The D.C. council has approved $44 million for a long-awaited modernization of an upper Northwest public school, though it will still be years before the project is finished.
Work on Murch Elementary School, which serves children pre-K through fifth grade, will be completed in time for the 2017-2018 school year, depending on the design and permitting process.
The school, at 4810 36th Street NW, serves the neighborhoods of North Cleveland Park, Forest Hills and Van Ness.
Murch was founded in 1930, named for Ben W. Murch, who served as a principal and D.C. public schools administrator for 40 years. It is the second largest elementary school in the District, tied with Janney Elementary. Last year’s enrollment was 626 students; the school has a baseline capacity of 488 students.
The school is currently 47,700 square feet in size. Melissa Salmanowitz, DCPS spokesperson, says the modernization is expected to significantly expand the size of the school, although since neither the design nor construction contracts have yet been awarded, it is too soon to know by how much.