Where We Belong WINTER 2021 REPORT
Dear Friends, The past year has had its fair share of challenges but has also been full of important milestones, moments of joy, and examples of our strength and resilience as a community.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Robert Leonard Chair Doug Morrin Vice Chair Tricia Walker Treasurer Alex Grant Secretary Sally Fuller Capital Campaign Chair Sherriff Balogun Jr. Anne Malone Kelvin Molina Sarah Monson
After so much disruption to teaching and learning last year, we returned to in-person instruction this year, and did so in a new permanent home —a 50,000 square foot campus on 4 acres with bright, modern, and inspiring spaces designed just for our students, teachers, and staff members, and made possible only with your help and support. It was a beautiful thing to observe students and teachers working together in their new spaces and an equally beautiful thing to hear happy shrieks coming from kids playing together on our new playgrounds. While we did our very best last year, we have learned that coming together as a community each day—in person—is a critical element of the very unique work we do together. The power of a great lesson, the discovery that happens in a classroom, and the shared humanity we feel when we are among a group of peers—these require being together, in a shared space, where there is a deep sense of belonging. Belonging is the theme of our Winter 2021 report. On so many levels, our work as educators is to create a sense of belonging, a concept that is reflected throughout our work this past year. We belong together, in person, and in our new home. We belong on the college path, doing rigorous and exciting academic work. And we strive to create a place where everyone, no matter their background or identity, feels a sense of belonging so they can contribute most fully to our community.
Amy Piela Jason Rosewell
Thank you for all of your support,
Bill Spirer Founder & Executive Director
Robert L. Leonard Chair, Board of Directors
OUR MISSION
Our Vision Realized Springfield Prep students and staff have spent the past seven years in temporary spaces. Our students thrived, but we knew from the beginning that we needed a space of our own. We are proud to say that after a multi-year building search and capital campaign plus a year-long renovation and construction project,
We belong in our new home
Springfield Prep Charter School now has a permanent home!
New Campus at a Glance • 50,000 sq. ft. building
on 4 acres • $21.4 Million project • Opened August 2021 • Ultimately serving
486 Springfield scholars in grades K-8
Quotes from the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
“
But you now have a building that reflects the seriousness of purpose, the standard of excellence, the expectations for the adults and the kids, and the momentum that you’ve created for so many lives and families who have had a chance to be a part of what you’re about. And that by itself is a very big deal.”
–Charlie Baker Massachusetts Governor
“
My classmates and I are so excited about this new space, so thank you to everyone who invested their time, money, or both into this new building and ultimately, the learning that goes on in it.”
–Cyrine Fioklou 7th Grade Scholar, Student Speaker
SPACIOUS, BRIGHT CLASSROOMS
NEW PLAYGROUNDS AND OUTDOOR LEARNING SPACES
Classrooms support our unique two-teacher model and allow for small group and individualized instruction.
OPEN, INSPIRING SPACES
Multiple playground spaces provide options for students of all ages and outdoor learning spaces provide potential for a variety of teaching and learning opportunities.
PROFESSIONAL TEACHER WORKSPACES
Natural light, bright colors, and an open feel create a warm and inspiring learning environment for our students. Quotes that reflect the school’s core values cover the walls, providing a source of inspiration for students each day.
Multiple comfortable, wellstocked spaces give teachers and staff the space they need to plan, collaborate, and recharge.
FULL GYMNASIUM A brand new, 6,825 square-foot gymnasium with a stage supports our physical education classes, community meetings, and performances, and is the home court to our new middle school basketball teams.
DEDICATED ARTS SPACES A spacious performing arts room supports our music and dance programming, and a dedicated art studio supports our students’ creative pursuits.
We belong together Fully Remote MARCH–JUNE 2020 Like the rest of the country, we temporarily closed our doors due to the pandemic and moved our classrooms to Zoom in March 2020. We learned about the hard parts of remote learning while also taking notes to improve the experience for the upcoming fall.
Hybrid AUGUST 2020–JUNE 2021 We started the 2020-21 school year fully remote, and slowly, safely brought back groups of students until we could fully open our doors at the end of March 2021, one full year later. Some families chose to remain remote all year, creating a hybrid learning environment.
In-Person JULY 2021–PRESENT After providing a robust summer school program for about 100 students to lessen the academic disruption from the pandemic, we started the 2021-22 school year in person at our new campus! We updated our safety measures to match the new building and take advantage of the additional space. Art, physical education, dance, extracurricular activities, community meetings, and recess are back!
I like in-person instruction “because there’s something about participating. Hearing someone else’s opinions, not over a shaky microphone, but hearing them out loud. Hearing the teacher, having the teacher actually come to me and work with me, rather than just type something out.”
–Middle School Scholar
We belong on the college path Our mission is to prepare students for success in high school and college, and with our oldest students rapidly approaching high school, we are focusing on these areas to ensure that they are well prepared for what comes next.
Rigorous Scholarship Every student deserves engaging, challenging academic programming and support from teachers and staff to help them develop their academic, social, and self-advocacy skills so they are ready for high school. Through culturally relevant novel study supported by rigorous nonfiction text; standards-aligned, problem-based math instruction; and hands-on science with cross-curricular integration, our middle school curriculum does just that.
High School Success Programming Led by our Founding High School Success Counselor, the mission of this program is to foster student success in high school by ensuring access to as many high-quality options as possible, build self-advocacy and independence skills through individualized support, and make programmatic recommendations for middle school grades to ensure scholars will graduate with the academic and interpersonal skills to thrive in high school and beyond.
Extracurricular activities After-school sports and extracurricular activities, such as a math club and a dance team, help scholars to pursue passions, develop habits of practice, and be a part of a team, skills that will serve them well in high school and beyond.
