Dear GR Montessori Families —
I’m writing to inform you of our difficult decision to delay the start of the school year for our GR Montessori scholars to allow our team more time to prepare for our scholars to arrive.
While the building is safe and ready for school to begin, we simply haven’t been able to provide staff enough time to be fully prepared for school on Tuesday. We will now plan to start classes on Thursday, August 24. This applies to GR Montessori Elementary (PK-6) scholars only.
We recognize the significant challenge this causes for some of our families. Please accept my sincere apologies for this inconvenience.
I also want to recognize our extremely dedicated GR Montessori staff. While some of them have been frustrated by the circumstances, we have come together and accomplished tremendous work to get our building ready for our children. Their passion for education has been on full display throughout these unexpected challenges.
While we’ve made significant progress on the upgrades being done to the building, the project is not complete. The air conditioning installation is still underway, and there is cosmetic work that is still in progress. We expect the construction project to be fully completed at the building before November.
We will also move our planned building access time for families to Tuesday afternoon with two opportunities for families to participate. The building will be open from 12-1pm and again from 4-5pm to allow you the opportunity to see the school as it will be when we welcome scholars on Thursday.
Please see attached photos that showcase the progress at the school. We’ve made great progress on classroom setups especially on the second and third floors. We still have work to do on the first floor and work on the gym and library will continue for the next several weeks.
We will address the evaluations conducted to ensure the building is safe in a separate communication but we want to share clearly what we already know about our building. Prior to construction, our environmental consultants tested all areas involved in the construction and found no hazardous materials needing abatement — that includes asbestos and lead.
Out of an abundance of caution, we have contracted an environmental consultant to complete additional testing to ensure the safe air quality for our scholars.
I want to lay out what you can expect from our team in the days ahead.
At least daily communication: You’ll receive at least one update each day (with photos!) detailing our progress.
Safety information: You will receive communication about the evaluations completed to ensure that the building is safe for our children.
Building access: Families will be allowed access to the building to see conditions ahead of scholars arriving. That access is planned for Tuesday from 12-1pm and 4-5pm.
Please reach out if you have questions or concerns as we look forward to beginning a new school year.
Sincerely,
Leadriane Roby, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
