DCPS facilities planners are eyeing the tree-studded green on the south side of the old Hardy School to build an elementary school.

A 70,000- to 80,000-square-foot school is envisioned, with enrollment between 450 and 550 students, according to city and DCPS officials.

Planning for the Foxhall elementary school remains fluid and community meetings are expected, according to Andrea Swiatocha, DCPS deputy chief of facilities.

The old Hardy School building, occupied by The Lab School of Washington, sits between two parking lots. Swiatocha said both schools are expected to operate on the site. Access and parking issues remain to be resolved.

FUTURE SCHOOL?: DCPS officials are targeting a tree-studded green on the south side of the old Hardy School facility for a $56 million, 80,000-square-foot elementary school, included in the mayor’s 2021 budget proposal. Photo Credit: John Bray

“It’s going to be an interesting site when it comes to zoning and regulations,” said Swiatocha, who said she has visited the location. “We’ll need to hire a design team to confirm that’s the right spot.”

No new construction of playground space is planned. Swiatocha said she does not want a new facility to interfere with the planned renovation of the Hardy Park recreation area. Swiatocha said the size of the school’s staff would depend on the grade configuration, which has not been settled.

Impetus for the building project comes from conditions at two other elementary schools.

“We were really trying to make a better solution for Key and Stoddert,” Swiatocha said, noting $20.5 million additions that had been targeted for each, the former on the west side of Palisades and the latter in the Glover Park area. Those projects called for replacement of portables with permanent facilities, and gaining some classroom space. That money is now budgeted for the Foxhall school.

The Foxhall school would relieve enrollment at Key and Stoddert, and maybe other areas as well, Swiatocha said. “That’s really the next stage in the planning analysis,” she said. “We want dive a little deeper with the school planning team.”