State of the School: 2020-21 Report on Progress & Philanthropy

STATE OF THE SCHOOL: THE 2020–21 REPORT ON PROGRESS AND PHILANTHROPY

Celebrating Our Past, Present, and Future

STATE O F THE SCH O O L : T H E 2020–21 R EPO RT O N PRO GRESS A N D PHILANT HRO PY

Editors Kate LaPine Lauren Corvese Design Robert Beerman, Onward Upward Photography Flo Farrell An LeFevre Photography John Gillooly Photography Kate LaPine Tony Rinaldo Photography Student artwork in the Report on Philanthropy was created during the 2020–21 academic year.

Printing Puritan Capital

Development Office 617.274.6018 development@parkschool.org

STATE OF THE SCHOOL 2020 –21

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Letter from Scott Young, Head of School Academic Programs Operations & Planning Admission Alumni Relations Graduation Letter from Joe Robbins, Chair, Board of Trustees New Trustee Profiles: Lise Charlier Ted Noon Olufemi “Femi” Obi

CELEBR ATING OUR PAST

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Revisiting a Heroic Structure The Park School Building at 50: An Architectural Historian Outlines Its Significance

by Amanda Reeser Lawrence, PhD

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It Began with a Gift of 14 Acres

CELEBR ATING OUR PRESENT

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Introducing SPARK—The Campaign for Park

CELEBR ATING OUR FUTURE

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The Park Campus Master Plan: Building on 171’s Visionary Foundations

by Peter M. Barkan ’86

REPORT ON PHIL ANTHROPY 2020 –21

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Letter from the Development Committee A Sparkling Celebration!

SPARK The Campaign for Park Budget & Philanthropy Summaries Volunteers Park Giving Day 2021 Lists of Donors Endowment Funds Summary

Beatrix Sanders, Director of Development Jamie Byron, Director of Alumni Relations Lauren Corvese, Director of Annual Giving Audrey James, Manager of Development Operations Shannon O’Leary, Director of Leadership & Capital Giving The Development Office has taken great care to ensure the accuracy of the information in this report.

If your name was inadvertently omitted, misspelled, or otherwise listed incorrectly, please accept our apologies and let us know so we may correct our records.

About the front cover Architectural rendering of The Park School building by Earl R. Flansburgh and Associates. On September 21, 1971, 345 students, faculty, and staff began the 1971-72 academic year at the School’s new home: 171 Goddard Avenue. 50 years later, we mark this auspicious anniversary and celebrate Park’s past, present, and future.

Scott Young

FROM T H E H EA D OF SCHOOL:

Resilience and flexibility became the new normal, and I believe we are, in fact, better for it as a School, a community, and as individuals.

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THE PARK SCHOOL

Dear Park Community,

O

n August 30, 2021, I welcomed faculty and staff back to campus for opening meetings, and it was the first time we had all been together since campus shut down in March 2020. Even for those of us who were on campus last year, it was a rare and special face-to-face, in-person gathering without a Zoom screen in sight—and it was truly exhilarating. Over the past 18 months, our ideas about “community” and beyond that, the very ways we once delivered our mission, were stretched and tested. As educators, we deeply value personal connection— with our students, our colleagues, and the families who entrust us with their children. It felt great to be “in person,” together, again.

Reflecting on the past year for this State of the School: Report on Progress and Philanthropy, it is with pride, gratitude, and no small amount of awe for my colleagues’ talent and commitment that I can attest that Park occupies the strongest position it has held in years. We opened the school year with our largest enrollment in Park School history—exceeding even the enrollment of years in which we offered Grade 9. We kept our community healthy and safe, with no cases of community spread of COVID-19, and we did this while continually evolving our ways of teaching and learning to suit ever-changing circumstances. Resilience and flexibility became the new normal, and I believe we are, in fact, better for it as a School, a community, and as individuals. Each of us committed to being a constructive part of something larger than ourselves. We achieved our Annual Fund goal, with participation from over 90% of Park families and 16% of alumni, with contributions of all sizes as each member of the community did their best to support Park’s mission as their means allow. We are deeply grateful to all.

This year, on the 50th anniversary of our campus home at 171 Goddard Avenue, we take an important moment to appreciate the community we have built here since 1971. As you will read in Amanda Lawrence’s story on page 18, the Main Building’s very design embodies a spirit of integrity, democracy, and inclusion. These spaces have supported our students’ journey of discovery across three generations, and we are so grateful to the visionaries who made this possible.

We believe, too, that the best way to honor our past is with a clear and inspiring vision for our future—a vision already taking shape with the recent launch of our ambitious capital campaign and the creation of exciting new spaces for teaching and learning in our Upper Division. This past summer’s construction is the latest initiative in our five-year plan to transform not just campus buildings, but also the values-based programming and student support that happens inside them. In this issue, you will learn more about the Campus Master Plan (page 42), and the capital campaign, whose public kick-off was celebrated on October 15th.

