Facility Condition Assessment Report Published

Arlington Public Schools recently published a “Facility Condition Assessment Report,” which assessed the condition of every school facility, including Abingdon. The report is intended to prioritize certain schools for significant renovations. As Abingdon was last renovated in 2016-2017, it is not currently a high priority to receive significant renovations. Still, the report provides a summary description of the school facility and lists areas of improvement. These include substandard ventilation in some classrooms, the lack of a proper outdoor classroom, and the lack of water-efficient fixtures.

A description of the report is available here. The overall report is available here. The pages addressing Abingdon (pages 39-42) are available below.

Note that the report’s description of Abingdon states that the library was added in 1969, when it was really added in 1965.

Abingdon Elementary School, located at 3035 South Abingdon Street, is a three-story structure. The original building was constructed in 1950, and the last major renovation occurred in 2017, which added the gymnasium and the eastside classrooms, which included a new third level. Building drawings indicate that the east classrooms, gymnasium (now cafeteria), and library were added in 1969, and that renovations and minor additions were constructed in 1990. The building includes classrooms, cafeteria, kitchen, media center, gymnasium with stage, and administrative offices. The building’s exterior wall assembly is predominantly brick veneer over CMU, although some walls of the original building are of brick masonry construction. The exterior windows are both fixed and operable metal framed units. The roof is primarily a low-sloped single ply membrane over both concrete and steel framing, with the remainder being steep-sloped standing seam metal which covers some first-floor classrooms. Interior floor finishes are primarily carpet tile, vinyl composition tile, and ceramic tile. Wall finishes are painted brick, CMU, and drywall, with some original tile and unpainted brick. Ceiling finishes are primarily suspended acoustic tiles. Building domestic hot water was generated utilizing natural gas-fired tanks. Water supply piping, sanitary sewer system and storm drainage was glass fiber. Roof top ERVs and outside air ventilation RTUs provided for the basic building heating and cooling while multiple distributed VRF heat pump systems delivered local heating and cooling. Hydronic boilers provided supplemental hot water for heating. Building power was through a 1600 Amp, 480/277V, three phase power service which was stepped down as needed for 208/120V for connected and lighting load distribution. The lighting was LED. There was a limited security access system. There was a fire suppression system utilizing fire and jockey pumps with an air compressor for the dry pipe sections of the system. The fire alarm system was addressable. The diesel generator was rated at 51kW and power emergency lighting and designated services. There was a 3-stop machine-room-less elevator.