At the recent, joint meeting of the Fairfax City Council and Planning Commission, Schools Superintendent Peter Noonan detailed the City Schools’ five-year CIP. “We have outstanding students and teachers and world-class facilities,” he said. Yet several needs still exist, including the following:
- Daniels Run Elementary:
Curb and gutter repairs are needed around the building, and paving projects include the blacktop on the south side of the building, plus the path system leading from the school to Daniels Run Creek. Many rooftop HVAC units need replacing, and 12 rooms need to be converted from carpet to tile to reduce germs and for easier cleaning.
- Providence Elementary:
The bus loop needs repaving and a French drain must be installed to support water runoff. Curb and gutter repairs are needed, as well, in addition to HVAC replacements and conversions of 13 carpeted rooms to tile.
- Lanier Middle:
The Bevan Drive bus loop must be repaved because of wear and long-term weather beating. And the school’s roof is in need of repair/replacement. “It’s a sprayed-on roofing system not covered by Fairfax County’s maintenance system,” said Noonan. “But FCPS could do it if we replaced it [when its warranty ends]. This isn’t for FY ’16, but in the next several years.” In addition, the school’s elevator is nearing the end of its useful life and will be replaced when needed.
- Fairfax High School:
It, too, needs concrete repairs to sidewalks, curb and gutter, plus HVAC replacements. The building’s exterior stucco walls are deteriorating and must be repaired, over the next five years. The cafeteria floor is buckling, so its tiles must be replaced in 2017 – and asbestos abatement may or may not be a factor in the work.
The home-side bleachers have been inspected and minor repairs have been made because of the 2011 earthquake. “We know they’re safe but, in time, they may need some shoring up,” said Noonan. “This project may represent a significant and unforeseen cost to our schools, should there be a need for large-scale repair.”
Also included is the restoration of the theater’s orchestra pit. It was covered several years ago, but the school now wants to install a system allowing for the pit’s easy opening and closing for a variety of programs and purposes. In addition are outdoor, athletic-infrastructure projects, such as repairing the football press box, plus portions of the fencing on the school’s western and northern perimeters.
The total FY ’16 request for these projects at all four schools is $460,187 – although the actual amount needed for the bleacher repair is not yet known. “Our CIP requests have been small to nonexistent in past years,” said School Board Chairman Toby Sorensen. “But our renovations are approaching the 15-year mark.”
Councilman David Meyer asked if the cafeteria tile replacement can wait until 2017, and Noonan said he believes it can. “And FCPS will pick up the cost of asbestos abatement, which is significant,” said Noonan. “We pay for the tile.”
Regarding the high school’s stucco walls, he said fixing them all at once would be more efficient, but doing them in phases would save money. Meyer, however, said he’d prefer they all be done at one time “for less disruption to the students.”
Councilwoman Janice Miller had a question about enrollment, which is generally projected to increase. “Over the past year-and-a-half, a number of new developments have come on line,” she said. “Do we have an actual count of the students that came from them?”
Noonan said the school system would also like that information and he’d obtain it. Furthermore, he said 221 elementary-school students who currently live in the City attend county schools. “A significant number” attend Advanced Academic centers at Mosby Woods Elementary and Rocky Run Middle, said Noonan. Mayor Scott Silverthorne then asked for those numbers in writing.
All in all, said City Manager Bob Sisson, “We’ve had seven to eight years with virtually no school CIP expenditures. But the day of reckoning will soon be here.”