Among the many people behind the scenes who have made so much possible, Kimberly Boyd, Assistant Head of School for Finance & Operations, truly stands out as the force behind the creation of the Campus Master Plan and the transformative renovations at 171 Goddard that have defined the last four years and will continue to define our future. I’m grateful for her exceptional leadership and her partnership in moving Park forward. As we embrace this vision for the future, we keep thinking about the hope and possibility it ignites, on so many levels. The fire for learning and the discovery we see in our students, the ways our teachers light the way forward, and the way our facilities and programs fuel growth—these are the things that drive us. It begins with a spark—that flash of possibility that inspires us all. That spark—it’s Park. It’s what we do together. Join us!

Scott Young Head of School

St ate of the School 2020 – 21

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Academic Programs

STAT E OF T H E SCHOOL:

The ability to respond and pivot to the needs of the moment became paramount in our planning.

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THE PARK SCHOOL

Less than six months into my new role at Park as Assistant Head of School for Academics and Program, my conversations with Scott Young switched from how I hoped to guide and evolve Park’s academic program in the year ahead to what decisions we needed to make, right then, in the interest of health and safety. As many of my peers in education have noted, adapting our school environment in the time of COVID-19 has been a bit like building an airplane while you also learn to fly it—and flying it at the same time. As we approached reopening for the 2020–21 school year, it was more important than ever to support our students and teachers, to develop and refine effective remote learning programs, and to make as much in-person learning possible as we could.

The year served as a test of character, challenging us all to consider who we are and what is most important.

I remember our last faculty meeting before we closed campus in Spring 2020, where I, as the academic program leader, had the unusual responsibility of assuring teachers that at this particular moment, homework was not our top priority. We would circle back to homework and other aspects of academic challenge once we secured our confidence in more urgent concerns. COVID had laid out a trifecta of priorities that would guide all our decisions and norms. Recognition of this trifecta (health and safety, community connection, and academic program, in that order) became my North Star.

That trifecta soon became something that helped guide our whole school. Our shared commitment to these norms helped everyone—parents, students, teachers, administrators, staff—maintain constructive perspective. This not only helped us move forward, but it became the foundation for creativity and innovation, as our faculty found ways to keep delivering the program under the new constraints. The partnership between our specialists, teachers, program leaders, and technology team resulted in a robust and flexible remote learning program, far beyond anything we had ever imagined needing. The ability to respond and pivot to the needs of the moment became paramount in our planning.

These norms also served as our checklist for ascertaining how to move forward with various decisions. For example, when we considered if we could send faculty to the national People of Color Conference (POCC), we asked first if it was consistent with our commitment to health and safety (YES!), then if it supported our community needs (YES!), and last, did it support academic program (and YES, again!). We agreed that we would wholeheartedly support sending our faculty in this virtual conference.

Innovative Uses of Technology Health and safety requirements, for example, required us to make all music and drama classes virtual. Our music faculty guided students to impressive performances that happened fully online, bringing new technological skills into the mix. After researching new ways to support inperson rehearsals and performances that keep students safe, the program marches on this fall, stronger than ever. Likewise, unable to rehearse and perform together in the theater, Park’s Upper Division actors rehearsed

and collaborated remotely, filmed their own segments from home, and edited everything together seamlessly to create powerful and evocative drama—and they had a great time doing it.

Using Our Campus In New Ways The year taught us to see our campus differently, to reimagine what we mean by “classrooms,” as Park’s courtyards, woods, and even the grassy circle by the main entrance became places to gather, experiment, present, and learn. I don’t think we’ll ever go back to only teaching inside the defined walls of our classrooms.

Multiple tents on campus allowed us to support in-person learning and gave us a new appreciation of the wonderful resources this campus has to offer. Our science teachers expanded their laboratories into Park’s groves, rock walls, and fields. Our Physical Education team similarly rose to the challenge, supporting student well-being in extraordinary ways though fitness and games and making great use of Park’s outdoor spaces.

This last year opened us up to so much more possibility.

COVID-19 was not the only challenge the world tossed into our collective consciousness in 2020 that has continued to shape campus discourse and curriculum throughout the 2020-21 year. From the murder of George Floyd and rising Black Lives Matter activism to incidents of hate language and violence targeting a number of ethnic groups, and a controversial election year, these many challenges provoked strong and diverse emotional responses, confusion, and in many cases, pain. Amidst it all, we recognized the importance of meeting our students where they are as they grapple with these questions in our civic education. These conversations continue across campus as our students, parents, and faculty connect with the spirit of empathy that is so central to Park’s mission.

Taken collectively, the challenges and lessons of the last year have embedded a renewed appreciation of core values. We prioritize health, safety, and community connection alongside—not after—academic excellence.

Sincerely,

Eric Chapman Assistant Head of School for Academics & Program

St ate of the School 2020 – 21

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Operations & Planning

STAT E OF T H E SCHOOL:

We cannot overstate the beyond-the-call service of Park’s staff in support of school operations.

