School Board Finalizing Plans for T.J. Expansion Project

The Falls Church City Public Schools Board moved closer to the upcoming expansion project of at a meeting Tuesday night.

“Earlier this summer we put out a request for qualifications to any interested construction companies and interested bidders to be considered for the T.J. project,” board Chair Patrick Riccards said Wednesday afternoon. “We received 12 proposals and Tuesday night we selected three finalists based on a rather comprehensive review process.”

The board also finalized the request for proposal guidelines and sent them out to finalists, giving them a Sept. 20 deadline to provide specific proposal designs for addressing the T.J. expansion.

After proposals are submitted, the board will deliberate and decide which provides the best path to pursue towards building a new Thomas Jefferson that meets the needs of the students and surrounding community. Without the new expansion efforts, T.J. would reach capacity by 2013.

Fifth-graders will also be moved back to T.J. from their current post at Mary Ellen Henderson.

“The school board will make a decision this fall, with the plan that construction will begin in early 2012,” Riccards said. “We’ll spend the end of the year into January working on the architecture side of the project, with actual groundbreaking in a February-March time frame.”

The board was heavily pursuing a construction company and architecture firm that have had experience together on similar design build projects, especially those that were add-on projects where people would still be using the building — in this case the students and teachers.

Riccards and fellow board members have made a concerted effort to include parents' and surrounding neighbors' comments and opinions regarding the final product as well as the construction phase.

“What becomes important for parents is making sure that now and after we’ve selected a firm is that we’re still getting their input in terms of what components they want to see in the facility and how do we insure the least disruption possible,” Riccards said.

There are still more details to come, but the school board inevitably wants 13 additional classrooms added to T.J. — 12 traditional classrooms and one science room.

“We’ve asked the three finalists to provide us proposals that addresses those 12 classrooms and the renovations necessary for the cafeteria,” Riccards said. “We’ve provided them with a list of all the other items that we’ve heard from parents, teachers and the community. We have $5 million to spend, and this approach will allow us to get the maximum value for contract dollars.”

For more information regarding the T.J. expansion project, see the FCCPS website.