School Board approved a plan to go after an office building at 6245 Leesburg Pike, located near Seven Corners Shopping Center and about 1.4 miles from the current Bailey’s campus.
After months of unsuccessful negotiations with the owner of the building, which has been vacant since September 2012, the school system successfully acquired the building last week.
The school administration purchased the building using $9.4 million in funds from the 2013 school bond referendum. The bond referendum, approved by voters in November’s election, included $20.8 million for this project.
But while plans to ease the overcrowding at Bailey’s are now underway, the elementary school’s struggles are part of a countywide struggle to address surging enrollment.
Entering this school year, student population in the county had increased by 3,000 from last year, and growth is projected to continue at this swift clip. In the next five years, enrollment is expected to reach close to 200,000 students.
Already, the 19 trailers at Bailey’s are among more than 900 in use across the county this school year, according to the school system’s 2015-19 Capital Improvement Program. The CIP, a blueprint of construction and renovation for the next five years, shows that 15 schools currently at least 15 percent over capacity. That total is projected to balloon to 39 schools by the 2018-19 school year.
“Even in the Bailey’s Crossroads area, capacity concerns exist beyond the capacity that will be made available by the elementary school funded in the 2013 bond referendum,” said Lee Ann Pender, the school system’s director of facilities planning services, in a presentation to the School Board on Dec. 19.
For example, of the four elementary schools bordering Bailey’s district, Glen Forest is already over capacity, and Belvedere is at its limit, according to the CIP, requiring the School Board to be open to more creative solutions such as the one it pursued for Bailey’s.
“As we meet with the community Board of Supervisors about this Capital Improvement Program, we need to show our desire to share the commitment to fix this issue,” said School Board member Megan McLaughlin (Braddock District).
Purchase cements plan to ease overcrowding at Bailey’s Elementary
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20131224/NEWS/131229595/1117/board-buys-office-building-for-urban-design-school&template=fairfaxTimes
Students at overcrowded Bailey’s Elementary School soon have relief coming in an unorthodox package.
The county school system announced last Friday its purchase of a five-story office building on Leesburg Pike for $9.4 million. The building will be converted into an urban-design elementary school to serve the overflowing population at Bailey’s, which currently operates at 33 percent over capacity.
The vertical-plan school, the first of its kind in the county, will serve as a second campus for Bailey’s, likely housing students in grades three to five.
The county aims to see the new facility, open by next fall, according to School Board Chairman Ilryong Moon (At-large), bringing resolution to years worth of failed plans to ease overcrowding at the Falls Church school.
Bailey’s Elementary has the largest enrollment of any county elementary school, with 1,360 students enrolled as of November in a building meant to hold 1,020.
The school campus holds 19 trailers, and the library was cut in half this summer to make room for more classroom space. Child care and pre-kindergarten programs have been removed from the school to accommodate more students.
Previously, the school system had tried and failed to find workable plans. Discarded options included building a completely new elementary school in the Bailey’s area or adding classrooms to Woodrow Wilson Library, located next to the school.
Finally, this summer the School Board approved a plan to go after an office building at 6245 Leesburg Pike, located near Seven Corners Shopping Center and about 1.4 miles from the current Bailey’s campus.
After months of unsuccessful negotiations with the owner of the building, which has been vacant since September 2012, the school system successfully acquired the building last week.
The school administration purchased the building using $9.4 million in funds from the 2013 school bond referendum. The bond referendum, approved by voters in November’s election, included $20.8 million for this project.
But while plans to ease the overcrowding at Bailey’s are now underway, the elementary school’s struggles are part of a countywide struggle to address surging enrollment.
Entering this school year, student population in the county had increased by 3,000 from last year, and growth is projected to continue at this swift clip. In the next five years, enrollment is expected to reach close to 200,000 students.
Already, the 19 trailers at Bailey’s are among more than 900 in use across the county this school year, according to the school system’s 2015-19 Capital Improvement Program. The CIP, a blueprint of construction and renovation for the next five years, shows that 15 schools currently at least 15 percent over capacity. That total is projected to balloon to 39 schools by the 2018-19 school year.
“Even in the Bailey’s Crossroads area, capacity concerns exist beyond the capacity that will be made available by the elementary school funded in the 2013 bond referendum,” said Lee Ann Pender, the school system’s director of facilities planning services, in a presentation to the School Board on Dec. 19.
For example, of the four elementary schools bordering Bailey’s district, Glen Forest is already over capacity, and Belvedere is at its limit, according to the CIP, requiring the School Board to be open to more creative solutions such as the one it pursued for Bailey’s.
“As we meet with the community Board of Supervisors about this Capital Improvement Program, we need to show our desire to share the commitment to fix this issue,” said School Board member Megan McLaughlin (Braddock District).
Re: Urban-design expansion of Bailey’s Elementary moves forward; School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
Posted by:
Chris Curtis
()
Date: December 26, 2013 10:52PM
...
Attachments:
Attachments:
Re: Urban-design expansion of Bailey’s Elementary moves forward; School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
Posted by:
Gotta educate them
()
Date: December 27, 2013 09:31AM
They make more little ones every day.
Attachments:
Attachments:
Re: Urban-design expansion of Bailey’s Elementary moves forward; School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
Posted by:
Idiots says what?
()
Date: December 27, 2013 10:49AM
Chris Curtis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...
Your a fuckin moron. They will gut the entire place. This is a good way to save money on property and capital costs while still achieving program goals. Hopefully FFX Co uses this model more often.
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...
Your a fuckin moron. They will gut the entire place. This is a good way to save money on property and capital costs while still achieving program goals. Hopefully FFX Co uses this model more often.
Re: Urban-design expansion of Bailey’s Elementary moves forward; School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
Posted by:
Gun free zone
()
Date: December 27, 2013 11:08AM
Man, I hope counties, especially Fairfax, lift the gun free zone. I crazy killer in a building like that will have a hay day. Schools need to be able to defend themselves. Having gun free zones leaves schools defenseless. It's insanity.
Re: Urban-design expansion of Bailey’s Elementary moves forward; School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
Posted by:
Troll dumbasses
()
Date: December 27, 2013 01:07PM
Gun free zone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Man, I hope counties, especially Fairfax, lift the
> gun free zone. I crazy killer in a building like
> that will have a hay day. Schools need to be able
> to defend themselves. Having gun free zones leaves
> schools defenseless. It's insanity.
In a building like that? How is it any different if at all worse you dumb shit. Trolling muthafuckin bitch
-------------------------------------------------------
> Man, I hope counties, especially Fairfax, lift the
> gun free zone. I crazy killer in a building like
> that will have a hay day. Schools need to be able
> to defend themselves. Having gun free zones leaves
> schools defenseless. It's insanity.
In a building like that? How is it any different if at all worse you dumb shit. Trolling muthafuckin bitch
Re: Urban-design expansion of Bailey’s Elementary moves forward; School Board approves plan to acquire office building for renovation
Posted by:
Kaufax Fan Club
()
Date: December 27, 2013 01:34PM
One whole floor will be artificial turf!