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THE PARK SCHOOL

Discussions and planning for campus additions and renovations were well underway early in 2020 when the pandemic pushed all that work to the side while we focused on the efforts required to re-open and run campus for Fall 2020 and beyond. School operations centered not only on how to open school safely, but how to maintain safety day-to-day.

From daily COVID Task Force meetings to the weekly implementation of campus-wide COVID testing and the restructuring of the patterns of campus life, we added a significant layer of thought and effort to daily operations that campus staff pitched in to support. I am grateful to so many who helped ensure that campus operations ran smoothly. From administrative staff who managed morning carpool to the tech support team who upheld a whole new world of online teaching and learning, facilities team members who delivered to a whole new definition of “clean” to keep our students safe, and Dining Services staff who prepared hundreds of individually-packed lunches every day, we cannot overstate the beyond-the-call service of Park’s staff in support of school operations.

Yet, the plans to launch important campus projects remained vitally important. By December 2020, we were re-evaluating the plans in light of priorities current events had thrown into relief. The pandemic highlighted the need to prioritize the Upper Division classrooms, which were always part of the Campus Master Plan, but we needed to advance their timing. And, upon approving new priorities, we faced the challenge of finalizing construction plans, defining costs, and executing construction plans on a schedule that would not interfere with the end of the 2020–21 school year nor the opening of the 2021–22 school year.

Thanks to the partnership of our excellent architecture and construction partners, the incredible support of the Park Board of Trustees, and the belief of early donors to the SPARK Campaign, we succeeded.

As the last light fixtures were being connected in our new first floor collaboration space, students entered their new learning environment, wide-eyed. Already, students and teachers have taken full ownership of the new spaces. Nothing could be more satisfying than seeing students collaborating around just-in-time delivered furniture as if it had been intended for exactly that purpose—because, of course, it was.

As the SPARK Campaign and the Master Plan that guides it outline, there is more to accomplish, more work ahead. Thank you to all whose effort and belief will help us sustain the movement forward.

Sincerely,

Kimberly Boyd Assistant Head of School for Operations & Finance

St ate of the School 2020 – 21

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Admission

STAT E OF T H E SCHOOL:

We measure success by reflecting on the wonderful collection of children and families who come together to comprise each Park class.

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THE PARK SCHOOL

Last year, we launched into the most uncertain admission season we have ever experienced, and we are thrilled to say that this year, The Park School opened with its most robust enrollment ever.

The measures that Park’s leadership put in place to prioritize health and safety while continuing Park’s commitment to community connection and academic program resonated with our admission audience—as did the proof that these measures were working. Despite the uncertainty and ever-changing COVID dynamics, we had a great year at Park. In the toughest year many of us can remember, Park kept delivering on substance.

As we approached the 2020–21 school year, we realized that everything we would do in Admission would have to become virtual. Collaboration with our peers in the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE)—who were all in the same boat—began early so we could think and plan together. These partnerships proved invaluable, and created new systems that will help us all—schools and families alike—even when COVID restrictions are behind us.

With our admission peers, we began thinking about how to meet our youngest students—the children ages 3–5 who apply for PreK and K. Together with a small group of fellow admission officers, we developed the Boston Area Virtual Evaluation (BAVE), which provided a set of five tasks, agreed upon by all participating schools, that, using their phones, families would videotape their child completing, to then share with any of the 20 participating schools to which they applied. We brought in many collaborative voices in defining the process to ensure that the process was most inclusive and beneficial to all.

In addition, we met each of our 160 PreK and K applicants for 5–10 minutes to get to know them better over Zoom, which proved fun and engaging for all as children shared stories and jokes. (“What do planets sing?” “Nep-tunes!!”). Even with the necessary layer of technology and screens between us, the children’s spirits shone through!

Unable to welcome visitors to campus for our parent-led tours, we extended interview time to include a pre-filmed virtual tour as part of each interview, showcasing the campus and providing the chance to hear from program leaders, students, and parents.

Despite fears of Zoom fatigue, families told us with surprise how quickly the time went and how much it helped them get to know our school. The intimacy and relaxed informality of the Zoom format proved to be just as helpful and informative as office visits. Just as important, between the interviews and student videos, we were able to see, hear, and know every child remarkably well.

The efforts of so many made a difference.

Countless parents volunteered to connect with new families wanting to get to know Park from the family perspective. Faculty and division heads connected with families looking to get a better first-hand sense of the Park experience. And best of all, Upper Division students connected student-to-student with prospective students and their families, sharing their own Park experience. Our students are our best ambassadors—and it’s no surprise that the number of accepted Upper Division students who said “yes” to Park was at historically high levels.

The Park community is wonderfully diverse.

From a geographical perspective, our students draw from nearly 30 surrounding communities, and our six bus routes serve 220 students this year. Forty-one percent of our students identify as students of color.

Approximately a third of our families have at least one parent born outside the US, and many families speak languages other than English at home. A full 22% of our students receive financial aid awards.

