STAFFORD — Ferry Farm Elementary School will be getting a $10 million renovation.
The Stafford County School Board chose this option instead of rebuilding the school from the ground up. The School Board voted to start phase one of the renovation during a special called meeting on Dec. 4, 2018.
The 61-year-old elementary school will receive a multi-step renovation after the Board of Supervisors in May refused to give the School Board funds in May to pay for a full-scale rebuild.
During the spring, the Board of Supervisors approved $10 million for the first phase of the project. Since the initial design was completed, the School Board has learned that the initial phase will cost $2 million more than budgeted.
The School Board plans to give an extra $2 million of their funds to renovate the basement of the school, built later in 1966.
The School Board does not plan to ask the Board of Supervisors for extra funds for the renovation.
Ferry Farm has been in the school system’s Capital Improvement Plan since 2006 when it was identified for renovation along with Falmouth, Grafton Village, Stafford, and Anne E. Moncure elementary schools, as well as Drew Middle School.
Since the initial CIP in 2004, all of the other schools on the list have either been renovated or rebuilt. Ferry Farm’s renovation recommendation was changed to a rebuild in the 2011-16 CIP plan, but the renovation was postponed once more.
Additions were built onto Ferry Farm in 1963, 1989 and 1992. No improvements have been made for more than 25 years.
The problem some elected leaders see with the renovation is the lack of funds that the School Board is allocating to the elementary school.
Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke calls the renovation “underfunded.”
“We renovated Falmouth, Stafford Elementary and Grafton Elementary approximately eight years ago,” Bohmke wrote in an email. “The designs and construction costs were based on construction expenses back then. Given inflation and the cost of steel and other building materials, the estimated renovation costs should be more than the other schools.”
Falmouth District School Board Member Dr. Sarah Chase attributes the issue with finding funds to “the improving economy which has contributed to a jump in construction costs.”
The costs of each renovated projects were:
- Falmouth – $11.4 million
- Stafford – $11.6 million
- Grafton Village – $11.9 million
In February, Assistant Superintendent for Operations Scott Horan said the district’s proposal was to rebuild Ferry Farm with a 966-student capacity elementary school with a design similar to the rebuild of Anne E. Moncure Elementary. The current building can hold 782 students.
According to the initial plans, the new school would be built on the existing campus while students would continue to attend classes in the old building.
