As promised, we’re sending this update to keep you informed about our progress with our exciting Elementary & Middle School relocation to 115 E 22nd Street. You can find our first two letters here and here.
Where we are
We were thrilled to see so many of you joining us to visit the new building today to get a feel for what it will look like next year. Thank you also for the feedback and the great questions–they help keep us on our toes!
As scheduled, we met with the architects and the engineers on November 4 for a final review of the architectural and engineering plans. After making a few minimal adjustments, we signed off the bidding packet, and our partners at Colliers began reaching out to contractors on November 7 to start the bidding process.
On November 13, several groups of contractors toured the facilities to gather information for their cost and timeline proposals.
What’s next
We expect the bidding process to take two weeks. However, due to the Thanksgiving break, it may extend into the first days of December. This is a crucial moment in the process, and we will, of course, share the progress in our next letter!
Question of the day
“Why did you choose to have the Middle School on the second floor and the Elementary classrooms on the 3rd floor? Why not the other way around?”
This was our first thought, too, but our priority is to have large and bright classrooms for all our students. From 1st through 5th Grade, we need 10 home classrooms with windows for lots of natural light, something that could not be achieved on the second floor due to structural changes made in the past. Specifically, a pillar was removed on the first floor, requiring a large spanning support structure on the second floor. Since we only need six home classrooms for our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, we could easily accommodate them on the second floor.
Thank you again for your continued support, and we look forward to keeping you updated on our progress.