We measure success by reflecting on the wonderful collection of children and families who come together to comprise each Park class. We took on the challenges of 2020–21, and with the help of so many collaborative partners, moved forward to make the work more successful than ever. Thank you to all whose partnership made all the difference.

Sincerely,

Merle Jacobs Director of Admission

Jonathan Prosky Associate Director of Admission

St ate of the School 2020 – 21

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Alumni Relations

STAT E OF T H E SCHOOL:

Staying connected with Park as an alumna has been so much fun. It has both given me a chance to be in touch with old friends and to meet other members of the amazing Park community. Park’s commitment to creative and rigorous thought and the exceptional individuals who support the institution as students, parents, faculty, staff, volunteers, and patrons are an incredible source of inspiration. It’s exciting to be involved as Park continues to evolve to take advantage of new opportunities and to address new challenges in its ongoing pursuit of excellence in education.”

Anne Collins Goodyear ’84

What inspired me to become more involved with my larger community was realizing that I have created a voice through my artwork and that I had an audience willing to listen.

I remember all sorts of people would take time out of their day to visit us in school and present themselves and share what they did.

It takes a lot of guts to do that and although I may not remember every detail, I do remember appreciating their time and their presence.

We all have something to bring to the table and may not realize what type of impact we can have on someone’s life. Even the tiniest pebble creates lasting ripples in a pond, so it’s important to remember that no voice is too small in a community and the more you engage the more everyone can grow together!”

Andy Li ’04

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THE PARK SCHOOL

Each year, I have the privilege of getting to know Park’s incredible alumni community. From hearing from recent graduates about their first few months of high school at the Young Alumni Bagel Breakfast, to meeting the children of alumni at the annual Alumni Clambake, to watching classes reconnect after many years at their 50th Reunion— in-person connections and events had been the core of Park’s alumni program for decades, and I looked forward to having the opportunity to get to know alumni at events on Park’s beautiful campus, around Boston, and at regional events around the country.

When COVID-19 necessitated that Park transition from in-person events during the 2020–21 school year, and we settled into the reality of social distancing and Zoom meetings, I wondered how we could possibly sustain the warm feeling of Park alumni events. But, as we’ve all learned over the past 18 months, Park is more than a place, and I have been so inspired by all of the ways that alumni have stepped up to ensure that a sense of community could continue to exist beyond Park’s walls.

Park’s Alumni Committee continued to meet virtually, and formed a sub-committee that informed how alumni could engage with each other and with the School, even while in-person events weren’t possible.

Members of the broader alumni and faculty communities generously facilitated virtual events throughout the year, allowing community members from all around the country, and world, to engage with each other, and with the School. From a family art event, to a virtual sangria tasting, to events focused on mental wellness—alumni and faculty members contributed their time and created wonderful opportunities for connection.

During this year when alumni were unable to physically visit classrooms, several joined classes virtually and delivered special presentations. They were excited to share their expertise and connect with today’s students, and inspired us with their reflections on the ways in which Park helped to direct their professional and personal paths. At our annual Young Alumni Panel, held virtually in May, the Class of 2021 and their families heard from recent Park graduates at a number of secondary schools, and gained advice about what to expect in the fall.

A highlight of the year came in the spring, as alumni with class years ending in 0, 1, 5, and 6 (18 classes in total!) celebrated a most unique Reunion thanks to the commitment of nearly 50 reunion volunteers,

spanning six decades at Park! Alumni from across the country tuned in to connect with classmates and former teachers, culminating in Zoom Reunions at the end of the week. Alumni from all over the world (including the UK and Australia!) got in on the fun as well! The remote format even engendered alumni connections with current students, as volunteers became penpals with Park third graders in the Class of 2026.

On the School’s second-annual Giving Day, alumni showed up in force, helping Park to secure an amazing $259,229 in operating support in a single day.

The success of Giving Day was due in no small part to months of brainstorming and planning by the Park Alumni Committee’s Giving Day Sub-Committee. (For more details about the incredible generosity of Park’s alumni community, be sure to check out the 2020–21 Report on Philanthropy on page 46.

As we look ahead to 2021–22, we are so fortunate for all the ways alumni supported—and continue to support—today’s Park. Park is deeply grateful to have an alumni community like no other who selflessly contributes gifts of time, talent and treasure in service to Park—whether in-person or virtually. We look forward to renewed opportunities to connect at in-person events this year, and to new opportunities for engagement. We can’t wait to welcome the Park alumni community back on campus.

Looking to get involved? Please get in touch!

Sincerely,

Jamie Byron Director of Alumni Relations alumni@parkschool.org

St ate of the School 2020 – 21

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Graduation 2021

STAT E OF T H E SCHOOL: 12

On Friday, June 18th, the Class of 2021 and their families gathered under the tent on the Main Field for The Park School’s 132nd graduation exercises. This year, to accommodate COVID restrictions, we welcomed six in-person guests per graduate, slightly modified the program, and live-streamed the ceremony for viewing by our full community. Following the ceremony, students and their families participated in a car parade around the driveway, cheered on by a large contingent of the faculty and staff lining the route.

