Renovation of Fox Mill Elementary School to begin in May

Construction on a renovation project at Herndon’s Fox Mill Elementary School will begin in May, Fairfax County Public Schools tells Reston Now.

The Fairfax County School Board is scheduled to open a bidding period for contractors as new business during its meeting tonight (Thursday). FCPS will receive bids on April 14 and develop recommendations before the board awards a contract at its May 6 meeting.

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.

According to FCPS’s proposed capital improvement program for fiscal years 2022-2026, 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.

FCPS says the project carries a total estimated cost of $30 million, including a projected cost of $18.5 million for construction. Fairfax County voters approved school bonds in 2017 and 2019 that, respectively, included $2 million for planning and $27.5 million for construction, according to the CIP.

According to FCPS, construction will be completed in the spring of 2023.

Rendering via FCPS