FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Nearly 300 students have enrolled at a new private school that has opened its doors in Tysons, the school announced Monday.
More than 40 teachers welcomed the students to the school, called BASIS Independent McLean, a pre-kindergarten to 12th-grade private school.
Located at 8000 Jones Branch Drive (see map below) at the redesigned former campus of Freddie Mac, the 120,000 square-foot school designed by Gilbane Perkins Eastman Design has more than 23 classrooms, as well as a gymnasium, chemistry, biology and physics laboratories, demonstration and reading rooms, full-service cafeteria and indoor and outdoor play areas.
Tuition for the 2016-2017 year at the school is $22,000 for pre-school and $25,500 per year for kindergarten to 12th grade. Next year the tuition will be $22,900 for preschool, $25,900 for kindergarten-grade 4 and $26,900 for grades 5-12.
Classroom sizes at the new school average around 17 students, according to a news release announcing its opening. In addition to traditional classrooms, BASIS Independent McLean offers an industrial arts room, a theater, music rooms and art rooms. Designed to be energy-efficient, every classroom has its own climate control, with programmable light settings, while natural light prevails in the school with a four-story glass arch atrium and five additional light wells in the cafeteria.
The gym is two stories high, with natural light, with visibility into spaces designed for college counseling and an art gallery. The early childhood (preK-K) area has its own entrance and a multi-purpose atrium with indoor and outdoor play areas, and classrooms for younger students.
“We’re thrilled to see all the students and begin a new chapter of education in Tysons Corner,” said Sean Aiken, head of school of BASIS Independent McLean, in the news release. “The school’s design and classrooms are reflective of our teaching and education philosophy, providing engaging tools, spaces and environments that nurture, invite and challenge our students in learning.”
Aiken was a crucial member of the leadership team that built BASIS Oro Valley in Arizona which was ranked number one by the Washington Post in 2016 and also in 2015.
As an English teacher, soccer coach, developer of the first 7th grade Logic curriculum, the school’s founding college counselor and finally the Head of School, “his influence on the school community was profound,” the school noted in its news release. In 2013, Aiken relocated to Washington D.C. where, as Head of School, he led BASIS Washington DC and its faculty to achieve Tier 1 status and recognition as the #2 charter school in Washington, D.C. in only the school’s second year of operation. He subsequently oversaw the opening of BASIS Independent of Brooklyn, N.Y. and BASIS Independent of Silicon Valley, Calif. and has also served as VP Intellectual Capital managing the structure and implementation of the BASIS.ed curriculum.
The former corporate headquarters campus for Freddie Mac, BASIS Independent McLean is an environment uniquely suited for its liberal arts and science programs. The three-story commercial property is being repositioned to ultimately accommodate up to 1,250 students. The initial phase converted approximately 120,000 square feet of the commercial space into classrooms, labs, athletic space, administrative space and a central atrium.
“Repositioning an old corporate headquarters into a collaborative learning environment for BASIS Independent McLean was a really unique situation; it involved applying not only our K-12 experience but also our corporate office experience…you just don’t see that every day,” says Drew Mucci, senior vice president at Gilbane Building Company. “This project was particularly important to us because the school employs a STEM-focused curriculum, a project that gives us a chance to support the industry and hopefully inspire students to pursue careers in construction too, ” said Mucci.
Here’s more information about Gilbane and Perkins Eastman, the company that redesigned the school space:
Gilbane Perkins Eastman DC’s (PEDC) extensive experience working together, includes over $240 million in recent design build projects in the DC metro area. The team combines the talents, experience, and resources of Gilbane as the prime contractor and our design partner, PEDC, two national leaders in public sector design and construction, who have collectively delivered over $3 billion in facilities in the District of Columbia in the past 10 years, including Dunbar High School, Roosevelt High School and Cleveland Park Library, which is still in progress. For more information go www.gilbaneco.com and www.perkinseastman.com.
Here’s more about the founding of BASIS:
BASIS was founded in 1998 by Dr. Michael and Olga Block, world-class economists and academics, who developed a formula for success for every child by offering a rigorous, globally competitive liberal arts and science curriculum taught by passionate subject-expert teachers and supported by a culture of excellence. What began as a single campus in Tucson, Ariz. has grown to become a unique, high-achieving, network of schools with three independent, private schools in Brooklyn, N.Y., Silicon Valley and Fremont in Calif., and now in McLean, with an international school in Shenzhen, China, and 16 public charter schools across the United States. Today, BASIS.ed students have propelled their schools to become the top ranked in the nation.Visit them at http://mclean.basisindependent.com, Facebook, Twitter@BASISI.
PHOTOS of students and faculty at BASIS McLean courtesy of BASIS McLean
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