You can watch highlights of the ceremony and explore the full program at parkschool.org/graduation2021

THE PARK SCHOOL

2021 GRADUATION ADDRESS: CAROLINE BEECHER ’15 Each year, a Park School alum with six years of post-Park experience is the featured speaker at Graduation. At our 132nd exercises, Caroline Beecher ’15 delivered the address.

Do you remember who first made you feel like you belonged in the school community? Was it because they smiled at you or because they invited you to sit with them at lunch? I bet you were really thankful for your first connection to this place and community that you were going to be a part of. There are so many different ways to create connections with one another. From holding a door open for a stranger, to building decades of friendship, the term “connection” encompasses moments and relationships of all lengths.

In the past year we have all had to redefine connection, and while I enjoy a chaotic Zoom family reunion as much as anyone, I now have a newfound appreciation, not only for the value of tangible human connection, but also for all of the work we put into finding new ways to connect with one another during the pandemic. We would spend all day looking at screens going to school or work online, and at the end of the day we would still often choose to use technology to have conversations with friends and family who we were not able to see. I think that is pretty incredible. There is beauty in the careful planning and seemingly endless family email chains that go into organizing reunions of family and friends alike. Being able to hug family members or have long chats in the car with friends are things we took for granted before, but now we will treasure those moments of simple connection, which I believe will only enrich the experiences we will have in the future.

STUDENT REFLECTIONS: ELLIE SCHERER ’21

STUDENT REFLECTIONS: LEIGHTON GLASS ’21

We have not just studied history, we have lived through it.

And we have even helped make it. Our generation is historic!

We watched Kamala Harris, the first woman ever elected vice president. We marched in support of Black Lives Matter.

AND, we all came out stronger from the biggest challenge we will hopefully ever face: COVID19. I will not take for granted all I have gained from the Park community, and I know you will not either. What we have learned here will continue to shape our daily decisions. We’ve grown so much by eighth grade, I can’t even imagine what we’re going to accomplish in the next four years, and in all the years after that…

Good morning. I have been at Park for 10 years! If I were to live to be 100 years old, my time at Park would have accumulated to about 1/10 of my life—that’s a lot of time. And that is a lot of growth. From using stubby crayons to working on laptops. From receiving our first homework assignment in first grade, to now receiving one of our last. From teacher guidance, to independence.

Sitting here today you might not realize it, but we’ve grown a lot.

In the dictionary, the meaning of growth is “the act or process, or a manner of growing; development; gradual increase.”

But when you look at growth in terms of our time at Park, the growth we experience is about growing into ourselves. As a kid, you undergo tremendous amounts of growth between the ages of 4 and 14. That is why it is especially important that we are at a school where we can foster our development, and ultimately become our best selves. At Park, we have experienced personal and academic growth, growth in our friendships, and of course, physical growth.

St ate of the School 2020 – 21

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Congratulations, Class of 2021!

These 48 students deserve credit for navigating a high school search process unlike any we have ever seen before.

Whether they were exploring public, independent day or boarding schools, the process was fraught with unexpected changes, challenges, and pitfalls. COVID restrictions mandated distance learning both in the classroom and in the admissions process. As one parent said, “Having already been through this process once before with my older daughter, I was shocked by the challenges presented by all of the changes to the process. Due to COVID-19, we were unable to see schools in person, all interviews were conducted over Zoom, the SSAT testing posed complications.” The parent underscored that these adjustments were in the shadow of increased applications at all area independent schools. In fact, some schools reported that there was a 45% increase in applications.

So, for our students, last fall was filled with Zoom admissions events and interviews as well as hybrid learning and the increased academic expectations characteristic of Park’s eighth grade. Many students submitted applications to schools without having ever stepped onto campuses. Despite the pandemic, however, the members of the Class of 2021 are academically prepared to excel, and they are sure to be athletic, artistic, and social leaders at their next schools.

