By Carla Branch
alexandrianews.org
Jefferson Houston plans (Courtesy Image)
With the possibility of 1.2 million square feet of development through a public/private partnership on the Jefferson-Houston Elementary School site off the table, what might the community expect to see in a new school there? Last night, members of the community got a glimpse of what is possible.
“Right now, we have a one-story, 83,200 square-foot structure with lots of pockets of open space,” said Lee Quill, the local architect who was hired by the Alexandria City Public School system to draw some site lay-outs so that the community could better understand what Superintendent Morton Sherman and the Alexandria School Board are considering. “If we cut the building’s footprint in half and build vertically, we can increase the square footage and increase the open space at the same time.”
Jefferson-Houston was built in the 1970s on an open classroom model, which was quickly discarded by educators as not optimal. “You hear every noise from classrooms around you, and it is very difficult to get young students to pay attention,” said Jefferson-Houston Principal Kim Graves at an earlier community meeting.
Jefferson Houston Plans (Courtesy Image)
The new pre-K-8 education program that is being implemented at Jefferson-Houston will require more and different space. “We need to add a gymnasium with lockers, make the cafeteria bigger and provide science lab space for middle school students,” Quill said. “If we add a story on top of the existing building and add a gym and locker rooms on the ground floor, we will still have to renovate the existing building. That renovation will cost between $33 million and $37 million. Also, that design will take away some of the existing open space.”
A new three-story school, which would bring around 129,000 square feet of space, would cost between $30 million and $34 million. “Mt. Vernon Community School and Lyles-Crouch Elementary School are three-story buildings, so we have examples of how building vertically has worked in Alexandria,” Quill said. “In Virginia, there are no pre-K-8 models for ACPS to look at, although I am certain that there are schools of this type somewhere in the country.”
Jefferson Houston plans. (Courtesy Image)
Three stories with 129,000 square feet of space would accommodate the pre-K-8 education model. “You would have a new, energy-efficient green building that would be designed for 21st-century learning, and you would have additional open space that could be used for a variety of sports and educational activities,” Quill said.
A three-story building would be around 36 feet tall. “The zoning allows for 45 feet in height on the site, and we believe that the three-story model is similar in height to many of the buildings around it,” Quill said.
At the next community meeting, Nov. 22, the community will see what a three-story building might look like from the street. “We are also going to talk about what it would mean to the size of the building if the School Board wants to move Central Office staff to this site,” Quill said.