Dear Gardner School Community,

If you read the minutes from last week’s Board of Trustees meeting, you’ll find a rich array of topics. You’ll also see a pivotal decision that was years in the making: a unanimous vote in favor of a programmatic shift that allows the Gardner School to serve children in early childhood and elementary school through 5th grade by the 2024-2025 school year. This decision is an exciting shift in the Gardner School’s evolution, one that brings us in even greater alignment with our mission and values. 

For some families, this decision will feel like an inevitable outcome after watching years-long trends. For others, it might not be clear why or how this decision was made. And some families will be somewhere in between. The following are some overarching questions to share our thinking and process with you.

What does this decision mean? This means that the Gardner School will become a preschool through 5th grade school with stand alone grade level classes by the 2024-2025 school year.

Why was this decision made? Over the past decade, the Gardner School Board of Trustees has analyzed a range of data sources (past and present) and explored future projections related to enrollment, finances, and facilities. The data has continued to illustrate that the Gardner School will best serve its students and community as a preschool through 5th grade school. The following additional factors have informed our decision-making process:

• Gardner is in strong financial shape. The health of our finances allows us to make sound decisions that best support Gardner School’s community, present and future. 

• Gardner is growing, especially in our lower grades. 

  • New inquiries are coming in all the time, especially for preschool.

  • Enrollment is increasing in our lower grades, especially Kindergarten. As this trend continues, our once-blended classrooms are projected to become single grades over the next several years; this shift will max out our current facilities.

  • Enrollment has historically declined as students have entered into our middle school grades.

• Based on these enrollment trends, our facilities will be better equipped to serve Gardner as a preschool - 5th grade rather than a preschool - 8th grade school. 

• The NWAIS accreditation process has prompted the Board to take a careful look at Gardner’s long-term vision, and ultimately, what it means to be an accredited independent school that meets rigorous professional standards that best support students.

What other factors informed this decision? 

• Teachers are supportive of this shift. Our Head of School, Emily Davis, has been in frequent communication with teachers and gathered feedback about these programmatic changes. There also will be no reduction in our teaching faculty as a result of this shift. Instead, we plan to hire more teachers and assistants as we grow.

• Students who have matriculated from Gardner after 5th grade have received a transformative educational experience here, and they are equipped to move onto their next school site ready to succeed.

• As a school in its 26th year, we are turning away from some long-held patterns and moving forward into a healthier and more sustainable future for the school.

• NWAIS accreditation: As we have begun our self-study process, we have unearthed the Gardner School’s opportunities and challenges; in this process, we are making decisions that allow accreditation to go as seamlessly as possible.

• A marker of a healthy school culture is proactive, strategic decision-making. In each of our Board conversations, we not only look at the present state of the school, but we consider the long-term impact of our decisions so we can plan towards future outcomes. We talk openly and transparently as we ask, “What is the best environment for our young people?” We keep the mission and values front and center in every decision we make. 

What does this mean for us now?

• This decision will be implemented over the next few years. We want to take our time as we make these programmatic shifts. As it currently stands, the Gardner School will continue to serve students through sixth grade until Spring 2024. This will mean our current 4th graders will be our last 6th grade class.

• We want to support families and ensure they have a clear understanding of the impact on this decision for their children. All families will be impacted differently given the age, stage, and duration of a family’s tenure at Gardner. 

Our Board of Trustees is committed to ensure the best possible education for our students. As we made this decision, and as we reflected on the process, there was much excitement about what’s possible for Gardner’s future. We are confident and hopeful that this path forward will best serve the school in the next phase of its evolution.

If you have any additional questions or needs related to this decision, please feel free to contact our Board Chair, Lori Cohen (boardchair@gardnerschool.org) and our Head of School, Emily Davis (edavis@gardnerschool.org).

Thank you,

Lori Cohen, Board Chair

Anamaria Bambaren Call, Vice Chair

Paula Savage, Secretary

Aaron Christian, Treasurer

Kevin Fischer, Trustee

Denise Case, Trustee

Saumya Kumar, Trustee

Brynnen Guthrie, Trustee

Juna Kim McDaid, Trustee

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