MARTHA BALSON

BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL

SASHA KLEVENS

NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL

SETH BARKAN

PROCTOR ACADEMY

ANAND KOULOMZIN

MILTON ACADEMY

HADLEY LAUGHLIN

ELSA BARTON

BROOKS SCHOOL

NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL

SILAS LAWRENCE

SOLEDAD BELYEA

CAROLINA FRIENDS SCHOOL

MILTON ACADEMY

EZRA LEE

BODHI BEROUKHIM

PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER

BELMONT HILL SCHOOL

JACK BRENNAN

DEERFIELD ACADEMY

TESSA LEWIS

NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL

WILLIAM LIAO

EMANUEL CALLWOOD

BOSTON COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL

COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL

SCARLETT LOWRY

ADDISON CREELMAN

MIDDLESEX SCHOOL

CHAPEL HILL-CHAUNCY HALL SCHOOL

LUCAS MACKLIN-DIB

HANNAH CROZIER

CONCORD ACADEMY

BROOKS SCHOOL

ANNABEL CURRY

PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER

NICOLE MARANDETT

THE RIVERS SCHOOL

AMELIA MCKEIGUE

OWEN EDDY

BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

THE RIVERS SCHOOL

MILTON ACADEMY

CAMRON MILLER

DILLON EVANS

BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL

OWEN FANTUZZI

BOSTON UNIVERSITY ACADEMY

CYRUS PERKINS

THE CARROLL SCHOOL

HENRY FURMAN

COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL

AVERY REA

CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL OF WESTON

KATHRYN GAVIN

WINSOR SCHOOL

LEIGHTON GLASS

MIDDLESEX SCHOOL

BINGYE REN

BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL

HANNAH GOODMAN

BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

WILLIAM RUTLEDGE-CANALES

THAYER ACADEMY

KATE SALTZMAN

BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

ELLIE SCHERER

BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

VIKRAM SCHERFKE

BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL

ALEX SCHULTZ

BOSTON UNIVERSITY ACADEMY

KYRIEH SIMMONS

BROOKLINE HIGH SCHOOL

CHARLES VEST

PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER

EDEN WILKINSON

CHAPEL HILL-CHAUNCY HALL SCHOOL

JACOB GREENE WILLIAM HE

BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL

GEORGIA ISAAC

MILTON ACADEMY

OWEN JAMES

BOSTON ARTS ACADEMY

HUCK JENNINGS

BRIMMER & MAY SCHOOL

PAUL JEON

BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL

NISHA JHA

CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL OF WESTON

LAUREN KIM

NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL

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THE PARK SCHOOL

Dear Members of The Park School Community,

I

t is amazing, now, to think back to the winter of 2020. Our collective priorities as a Board of Trustees and as a community were forced to change so quickly, adding new and comprehensive health and safety initiatives to the many programmatic innovations our administrative team was pursuing. It was immensely gratifying for me, as I began my service as Board Chair in the fall of 2020, to observe the thoughtful, thorough, and effective way in which our Park community—faculty, students, staff, administrators, families and Trustees— responded to the unprecedented challenges they faced. I am proud—and hope you are all as well—of all that we have achieved. We have been able to advance the mission of The Park School while keeping our students and other community members safe. We have persevered through a time of real challenge and emerged this year stronger than ever.

It’s important for us to remember just how uniquely dynamic the last eighteen months have been. Plans to launch important capital projects were paused as we invested time, attention, and funds to keep school open, healthy, safe, and thriving throughout a global pandemic. The force of national events surrounding Black Lives Matter placed our priorities for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into sharp relief. Social distancing highlighted the extraordinary value of Park’s outdoor spaces and reinforced the importance of large, flexible classrooms.

These experiences have taught us much and surely inform our path forward.

The grace and partnership of our community has been vital to Park’s success during this time. In a year when many institutions experienced drops in philanthropic support, Park met its goal of $2.3 million for the Annual Fund, with strong participation from 90% of families and 16% of alumni. Thank you to all whose belief in Park helped make this possible.

Over the past year, Park has embarked on a multifaceted series of initiatives that will drive continued progress across our School for years to come. We have launched an ambitious five-year capital campaign centered on important renovations to 171 Goddard Avenue. These renovations will enable continued innovation in our academic program and serve as a physical framework for our community and culture. Last year, the Board voted to approve Park’s ambitious Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Implementation Plan, a living document that codifies and guides our ongoing priorities, goals, and initiatives for this fundamental part of our mission.

Across all aspects of school leadership, we partnered with Scott Young and his team to think deeply about what makes us proud to belong to Park—and how we can better live up to our highest aspirations.

Last year at this time in our State of the School: Report on Program and Philanthropy, we asked, “What Makes Us Park?” We noted the resilience, warmth, flexibility, commitment, engagement, and responsiveness that helped the School make it from the uncertainty of March 2020 to a safe reopening in September. It is these same values that will enable our success in all of the many exciting endeavors we undertake in 2021–22 and beyond. “What Makes Us Park” is, simply put, all the children, families, teachers and staff; their loyalty and dedication to each other; and our deep, shared commitment to the mission of The Park School.

Thank you to every member of this community for your partnership in this journey. This year, as we look to appreciate Park’s past and to celebrate Park’s present and future, the strength of this partnership resonates.

I look forward to all we will accomplish together.

