Herndon, Va. — Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has awarded the Fox Mill Elementary School Renovation project to general contractor Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc.
According to FCPS, the existing 71,718 square-foot building will be renovated and expanded by about 19,000 square feet, bringing the school’s size up to 91,123 square feet.
The addition will include a new courtyard and secondary entrance, a new basketball court, and an expanded parking lot. New electrical, plumbing, and heating, ventilation, and cooling systems will be installed.
Fox Mill will also get a new main entrance with “updated, more modern front elevation,” and the existing hallways will be redesigned to “simplify and provide easier navigation through the building,” FCPS said. The architect for the renovation is MTFA Architecture of Arlington, Virginia.
Fox Mill currently has a design capacity of 840 students and a program capacity of 683 students. The planned renovation will actually shrink the design capacity to 650 students. Enrollment at Fox Mill dropped from 598 students in the 2019-2020 school year to 544 students in 2020-2021. The school has fluctuated between 81 and 92% capacity utilization over the past decade, peaking at 643 students in the 2014-2015 school year.
This will be the first time that Fox Mill has been renovated since its doors opened in 1979, though it did get an addition in 1980. Construction is scheduled to start in May.
Source: Reston Now; see the original article.