As those who have been at Greenspring for the last several years know, our school is transforming. In 2017 we launched a Capital Project – Great Foundation, Great Future – to address the needs of our aging buildings and to provide our children with new, beautiful, safe spaces, designed just for them. This project consisted of four Phases. Three years ago we finished Phases I and II, renovating and building the Main Building and Emerson Village, providing two beautiful villages designed just for our Toddler and Children’s House communities. Phase III will be the addition of a new building, our Elementary Village, and Phase IV will be the design and creation of our Outdoor Spaces.
Announcing Phase III of our Capital Project
After we completed Phases I and II we decided to pause and settle into our new buildings and give our community a much-deserved rest after several years of fundraising and construction in our small community on our small campus. We have always had every intention of completing the Great Foundation, Great Future Project and were starting to enter the conversation when COVID descended.
It surprised us all that, in the midst of COVID, our growing elementary community called upon us to resurrect the conversation. We began talking with our staff and our parent community. Last spring our Board of Trustees voted to move forward with Phase III: The Elementary Village and we began to get excited about finishing what we started. We then spent several months redesigning our plans with our architects at GWWO and our teaching staff. Needless to say, our Elementary Team is now excited as well and cannot wait to be in their new spaces! The Lower Elementary and the Upper Elementary classrooms (three classrooms in total) will share the new 5,500 square foot building, enjoying large classrooms (the smallest is 1,100 square feet!), a community kitchen, and meeting space as well.
We are currently in the throes of finalizing our permits through Baltimore County and waiting on bids from several contractors which are due on November 1st. We are delighted to share that we should be breaking ground in December with an expected completion date of September/October 2022.
Then on to Phase IV
Additionally, we have secured Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) to support the design and development of our outdoor spaces as Phase IV: Our Outdoor Spaces. This includes our playgrounds, outdoor classrooms, and communal spaces. NLI will be on campus to evaluate and learn more about the site in the beginning of November. While they are here, we will host a Community Meeting to give you all, our families, the opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas with the team.
An Opportunity to Help Make all of this Happen
Phase I and II were funded through a Capital Campaign which raised $1.25 million for the project. In addition, the School contributed $1 million and we borrowed $4 million. Our estimates are that Phase III and IV will cost just over $4 million to complete. The School will be contributing to the project again and we are working with our bank on securing an additional loan.
We will also give our community the opportunity to contribute to this project. We invite you to consider a financial gift to support the project. For those of you who have been with us for a few years, you may recall that Phase IV has already been seeded with donations from our Grandparent Community. An appeal to our Grandparents during Grandfriends’ Day a few years ago resulted in raising the funds needed to hire NLI to create a Master Plan. We have been hanging on to these funds and are excited to finally put them to use!
Addition of Little Barn to our Phasing for Capital Project
We are needing to add another phase to our project. Little Barn, currently the home to the Lower Elementary Redbud Class, is going to require a significant renovation – if not a full overhaul. When we had a pipe leak in the building earlier this fall and began to pull up the flooring and take out drywall, we began to understand how much work this building needs. We have fixed the leak and are repairing the floors and the walls so that the Redbud class can return to their classroom. And while there is nothing prohibiting the children from being in the space this year, the building needs a full renovation. Thus, we are adding Little Barn to our “to do” list. Once our Elementary Village is complete with Phase III, Little Barn will become a much-needed space for our community (a dedicated space for Discovery? A new Art Room? So many possibilities!). Once we decide on the long-term use of the space, we will begin working with architects to design it intentionally.
Parent Roundtable
As we round the bend into December, we want to make sure our community is prepared for the coming changes to campus. While we are excited to have the new Elementary Village, we also recognize the challenges that lay ahead. We hosted a Parent Roundtable in early November to answer your questions and discuss the project in more detail.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service is the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service — a “day on, not a day off.” This day of service helps to empower individuals, strengthen communities, bridge barriers, address social problems, and move us closer to Dr. King’s vision of a “Beloved Community.” While we will not be able to offer a community service project as we did last year due to COVID-19, we encourage families to participate in service projects at home!
Consider participating in one of the following:
- Organize care bags for people experiencing homelessness for Catholic Charities of Baltimore
- Collect pet care items for the Baltimore Humane Society
- Write letters or record videos to share with a nursing home or assisted living facility
- Collect diapers, wipes, and baby items for ShareBaby
- Offer to help an elderly neighbor with projects around the house
- Organize a stream or park clean up
- Sew masks for healthcare workers
Toddlers fill care bags for Catholic Charities in January 2020. Even young children can get involved by sorting and filling bags.
The Washington Post recently published an article on children volunteering during the pandemic. In the article, Connie Chang states, “When so much is out of our control, the act of volunteering puts some control back in our hands. And with the normal rhythms of life still very much disrupted, it’s a good way to occupy and engage children who might otherwise feel stuck.” She goes on to talk about different ways that children can get involved in service – at home, virtually, and outdoors.
Now more than ever, it is important that we instill in our children a love of service to others and a dedication to community. Service and stewardship is a fundamental component of Montessori education throughout the year. In our classrooms, children contribute to their peers, their environment, and their community through our Grace and Courtesy curriculum. On any given day, a Toddler may be sweeping up a mess or watering a plant; a Children’s House student may be feeding fish or comforting a classmate; Lower and Upper Elementary students are learning ways to meaningfully engage with one another through jobs in the classroom and community meetings; children in our virtual classes are navigating respectful online presence and building community while apart. Still, there are many students who are missing the more hands-on service work they did pre-COVID. We’ve collected resources for families and children who would like to get involved with service projects outside of school while remaining socially distant.
A family participates in our home items drive during the 2020 Service Day.If you are looking for additional ideas on ways to get involved, please take a look at the following links:
January service projects for children and families in Baltimore
Search the Youth Service America website for projects that can be done at home
Visit the Doing Good Together website for COVID-safe activities for your family
Is your family participating in a service project for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? Take a photo and share it with us at community@greenspringmontessori.org!
