Expansion under way at Beech Tree Elementary
Students returning to Beech Tree Elementary School Sept. 7 will have to negotiate around the construction debris, but the mud and dust will be well worth it. The project, consisting of five additions, is expected to be completed in August 2010, says Principal Terry Phillips.
The additions will house a new media center, band and strings room, kindergarten classrooms, SACC room, and offices, and the modular classrooms will be removed. “It will be really nice to have everyone in the same building,” says Beech Tree administrative assistant Mercedes Bustillo. As of Aug. 32, Beech Tree’s enrollment is 467, Phillips says.
The new kindergarten and music wing will be in the back, and the new library will be in the space between the office and gym, now occupied by a courtyard, says FCPS construction field representative Tom Nicklow. More parking will be added to the area now occupied by the modular units on the side of the building, and a parking lot is being developed in the formerly wooded area across the street. (When my kids went to Beech Tree, I thought that area would have have made a nice outdoor nature classroom). For more photos and construction updates, see Phillips’ blog.
Although located in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County, the school serves some students from the Annandale area. When the new school is built on the Lacey site, however, the boundaries likely will be adjusted for Beech Tree and other nearby elementary schools. Representatives from area schools on the Annandale Regional Planning Study Committee are exploring boundary options for the Lacey school, as well as solutions to the overcrowding problem at Annandale High School.
Here is a little more information from Denise James, FCPS director of facilities planning services:
The 2011-15 CIP reported Beech Tree with a capacity of 435 and a September 2009 enrollment of 487. By the end of the 2009 school year, enrollment was still at 487.
So the school was 52 students above capacity, and the deficit is expected to increase to over 150.
But that capacity deficit did not take into consideration the addition to the building and the Lacey boundary study. "There will likely be substantial relief to the overcrowding both now and into the future, hopefully, leaving Beech Tree with a bit of a surplus to better accommodate growth or other needed programs."