Aug. 21-28, 2002
<ro>“The way we’re operating is very inefficient with people scattered all over.”
<ro1>School Board Chairman Joseph Vogric (Dulles)
<hd>School Board Grounds Administration Floor Plans
<1b>By Shelley Widhalm
<2b>The Connection
<bt>The first impression the North Street Administrative Office gives is not a good one as far as School Board Chairman Joseph Vogric (Dulles) is concerned.
“It’s a tired old building with boxes and cabinets … crammed … in the hallways,” Vogric said.
Vogric voiced his support for the new administration building’s floor plans for doing just the opposite. The floor plans for the 150,000-square-foot building outline the space requirements for the administrative offices through 2010-11, as developed by Hayes Large Architects with staff input. The School Board approved the floor plans Aug. 13 for a building that will be located in the Broadlands subdivision on a 13.4-acres site south of the Dulles Greenway.
“When you’re in the building, it has a very efficient use of space. [The architect] did a nice job of arranging the different departments, so that people working together sit together. It really flows nicely,” Vogric said.
The five-story building includes a basement, along with several offices and facilities. The floors are:
* First floor, office lobby, board room, administrative offices and a copy center.
* Second floor, offices for planning and legislative services and for support services.
* Third floor, offices for purchasing, risk management and new employee processing.
* Fourth floor, offices for special education, psychological services, student information and attendance.
* Fifth floor, offices for instructional services, adult education, Head Start, vocational education and research.
AS OF NOW, the administrative offices are spread among the North Street building, the Douglass Support Facility, the Staff Training Center and Union Street. “The way we’re operating is very inefficient with people scattered all over,” Vogric said.
School Board member John Andrews considers the floor plans to be inefficient. “They aren’t utilizing the space to its full potential for eight to 10 years,” said Andrews (Broad Run), who along with Warren Geurin (Sterling) voted against the floor plans. “The space for the county is inefficient and shouldn’t be spread among four floors. … I thought they should put it in one area for the county to use.”
School and county staff worked together on using the available space for county offices or other uses until the building is fully occupied. The two staffs have not come to any final agreement, Andrews said.
“There’s not a need to know now. They have plenty of time to figure it out,” Vogric said.
The county declined interest in using the current administration building for a proposed teen center, since an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 square feet of space would be needed for the facility. The School Board agreed to discuss possible uses for the building at the October board retreat.