School Board Signs Off on Preliminary Plans for Luxmanor Elementary Expansion

Architects on Thursday showed off preliminary plans for a three-story expansion at Luxmanor Elementary School in North Bethesda.

The project will increase the school’s size by about 20,000 square feet and raise its capacity from 411 to 758 students, according to officials. The Montgomery County Board of Education on Thursday signed off on the early plans for the addition and expansion.

The project, which will add 10 classrooms, is currently scheduled for completion in early 2020, according to the school system’s facilities master plan.

The school sits on about 6.5 acres, which is less land than schools usually have. Designers opted to make the most of the space by adding a third level to the structure. The planners also wanted to save as many trees as possible to preserve the heavily forested feel of the site.

Since the school will be three stories tall, board member Jill Ortman-Fouse said she’s glad trees will stand around the building, so it blends into the neighborhood. She said the improved parking lots will also be welcome to staff and parents.

The inadequacy of parking represents a “huge morale issue for our schools,” she said.

The school will have about 80 parking spaces and room for nine buses in the bus loop, according to the presentation.

The oldest section of Luxmanor was built in 1966, but the school got major additions in 1988 and 2008. The expansion project is necessary to add classroom space and parking, according to a feasibility study.

Students at Luxmanor are slated to move to the Grosvenor Center, a holding facility on Grosvenor Lane, while construction takes place in the 2018-2019 school year and the first half of the following academic year, the master plan shows.

Architectural plans for Luxmanor Elementary School expansion. Via Montgomery County Public Schools.

This story was updated to correct the location of Luxmanor Elementary School.