A Message from Bob Cooke and Stacey Kamps

It is a tremendously exciting time to be at Community School–we have emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, and there is a palpable sense of renewal that runs throughout the school. To a great extent, this is due to the elimination of the Covid-19 measures that helped keep the students, teachers, and staff of Community School safe for the past two-plus years. So many things that were set aside during the pandemic are now once again part of the fiber of the school: Plays, band concerts, big buddies working with younger students, Family Groups of multiple age students meeting, family style lunches (with everyone eating in the Community Center)–all of these are back with us once again. And inside the classroom we have returned to those elements of instruction that are so essential to how students learn best. Students are once again working in small groups designed to maximize individual learning, shaking hands at morning meetings, and interacting between homerooms, much of which had been paused for the last two years. And with masks now optional, students have the freedom to come to school how they are most comfortable.

It is good to leave most of our pandemic policies behind us. But Community School has long believed that we should keep looking for better ways to do things here, and we have learned some lessons from the pandemic. For instance, we now have our Nursery and Junior Kindergarten students eating together in the Community Center without other students present; that gives them the ability to concentrate on eating (sometimes a lot to expect of a three-year-old!) while also getting the experience of eating with multiple other students. Probably the most easily noticed change is the new carpool pickup system at the end of each school day. We won’t bore you with the details here, but there are some key lessons of the pandemic that have led to a much safer pickup system for parents and children. And though most of our meetings are in person once again, when necessary we do have virtual meetings to bring people together.

Community is the rare institution that embraces both tradition and change. This mix was highlighted for us at a recent alumni event on a Saturday morning at school. Some of our graduates from the 1960s were in town for their secondary school reunion (remember, being in the class of 1965 means you were approximately 12 years old in 1965), and gathered at Community School for breakfast and camaraderie. They exchanged news about themselves and mutual friends, swapped stories about past teachers, and marveled at the changes in the physical school–some of them had not been back on campus in 50 years! They toured the school, exclaimed over the “new” gym (completed in 1973) and its beautiful windows, tried to figure out where their 3rd grade rooms had been, marveled at how small some things seemed, and of course loved seeing the old woodshop.

But the absolute highlight of the day was the personal connections they made with each other–after all, these are Community School graduates, and many of their best friends are those they first found more than 60 years ago. The most beautiful example of that was the attendance of former Kindergarten teacher Maxine Blaine at the breakfast, who first met many of them as new kindergartners in the 1950s. Maxine remembered their names, their siblings’ names, where they lived; in short, she continues to embody the individual care and attention that Community School teachers have shown toward students for more than a hundred years. This was delightfully displayed as Maxine sat and chatted with Mark Yu, a first year kindergarten teacher at Community School, exchanging stories with each other about the school and students. Mark and Maxine then walked to the Early Childhood Center, where Mark showed Maxine his classroom–a classroom that is named in Maxine’s honor!

So, now that the pandemic is largely behind us, what is next?

This fall Community School launched our Building Community Campaign, a capital campaign that will significantly improve teaching and learning, and address issues of accessibility. The $7 million campaign will create a new science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) building that will adjoin the school directly north of the gymnasium and Centennial Arts Center. STEAM embodies our belief that all of these elements are intertwined; as a great example of this, think about the learning that takes place in the woodshop, where students combine their math and engineering skills with artistic talent to create beautifully designed and crafted projects.

The new Broughton STEAM Center will replace the 80+ year-old shop and science building. This means that we will say farewell to a facility that has seen generations of students create Viking ships and art, and more recently, explore their world through the wonders of science. It is bittersweet to say farewell to this old structure, but a good example of Community School’s belief in change and improvement while retaining innovative programs such as woodshop. This new building will unify our upper and lower division science teaching in a pair of labs with shared prep space, create a beautiful new woodshop (with an adjoining power tools room), expand our drama spaces to create both a teaching space and a costume and prop shop, and include new offices for staff and meeting and collaboration areas for students.

Importantly, the Building Community Campaign also addresses accessibility issues here at school. By attaching these new classrooms to the larger main building, students no longer are forced to navigate stairs and potentially icy walkways as they transition to woodshop and science classes. Additionally, we will be relocating the existing elevator (that currently only serves two of our four floors) so that it can reach all four levels in the main building. This is so important for us–students with physical challenges should be able to access all of their classrooms without being held back by the building layout, and employees, parents, and grandparents need to be able to visit every classroom without difficulty.

It is, truly, a wonderful time for Community School. Fully enrolled and financially stable, with innovative and engaging teaching, committed families, and bright and enthusiastic students, this is a place that is as strong as it has ever been in its history. Now, as we look forward to the next few years, it is our challenge and our privilege to imagine how Community School can continue to be a place to which alumni can return a half century after graduation, recognize that it is the same school they left, and see the exciting and innovative education that has been built upon that foundation.

Warmly,

Bob Cooke | Head of School

Stacey Kamps | President, Board of Trustees