Sincerely,

Joe Robbins P ’24 ’26 ’28 ’30 Chair, Board of Trustees St ate of the School 2020 – 21

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NEW

Trustees

B OAR D O F TR U STE E S 2021 – 22 Idris Abdur Rahim Neeraj Agrawal Rahul Ballal Peter Barkan ’86, Secretary Kathrene Tiffany Bell ’96 Lise Charlier Nicole Danforth Mark Dolins Sara Leventhal Fleiss ’95, Treasurer Ken Frieze Abigail Ross Goodman ’91 May Hara Eliza Hoover Julia Lloyd Johannsen ’93 Lesley Ryan Miller Ted Noon Rebecca Nordhaus Femi Obi Neela Pal, Vice Chair Young Ju Rhee Joe Robbins, Chair Steve Samuels Anna Sinaiko Shadé Solomon Christina W. Vest Greg Woods

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LI S E CHAR LI E R

L

ise Charlier is Head of School at The Cambridge School of Weston (CSW), a leader among progressive independent schools and a close partner with Park. In her time at CSW, Lise has proven herself to be a capable and accomplished educator who leads with intellect, patience, positivity, and drive. Her 25+ years of experience as a teacher and administrator is evident in her ability to build relationships, problem-solve, and innovate with creativity and confidence.

Born and raised in Haiti, Lise was educated in the Haitian, French, and American educational systems. Her father, Gérard Frédérique, was a Haitian ophthalmologist and her mother, Esther Eshelman, was a Mennonite nurse from a Pennsylvania farming family. Both were the first generation in their families to pursue degrees from institutions of higher education. Their example of service to others has been a bedrock in Lise’s life’s path.

Prior to beginning her headship at CSW in 2019, Lise lived and worked in the Baltimore area, serving as Director of Studies and Strategic Initiatives at the Severn School.

Before Severn, Lise was the Upper School Assistant Principal at the Friends School in Baltimore. She has also developed and taught French and Spanish courses and has served on the board of trustees for Green Street Academy, the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS), the Cowles Charitable Trust, and the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education (CSEE).

Lise holds an MS in education from Johns Hopkins University and a BS from Georgetown University. She currently lives with her family on the CSW campus in Weston, and maintains a home in Port-au-Prince.

TE D N O O N

A

native of Washington, DC, Ted Noon moved to the Boston area during his middle school years and graduated from Milton Academy before moving on to Middlebury College where he earned his BA in history and economics. His passion for aviation led him to a college internship in aircraft leasing for GE Capital, which in turn led to an internship in mergers and acquisitions, and a first job post-college in the investment banking training program at Deutsche Bank in Boston. The training program provided essential education in the finance fundamentals such as accounting and launched him into his work in Deutsche Bank’s tech sector—just as the tech sector crashed. “The entire group was laid off,” Ted reports. “It was humbling.”

“Hat in hand,” he recalls, he set out looking for another job, and landed at Acadian, a tiny, young Boston-based asset management firm in 2003. Ted opened the firm’s London office and covered the Middle East business prior to entering Harvard Business School (HBS) in 2006, and returned to Acadian in 2008, where he currently serves as Senior Vice President, Director of the Americas Group. His role is “client facing,” helping bridge communication and understanding between the mathematicians, PhDs, and physicists whose expertise shapes the firm’s investment strategies and the investors who do not share that depth of scientific experience.

Ted describes himself as “an unbridled optimist,” and his enthusiasm for his work, for his family, his activities, and for Park is palpable. He and his wife, Michelle, whom he met at HBS, live in West Newton Hill with their two children, Charlotte (Grade 2), and Nick (Grade 5). A devoted outdoor enthusiast, Ted loves endurance sports, including marathons and cycling, as well as skiing, and is especially passionate about how Park is able to take advantage of the many outdoor educational opportunities made possible by the School’s expansive campus. He appreciates the ways in which Park teachers see and know each student, encouraging and supporting the different ways they learn, and valuing the different experiences and perspectives they bring to the community.

Park is, he says, “a tapestry of perspectives, which is great for everyone.” Students emerge with a well-rounded education, shaped, he believes, by “challenge, nurture, and open-mindedness” and offering “a shared experience of kindness and intellectual curiosity.” In his student days at Milton, Ted noticed that classmates who had come from Park were all “capable, smart, but also kind.” That combination of intelligence and empathetic human engagement resonated with him then, and resonates all the more so now that he is the father of two Park students.

O LU FE M I “ FE M I ” O B I

B

orn in Nigeria and raised on Long Island, Femi realized as a public middle school student that he needed a more challenging educational program, and asked his dad if he could “look into private school.” He assumed that “private school” meant the parochial school around the corner, but his father did his research and took his son on the tour of New England boarding schools that eventually landed Femi at Phillips Academy Andover for his four years of high school. “It was a long shot,” he says, “but I got in,” and he took full advantage of the academic and athletics opportunities it offered.

He went on to Trinity College, where he earned a BA in philosophy and economics, and enjoyed active participation in NESCAC athletics, and then moved to Boston. He’s been here ever since, though admits to ongoing loyalty to his hometown (New York) sports teams.

Femi worked in sales in the tech industry prior to earning an MS in finance at Boston College and an MBA in strategy and finance at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

He has built his career in management consulting, serving since 2011 at KPMG, where, as a partner, he is Advisory Market Leader, Principal, New England & Upstate New York, and Financial Services Procurement and Business Services Advisory Leader.

