The new home of the Arlington Career Center is still on track to be ready for the start of the 2026-27 school year, but the margin of error is getting increasingly narrow.
School Board members are preparing to discuss a staff request to appropriate $670,000 in contingency funds on Thursday, aiming to meet the most recent challenges for the new Grace Hopper Center at 816 S. Walter Reed Drive.
The funding will come from the project’s $8.3 million contingency, which has been depleted by more than half due to permitting delays and problems encountered while digging the foundation.
School-system officials have said the remaining contingency funds should be enough to cover additional unforeseen costs. But a potentially more pressing concern to be addressed at the meeting is slippage in the planned completion of the key first phase of the project.
The new “substantial completion” date has been pushed back from May 5 to Aug. 5. Under the school system’s adopted 2026-27 calendar, orientation for new teachers will start Aug. 19, returning staff begin reporting on Aug. 24 and the first day of school for students is Aug. 31.
Any further delays in the project’s timeline could complicate a situation that has already seen some parents rebel over proposed programming changes at the new building. Columbia Pike leaders have also raised concerns about potential changes to plans for the overall parcel, which includes the existing Arlington Career Center building and Montessori Public School of Arlington.
The second phase of the project currently remains on track for completion in 2027, APS leaders say. This includes the demolition of high bay shops at the existing Career Center and the construction of a four-level, above-grade parking deck.
Capital plan aims for two middle-school renovations
School Board members are also expected to discuss tasking Superintendent Francisco Durán with finding a way to deliver needed but potentially bare-bones renovations at two middle schools.
The proposal calls for capping the combined budget for both middle schools — Thomas Jefferson and Swanson — at $150 million.
Finding a way to meet that budget while significantly modernizing the schools may be among the bigger challenges facing Durán and staff as they map out an updated capital-improvement plan for the spring.
Direction to staff on the new capital plan is on the agenda for Thursday’s School Board meeting.
The draft proposal acknowledges “significant infrastructure needs and educational-specification delinquencies” at the two schools. The budget of $150 million would be expected to cover needed safety and accessibility needs.
The proposal also calls on Durán to provide “multiple options” for additional redevelopment of the schools. Those options should be presented in tiers that would, for the two schools combined, total $195 million, $240 million and $285 million.
The challenge for school leaders: $150 million might not be enough to make the desired minimum improvements, while the school system might not have the ability to seek bond referendums for the higher amounts.
Proposals for a major renovation and expansion of the 1970s-era Thomas Jefferson Middle School alone have ranged from $126 million to $231 million, based on an evaluation by consultants.
Asked about school capital projects at a recent meeting with the Arlington County Civic Federation, County Manager Mark Schwartz acknowledged he didn’t see a way to do a Thomas Jefferson renovation without incurring a significant cost.
“There really is no cheap alternative,” said Schwartz, who said his daughter had attended the school.
At a mid-November School Board meeting, students, parents and teachers from Thomas Jefferson pressed Board members to fast-track improvements.
“There are many changes that need to be made,” a sixth grader told Board members. “The walls are very thin. In some classrooms, you can tell the ceiling has leaked. You can hear the other classes — it is very distracting.”
During class changes, students are “squished like connected Lego blocks,” another sixth grader said.
Swanson Middle School opened in 1940 and, despite multiple rounds of renovations, is showing its age.
Complicating any further efforts is the fact that, since 2008, Swanson has been designated a local historic district, which gives school officials less flexibility in making renovations. A similar complication arose with the redevelopment of Dorothy Hamm Middle School, also a local historic district.
