Community Updates

List of 9 frequently asked questions.

• How will construction affect the daily operations of school and student experience? 

  Due to the location of the construction, we do not expect any significant effect on our students’ experience.   
  We are actively working with Catamount, our construction firm, to partner in ways that allow us to think of fun and meaningful ways to connect students to the project. 
  
  A thoughtful plan has been designed to keep carpool, pedestrian traffic, and on-campus parking operating in an efficient and safe manner. This carpool plan has been communicated to current families and communications will continue when and if any adjustments need to be made.  

• How will child safety be managed during the construction process? 

  Safety throughout the construction process has been top of mind. We are very happy to be working with a firm (Catamount Constructors) that takes safety as seriously as we do.   
  
  The entire perimeter of the construction zone will be fenced and secured, and an on-site superintendent will supervise and workers in the area. Crews will primarily park off campus and carpool to the jobsite to avoid further parking constraints on campus and greater control of vehicles on campus.
    
  From adding new sidewalks for pedestrian safety, to background checks for all on-campus workers, safety will continue to be our highest priority. 

• Who is High Meadows partnering with on this project? 

  High Meadows has contracted with Catamount Constructors. 

• What is the timeline of construction? When will the building be complete? 

  Groundbreaking will occur by early September 2024 and construction is anticipated to conclude by early summer 2025. 

• How are you paying for it?

  High Meadows is actively engaged in a fundraising campaign to fully fund the building's construction. We are thrilled to announce we have raised $2millon so far and have $300,000 to go to raise the $2.3million needed. Please join us in this exciting and historical moment to invest in the magic of High Meadows! Click here to go to the donation page and choose 50th Anniversary Campaign from the menu to support this new building.

• How big will the building be? How many classrooms? What programs are going there? 

  The interior of the building will be 6,367 square feet. The patio and decking will be around 1,000 square feet. Inside this two-story building will be three classrooms and a larger community/conference room. It will house our Environmental Sustainability classes on the upper floor and two Middle Years classes on the lower floor.  Additionally, we have two office spaces for administrative use and a larger “common room” that our Middle Years team will utilize as needed.  At the back of the building, we have designed a large, multi-level deck space that provides ample space for outdoor learning and will ultimately provide direct access to a new wetland teaching area.

• How will this project enhance the overall student experience on our campus?

  This new classroom building will offer our community much-needed additional space to learn, to experiment, to connect, and to collaborate. Furthermore, the building will have the unique advantage of being proximate to a campus wetland area that can be fully utilized as an outdoor classroom. This location also provides direct access for students of all ages to the lower meadows, the barnyard, and wooded areas of our campus. This building will be utilized by every age on campus. 

• How does this new facility impact our enrollment? Are you building this new facility so you can increase High Meadows enrollment?  

  This project is targeted specifically to replace classroom spaces that were temporary in nature or do not support our program effectively.  While new spaces can attract new interest in our school, this building is not designed to “grow enrollment.”  Rather, we are creating intentional and dedicated spaces for our unique programming while supporting our mission. The building will help us comfortably support healthy enrollment numbers and provide classroom spaces for critical programs.  

• When was the last time High Meadows built a classroom building?  

  The Early Years, Elementary and Middle Years buildings we all constructed in the late 1990’s. We have not built a classroom building since that time.