Arlington Career Center Expansion

Career Center

About the Career Center Expansion

The FY 2019-28 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) contains two Career Center expansion projects:

  • Additional 250 Arlington Tech seats for a total of 600 Arlington Tech seats by Sept. 2021
  • Creation of 800 new high school seats by Sept. 2025

The concept design phase for the Career Center Expansion is planned to begin in September 2019 including meetings with the Building Level Planning Committee (BLPC)/Public Facility Review Committee (PFRC). The process will include planning for continued growth of the Arlington Tech program. The School Board is scheduled to act on the concept design in March 2020.  The concept design will inform development of the FY 2021-30 CIP, with School Board adoption expected in June 2020.

Role of the BLPC

Apply Online to be part of the BLPC extended to July 2, 2019

The Building Level Planning Committee (BLPC) is the next step for these projects. The School Board will appoint a committee that meets the membership requirements defined by the policy. To ensure that this committee includes broad representation, applicants must identify the stakeholder groups they represent (i.e. civic association, PTA, neighborhood school, option program). The application form includes the stakeholder groups for this committee.

The School Board charge for the BLPC builds from the CCWG recommendations as APS moves forward with these expansion projects. The School Board adopted a charge and will appoint a committee chair in June 2019. In August 2019, committee members who represent various stakeholder groups and meet the qualifications defined by the BLPC charge will be appointed. The appointed committee chair will share updates with the greater Arlington community, relay feedback received to the BLPC for consideration, and coordinate with the Public Facilities Review Committee (PFRC). Members will participate in a number of ways:

  • Attend BLPC meetings, typically no more than two per month
  • Share information with stakeholder groups and take their input back to the committee
  • Assist staff in reviewing location and massing, site amenities, community use of facility and site, project impact on the surrounding community, and more

The BLPC follows the work of the Career Center Working Group (CCWG) in 2018 to develop a plan for an additional 700-800 seats at the Career Center and future development options of public facilities at the site. For background information, including the Career Center Working Group recommendations, visit www.apsva.us/engage/career-center/career-center-working-group/.  Community members can stay up to date on the Career Center and share input by:

The School Board is scheduled to act on the Career Center concept design in March 2020. This will inform development of the FY 2021-30 CIP which the Board will adopt in June 2020.

Apply Online to be part of the BLPC by June 24, 2019

Project Documents

  • May 1, 2019 – Camp Casey Research and Historic Context Report
  • September 5, 2018 – Career Center Working Group (CCWG) webpage and final report
  • July 12, 2018 – Existing Conditions, Transportation Analysis Report
  • June 30, 2017 – School Board Approves Options for High School Seats news release

 School Board Items

  • May 9, 2019 – Career Center Summer Work 2019 Presentation
  • March 14, 2019 – Career Center Update monitoring Presentation

 Public Meetings

  • BLPC/PFRC meetings will begin in September 2019, meeting details will be posted as they become available

Find out more about the community engagement process around the Career Center expansion, and the work of the Career Center Working Group.