More Seats for More Students: Ashlawn Elementary Breaks Ground on Expansion

This month, Ashlawn Elementary School not only saw students start a new year with new classes and new teachers — it also saw the first shovels in the ground for a new 27,000-square-foot expansion.

"Ashlawn is a great school now, but when it's bigger… I just think this school is awesome," fifth-grader Leah Karush told Patch not long after delivering one of her first speeches as head of the school's student body.

The $14.3 million construction project is the first of five Arlington Public Schools is undertaking in an attempt to deal with rapid overcrowding of its facilities. A community meeting is planned this week for the proposed expansion of McKinley Elementary School, and construction of a brand new elementary school in Williamsburg is slated to begin in the early spring.

Rounding out this phase of the More Seats for More Students campaign is an expansion of Arlington Traditional School and a new elementary school in the Carlin Springs area.

"It's wonderful to see shovels in the ground and the Ashlawn project getting started," Arlington School Board Chairwoman Abby Raphael told Patch. "And we might as well keep these shovels out, because we'll need them again soon."

The Ashlawn expansion, the result of more than 40 community meetings, will be three stories and include about 10 classrooms and a media center. Some existing classroom space will be reconfigured, said John Chadwick, assistant superintendent, facilities and operations.

Through the process, some residents expressed concern about a reduction in the amount of useable green space the project would bring about, thanks in part to a new road and traffic circle. While part of the community has given its blessing to the expansion plan, others hope that new road and circle will be deemed unnecessary once traffic and parking improvements necessary to accommodate construction are in place, resident Joshua Handler said.

Ashlawn held its groundbreaking celebration Friday night, just before the school's Global Citizen Project kickoff at nearby Bluemont Park.

The Global Citizen Project guides Ashlawn students with four principles: accept all people, protect the environment, help those in need and work for peace.

"It really is a commitment to making sure kids have all they need to be successful," Principal Judy Apostolico-Buck told Patch. "It really permeates the school."

The Ashlawn expansion should be complete by March 2015.

Check back with Arlington Patch later for a photo gallery from the Ashlawn groundbreaking.