While some Fairfax County Public Schools grapple with overcrowding, a private school in the Wolf Trap area hopes to boost enrollment by welcoming younger students.
The Oakcrest School plans to start serving kindergarten and elementary students, expanding its current scope of sixth through 12th grade, according to a zoning application recently submitted to Fairfax County.
The change would require an amendment to the special exception granted by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2010 that enabled the school to be built on its current 22.66-acre campus at 1619 Crowell Road.
However, Oakcrest won’t need to undertake any renovations or increase its existing maximum daily enrollment of 450 students, because it’s currently operating under-capacity and anticipates continuing to do so in the immediate future, McGuireWoods senior land use planner Lori Greenlief said in a statement explaining the application.
“The existing enrollment capacity at the school is approximately 75-85% and the school actually expects that to decrease next year,” Greenlief wrote. “They conducted a feasibility study to see if there was a demand for the lower grades and it was determined that it would be beneficial to add grades K through 5th grade to the school educational program.”
According to Greenlief, the school’s existing classroom space is “under-utilized,” and the addition of elementary school-aged students won’t require any additional outdoor recreation facilities or parking.
The new students would come “for the most part” from neighborhoods that Oakcrest School already serves, the application says.
An all-girls Catholic school, Oakcrest started in 1976 with 22 students and six teachers based in a house in northwest D.C., according to its website. To accommodate its growth, the school has relocated over the years, first to a vacated French school building on Yuma Street in D.C. and then, in 2000, to a site in McLean previously occupied by the McLean Bible Church.
Oakcrest moved into its current home in Wolf Trap in fall 2017 and recently expanded its main academic building with a 25,000-square-foot addition for classrooms and an athletic center.
According to the application, Oakcrest will maintain its current operating hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. On weekdays, evening activities are permitted until 10 p.m., except on Fridays, when they must end at 11 p.m.
The school proposes a total of 90 teachers and other staff.
The special exception amendment application was submitted to the county on May 6 but hasn’t yet been officially accepted by planning staff for review.
