As a board of directors member and father of two current students and one future one, Annandale resident Alan Goldblatt can't wait until The Gesher Jewish Day School of Northern Virginia gets a new home. He hopes that in the fall of 2005, his two children will be able to walk through the doors of a brand new school building on Shirley Gate Road near Braddock Road in Fairfax.
"There is just an utter excitement around," said Goldblatt, describing parents' attitudes toward the next major project for the school.
Founded in 1982, The Gesher School in Fairfax plans to move its kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school to a new campus, possibly as soon as 2005. The school bought 28 acres for a new school at the western edge of George Mason University and near the Fairfax County Government Center.
They also bought an adjoining 19 acres, which the school and the Northern Virginia Jewish community plan to save for future use.
The school is currently housed in the basement of the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia (JCCNV) on Little River Turnpike. It has been there since January 1994.
"I can't wait for my children to not be learning in a basement," said parent and capital campaign project leader Ann Bennett.
While school officials said they were thankful for the rented space at the JCCNV, a new school campus will strengthen the school's mission and purpose.
"It's been difficult for us to establish the identity of the school when you rent space," said the school's president, Arnie Hiller.
Moving The Gesher School to a new location will not only increase its size but its offerings. Current enrollment stands at around 170 students, but with a bigger facility, the school would like to increase enrollment to 350 students, or roughly 40 students per grade.
The Gesher School also intends to increase its co-curricular offerings, with the addition of several ball fields, a pool, a cafeteria, and a beit midrash, or chapel.
"While the school has a strong academic program, it is constrained from doing a lot of the co-curricular and extracurricular activities because of size," said Richard Wagner, head of the school. "This will take us from the 10 rooms in the Jewish Community Center to a fabulous campus with instructional spaces, science labs, a state-of-the-art computer room, an art room and a library. ... This will enhance our program immensely."
SCHOOL LEADERS also said the school benefits from the move in other ways. The physical move allows the school to start earlier, since the area where the community center is located is zoned for a start time of 8:45 a.m. Furthermore, having more space at the new school means that school administrators, teachers and parents wouldn't have to juggle meeting space with the community center.
The next step for the school is to finish architectural drawings for the school, completing Fairfax County review before starting construction, and fund-raising. The school has already raised one-third of the $12.3 million needed for the project.
With fund-raising occurring throughout Virginia, as well as Maryland and the District, those affiliated with The Gesher School anticipate that the project will strengthen the Jewish presence in the Northern Virginia area.
"Most people recognize that having this institutional infrastructure will be a statement of having arrived," Wagner said.