Parents of Alexandria City Public Schools students and other community members have an opportunity to give their opinions on the next decade of school facility plans, which includes urgent needs to increase the size of multiple school buildings and other Alexandria facilities and considering whether to share school sites with other uses.
As ACPS and the City start looking at the need to rebuild, replace, add to or modernize schools, fire stations, police facilities and more, local officials are asking for feedback on the Joint City-ACPS Facilities Master Plan.
The guiding principles for the framework for the discussion include equity and a commitment to finding “comprehensive and cohesive solutions [that] provide lasting value.”
“The Joint City-ACPS Facilities Master Plan will lay out a clear road map which will tackle the needs of a growing student population and an aging infrastructure, in addition to other major projects in our city,” according to a survey introduction.
To accomplish this, city and schools officials are looking at a number of strategies, which include ”reimagining site and building designs,” “maximizing uses on existing public sites” and “reducing the number of single-use public sites.”
The community survey asks a series of questions, including a series of scaled agree/disagree statements, such as, “Land in Alexandria is expensive and difficult to find at the scale and location needed. Most City-owned land already houses a public facility or is dedicated to open space. We must be efficient with the land we already own and creative when searching for new sites.”
In addition, “the planning team has brainstormed a list of ideas to explore in the next phase of this process,” according to the community survey:
- Reimagine underutilized sites
- Maximize public uses on existing sites
- Bring together multiple city services within public facilities
- Share school sites with other public uses
- Use urban design solutions – build up, build under, build over
- Explore public-private projects with developers
- Create joint facilities with nearby jurisdictions
- Explore smaller, mobile, and multi-purpose facilities to deliver services in new ways
- Prioritize sites that rely on multi-modal transportation
- Prioritize opportunities that efficiently solve multiple needs
Population Growth Strains City Schools and Buildings
Currently, the City of Alexandria’s population is estimated at more than 159,000 people. By 2030, close to 173,000 will call Alexandria home. By 2040, this could grow to more than 190,000 people, putting additional strain on local resources and school facilities.
With this projected population growth, the plan summary document shows that most public elementary schools in the City of Alexandria will need to be significantly larger, some by nearly double their current square footage.
Urgent needs include a replacement of Francis Hammond Middle School and Douglas MacArthur (in progress already) and Cora Kelly Elementary Schools. Facilities modernization is labeled as urgent at George Mason, Matthew Maury and Mount Vernon Elementary Schools.
In addition, intermediate needs call for a new elementary school and modernization of James K. Polk, Charles Barrett, William Ramsay and John Adams Elementary Schools. Other projects include various city services, fire stations and various police facilities.
Alexandria City Public Schools JFMP presentation
A pre-recorded visual presentation, as well as other documentation from ACPS and City officials, is available here. You can also see a PDF of the presentation here.
The School Board will hold a virtual public hearing on the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) through 2031 and the fiscal year 2022 Combined Funds Budgets at the School Board meeting coming up Oct. 1 at 4 p.m. The deadline to sign up to speak at the Budget Public Hearing or submit written public comments is noon on Sept. 30.