What does “scholarship” look like at Springfield Prep? I first saw Christine Torres teaching on an impromptu visit to Springfield Prep in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the moment I stepped into her room I was blown away. ... I would use the word scholarly to describe the rigor of the content and ideas her students developed. She expressed her belief in their capacity for excellence in everything she did, and while she expected effort and focus from students, love, joy, and even playfulness also shone through. Christine’s classroom was, to use a phrase I will return to, a bright mirror. It reflected her students, revealing and appreciating who they already were, but it also changed them by bringing out things that had not been visible. It didn’t just give them an opportunity, it influenced them to intentionally engage in positive behaviors they may not have risked, might not have even known existed, without the light of an intentionally supportive culture shining on them.
–Doug Lemov Teach Like a Champion 3.0
We all belong at Springfield Prep Ensuring that our students (66% of whom identify as Latinx and 24% of whom identify as Black) feel a sense of belonging in school is foundational to our mission. We are working on a number of initiatives to make sure our community is inclusive and affirming for everyone—students, families, and staff members. An all-staff professional development session as part of our Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion work.
A second grader showing a welcome letter she made as part of a class project for Afghan refugees who had recently moved to Western Massachusetts.
Teacher and Staff Diversity Teacher diversity matters to students’ academic outcomes and school experiences. We have focused recruitment efforts on hiring more teachers and staff members that share our students’ identities and backgrounds and our teachers and staff members are an increasingly diverse group (the number of staff members at Springfield Prep identifying as BIPOC has increased by 150% over the past three years).
OUR TEACHERS & STAFF
Latinx 22%
Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Work We are in our third year of professional development and targeted work to make our workplace diverse, inclusive and equitable, and to make our school environment and curriculum culturally affirming of our students’ identities.
Celebrating and affirming our cultural diversity As a school community, we celebrate diverse identities in a crosscurricular way, raising up voices of national and local BIPOC leaders, giving our scholars a chance to teach peers about their cultural and linguistic backgrounds and traditions, and equipping teachers with the tools they need to help their scholars develop a nuanced understanding of our diverse backgrounds.
Black 22%
52+22+31 Asian
Native Hawaiian
3%
1%
52%
OUR STUDENTS
432 scholars growing to 486 next school year
Grades K-7 growing to K-8 next school year
87% identify as Black or Latinx 17% are English Learners 19% are Students with Disabilities
70% are Economically Disadvantaged Elementary scholars teaching their peers Spanish phrases as part of Latinx Heritage Month.
White
Financials & Contributions FY21 School Financials
$2,847,254 raised!
Capital Project Financials
OPERATING REVENUE
TOTAL PROJECT EXPENSES
Per-pupil Tuition
$5,561,071
Property Acquisition
$4,825,000
In-kind transportation and pension
$1,384,271
Hard Construction Costs
$11,670,156
Government Grants
$1,124,559
Design & Engineering
$974,375
TOTAL OPERATING REVENUE
$8,069,901
Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment
$430,000
New Market Tax Credit Costs, Interest and Carrying Costs
$1,580,629
Project Management, Financing & Other Soft Costs
$954,406
TOTAL
$20,434,566
OPERATING EXPENSES Personnel
$4,628,632
Direct Student Costs
$1,256,711
Facility
$936,093
Other Operating Costs
$397,890
Depreciation
$2,336
TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES
$7,221,662
Bank Loans
$16,584,566
OPERATING SURPLUS (DEFICIT)*
$848,239
Capital Campaign
$2,847,254
School Equity
$1,002,746
TOTAL
$20,434,566
TOTAL PROJECT SOURCES
*FY21 was a very atypical year. Our operating surplus is higher than budgeted due to an increase in COVID-19 relief funding from federal sources and a decrease in many expenses because we operated remotely for part of the year. We will use this surplus over subsequent years to help students overcome the disruptions to their learning created by the pandemic.
THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS CAPITAL CAMPAIGN SUPPORTERS** $1,000,000+
$10,000–$24,999
Strategic Grant Partners
D.W Gore Family Foundation Sally and David Fuller Robert and Ellen Leonard The Longfield Family Foundation** Gareth and Sara Ross Tricia Walker
$500,000–$999,999 Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation**
$100,000–$499,999 Amelia Peabody Foundation** MassMutual Foundation** Anonymous
$50,0000–$99,999 Local Initiatives Support Corporation
$1,000–$9,999 Laurie Alpert and Barry Weiss Emily Bonfiglio HR Knowledge Karin Johnson and Jason Alves Joan Leitzer and Kenneth Spirer
Doug Morrin The Noel Family Frances and Wayne Thibault Rebecca Thibault and Bill Spirer Alexandra Wright
$25–$999 AAFCP Charitable Foundation Blakes Uniforms Jean and Michael Callan Mari-Elena Davis DeKalb Brilliance Academy John and Colette Dill Laurel Dumont
Phyllis and Bernie Givertz Alex Grant Sylvan Herskowitz David Kelleher David Klebanoff In memory of Irene Kossman Ellen Leitzer John & Pamela Lockwood Roger and Sheila Lockwood Anne Malone Kelvin Molina-Brantley Carolyn Neilson Justin Pistorius Andrea Pursley
QPD LLC Jack and Joan Regan Roberts Energy Jason Rosewell Marzena Sochaka-Medina Owen Stearns Liz Suozzo Aimee Thibault Graham Veysey Marlene Weinstein The Westerdale Pointdexter family Petra Ybarra Peter Zummo Anonymous (9)
**Indicates contributions made over a multi-year period to support the capital campaign.
Springfield Prep Charter School | 2071 Roosevelt Avenue | Springfield, MA 01104 | 413 • 231• 2722 | springfieldprep.org