At the May Society Meeting, we shared our Board Strategic Plan and updated you on the work of our Facilities Planning Task Force. The Task Force was comprised of a number of board members and parents in the community with expertise in the property development, construction management and realestate industries. We picked up from where the last Growth and Development committee had left off.
In 2019 the GAD Committee established a plan for a new grade 5-8 campus on the south side of the elementary property that would both address the need to replace the Fort and provide a solution for middle and high school campus growth. In 2019, needing to recruit and hire a new Head of Schools and build a K-12 administrative team that could lead and manage the project, the Board delayed moving forward on the recommendation and the Society approved the 6 classroom modular addition at the high school and middle school which temporarily addressed some capacity challenges. We are now poised to move forward with a more long term solution to a school that has consistent cohort sizes of 100 students per grade in K-5. We have also moved away from the idea of a 5-8 campus, to stay consistent with what is more typical of healthy elementary and middle school composition.
The Facilities Planning Task Force (FPTF) recommended strongly that the first priority should be to find a solution to the Fort replacement (8-10 classrooms, restrooms, storage and flexible learning spaces). To avoid conflict of interest of the businesses represented on the FPTF, the Board has established a small 3 person Elementary Expansion Committee (consisting of 2 board members and Frank Wood, Director of Operations) tasked with hiring an architect and construction management company to put together a design concept for consideration sometime in the fall. The FPTF will continue to advise and consult with the committee throughout this process.
