After warning, Arlington delays Yorktown High reconstruction

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Arlington County Schools is delaying a massive, 55-month reconstruction project at Yorktown High School in the wake of warnings from the county government about dwindling funds.

Schools officials, who have $25 million in funding from a previous bond referendum to begin construction in June, were relying on voters passing another bond in November to fund the additional $75 million needed for the project.

But Arlington County Manager Ron Carlee has indicated the county will cap the amount of money schools can finance through bonds this year at far less than $75 million, saying Arlington’s debt will reach a perilously high level unless the county and the schools curb their construction rates.

The school system recently finished a $105 million overhaul of Washington-Lee High School — the most expensive high school construction project in Virginia history.

Yorktown High was slated to be torn down in phases to allow classes to continue during construction.

Officials have said Yorktown needs a makeover due to its confusing design, the product of hodgepodge add-ons throughout the years.

The school would be built taller and feature a new, three-story courtyard, a renovated auditorium and an expanded swimming pool area.

Invitations for construction bids were scheduled to go out this month but will now wait until after the November bond referendum, Schools Superintendent Robert Smith said.

“We want to ensure that we can begin and end the project without any mid-project disruptions,” he said.

Yorktown project manager Vaughan Olbrys said schools officials do not want to run of out money in the middle of construction and condemn students to temporary classrooms indefinitely if the 2008 bond doesn’t come through.

“Just putting all the pieces together, this seemed to be the most responsible strategy,” Olbrys said.

The delay in asking for bids will add an estimated $3.4 million to the project’s construction costs, officials said.

tluntz@dcexaminer.com

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