Charter Oak Building Construction on Target, Marketing Plan Taking Shape

The new Charter Oak International Academy building is scheduled to open in August 2016, and plans for the magnet school’s programming as well as marketing of the facility are being formulated.

Screen shot of Charter Oak construction cam, Sept. 15, 2015.

By Ronni Newton

The West Hartford Board of Education was advised Tuesday night that progress on the new Charter Oak International Academy building is proceeding according to schedule, with the exterior shell scheduled to be complete before winter sets in and the entire project on track for the facility to open and the old building to be torn down by the time students arrive next August.

“We’re 350 days away from the opening on Aug. 31,” Assistant Superintendent Dr. Andrew Morrow told the Board – “not that I’m counting,” he joked.

Plant and Facilities Director Bob Palmer said that once ground was broken in March there was extensive site work and enabling and rerouting of utilities following by building of the foundation. “During the summer we erected the steel and the building really started to rise from the ground and take shape,” Palmer said.

Concrete is currently being poured quadrant by quadrant and the goal is to have the exterior shell completed and insulated so that interior work can take place during the winter months, Palmer said. The drilling of 64 geothermal wells, each 500 feet deep, is still underway and is expected to be done by the end of September. Palmer said that work on the wells is on track, but is just slow and tedious.

“Construction’s on time, on budget, which is a very good place to be,” Palmer said. He praised the work of the general contractor, FUSCO, and the cooperative interaction between the contractor, the architect, and the inspectors.

The relationship with neighbors has also been good, with few complaints. “When they see problems they let us know and we correct them,” Palmer said.

Plans for the demolition of the existing structure will not be significantly delayed by an environmental testing company’s discovery of a greater-than-expected amount of lead paint buried under layers of newer paint. “Not surprisingly we have environmental hazards in the building,” Palmer said of the 1920s era structure.

The plan for abatement and demolition, which must be sent to the state for review and put out to bid, may “stretch out the schedule” a bit, Palmer said, but the goal of getting the old building torn down before students return in August should still be attainable and the extra abatement won’t impact the budget. The process may result in delay of some of the site work such as faculty parking.

The brand new building is just one part of the evolution of Charter Oak International Academy. The Board of Education approved the new building in part as a way to attract a larger number of magnet students from throughout the district and address the issue of racial balance in the schools.

The Board was briefed about elements of the school’s programming that will be differentiators as well as how the school will be marketed in order to meet the goal of ultimately attracting 200 additional students.

“We have a very exciting product to show the community,” Principal Juan Melián said.

Melián highlighted Charter Oak’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program as a key element, and one that truly integrates teaching and learning in an inquiry-based approach. Through the IB program, Charter Oak essentially partners with the other 5,000 IB schools throughout the world, he said.

Expanding on that world view may include replacing Spanish with Mandarin as the world language to be offered. That’s just one possibility being considered, Melián said. According to Superintendent Tom Moore, plans are already in place to add Chinese to the middle school curriculum next year.

Administrators are also looking at expanding both Quest and Math Quest, now offered in fourth and fifth grade, to the younger students at Charter Oak.

Director of Finance and Planning Chip Ward said that pre-K, which will be available to 80 students at Charter Oak, will also be a differentiator. A large-scale pre-K program, which will include before and after school care, is not available at other elementary schools in West Hartford. The hope is that pre-K students, once they experience Charter Oak, will want to remain, Ward said.

The pre-K program is being funded in part by a $300,000 “Smart Start” grant that the district received which will support Charter Oak’s four additional pre-K classrooms for the 2016-2017 school year. The grant provides $5,000 per student for up to 15 students per classroom. As required by the grant, pre-K classes will be available for both three- and four-year-olds.

Transportation for the preschoolers will be provided, Ward said, but not for the before and/or after school care. In response to a question by Board Chair Mark Overmyer-Velazquez about the preschool fees, Ward said that had not yet been determined.

Marketing is the final piece, and Board member Jay Sarzen asked how the plan to bring in preschoolers will be supplemented.

Moore said that students who live in West Hartford but attend magnet schools outside the district will be a primary target. “We know the kids that are choosing a magnet school somewhere else, and oftentimes magnet schools are magnet schools to them,” Moore said. Efforts will be redoubled to emphasize choices within town, from West Hartford Public Schools.

According to Ward, 539 primary students currently attend schools outside West Hartford, and of those 200 are preschoolers.

“When we take a look at marketing, clearly we’re targeting younger students. We plan to work on pre-K the first year and work those kids through school system. That would be about 80 more kids next year than this year,” Ward said.

Ward said administrators have also met with the West Hartford children’s librarians, and they will be assist in marketing Charter Oak to families of young children who participate in their programs, especially families with infants and one-year-olds. Melián will be the lead in interacting with those families.

They’re very excited about the ability to reach out to that target market,” Ward said.

Ward said that plans also include ramping up Charter Oak’s social media presence through Facebook and Twitter. “We’re really trying to highlight those unique qualities that occur at Charter Oak School,” he said. Efforts will include reaching out to community Facebook groups that include parents of young children, and highlighting key benefits of Charter Oak such as the brand new building, unique programming, and pre-K with daycare.

Board member Bruce Putterman and Overmyer-Velazquez recommended grassroots efforts. “It’s a new school but not a new principal, not a new program – those things need to be brought up,” Overmyer-Velazquez said.

Educating the public is critical, said Board member Terry Schmitt. “One of the things that has stunned me is how few parents have a clue that we had magnet schools at all,” he said.

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