Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) announced last Friday that it had purchased of a five-story office building on Leesburg Pike for $9.4 million to serve the overflowing population at Bailey's Elementary School, which currently operates at 33% over capacity with more than 1,300 students being educated within the building and in 19 on-site trailers. The five-story office building was purchased with funds being utilized from the 2013 school bond referendum, and will be retrofitted and converted to a vertical design school. Estimates are that it will cost another $8 million to renovate the building, according to a report from The Washington Post last month. 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.
"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. "It is our goal to open a new school at this site for Bailey's students by Fall of 2014. 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."
The FCPS board voted 9 to 3 earlier this month to purchase the five-story building, which will be retrofitted over the summer. The school — the first multi-story, urban-style school in the county — likely will be split by grades into the two buildings when the academic year begins next fall.
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