Femi moved to the Brookline area 30 years ago, and as an avid runner, often admired the Park campus on his route. When his daughter Adanna was tiny, he recalls, he used to run by Park and think, “This might become Adanna’s school.” He lives in Chestnut Hill with his wife, Nicole, and their daughter, who entered Park in PreK and is now in Grade 5, and he has “seen the value of the Park experience expressed in my child. She’s a ‘Park kid,’” he says, manifesting the curiosity, friendliness, warmth, and kindness he believes are characteristic of Park students. “It has in part to do with the environment they learn in,” he observes. “The multicultural, diverse environment is what inspired me to become more involved in the School, and our affection for Park has grown as we’ve seen how Park rallies to support students. We value the sense of community that Park represents—we are all in this together.”

Joining the Board at this juncture, Femi believes it’s a critical time in the life of the School and looks forward to participating in the growth that will drive forward Park’s leadership as an independent school. “The challenges of COVID will lead to great opportunities to think creatively about how we train and educate our kids, and how we provide the whole student experience,” Femi notes.

“This is exciting.”

St ate of the School 2020 – 21

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Revisiting a Heroic Structure The Park School Building at 50: An Architectural Historian Outlines Its Significance

BY A M A N DA R E E S E R L AW R E N CE , P h D

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THE PARK SCHOOL

FOR OVER 50 YEARS, THE PARK SCHOOL HAS BEEN AHEAD OF ITS TIME. THIS HOLDS TRUE FOR ITS STUDENT-CENTERED EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY, BUT IT ALSO HOLDS TRUE IN ANOTHER AREA: ITS ARCHITECTURE.

of you reading that first paragraph wonder if we are talking about the same building. The concrete and brick structure at 171 Goddard Avenue? Yes, that one. Not only is the building considered a significant architectural achievement—a prominent example of what is commonly referred to as “Brutalist” architecture—it was also borne of a set of values that still drive the school today: community, authenticity, progressivism, and diversity.

The term Brutalism does not naturally suggest the warmth and welcome one would expect in a building created to nurture young learners. However, as every visitor discovers when walking through the hallways with light pouring down from skylights above, or touring the multi-level library at the heart of the structure, or perhaps most of all when encountering the whir and whiz of 4-yearolds and 14-year-olds bustling through its connected spaces, the building is the opposite of “brutal”—it’s warm and welcoming, full of life and energy.

This was exactly the intention of the architects, Earl Flansburgh + Associates, when they designed the building 50 years ago. The “new” Park School building opened on September 23, 1971. This milestone in the building’s life provides an opportunity to explore the original aspirations of the architects and the ways in which they still resonate today and into the future.

I I M AG I N E T H AT M A N Y

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“Brutalism” was first coined in the late 1950s, though from its inception the outlines of the style were ambiguous. Indeed the only consistent attribute of Brutalism was its material. Brutalist buildings were constructed of concrete: more specifically, of unfinished or “exposed” concrete. Arguably the first Brutalist building was the Unité d’Habitation, in Marseille, France, designed by the leading Swiss/ French architect Le Corbusier, in 1952. A massive 18-story residential housing complex constructed entirely out of concrete, the project functions as a self-contained vertical city for 1,600 occupants, complete with a school and a commercial street. Le Corbusier used concrete for the structure because it was widely available and relatively inexpensive after World War II and he left the concrete rough—with visible traces of the wooden formwork that had served as the mold—as a way to save on labor. He used the phrase “beton brut”—meaning “raw concrete”—which was bastardized in its English translation as “Brutalist.”

Brutalist architecture, however, was never intended to be “brute” or “brutal.” Rather, its exposed concrete surfaces were understood as an honest and authentic expression of the building’s materiality, and they represented an important shift away from not only traditional architectural styles but also from the “machine-age” or “international style” modernism of the inter-war period. After the destruction wrought by the War at the hands of technology, a shift to more “humane” architectural language was seen as an ethical imperative.

This “New Brutalism” was soon embraced by architects around the world, but nowhere more enthusiastically than in Boston. This was partly because Le Corbusier’s only building in the United States—the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts— was constructed at Harvard University in the early 1960s (though here the concrete is lisse (“smooth”) rather than brut (“rough”). It can also be attributed to a boom in the Boston real estate market in the late 1960s as a powerful new mayor and leadership in the Boston Redevelopment Authority exploited federal funding sources and urban renewal policies to develop areas including the West End, Government Center, and the Central Artery. For these government officials and planners, as well as their architects, the monumental architectural language of concrete embodied the goals of the “New Boston.” Notable among the concrete buildings constructed during this time were the Christian Science Center complex

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1

2

3

5

4

6

1 U nité d’Habitation in Marseille, France, designed by Le Corbusier in 1952.

Photograph by Andy Wright distributed under a CC-BY 2.0 license, 2005.

2 Carpenter Center at Harvard University, designed by Le Corbusier in 1963.

Photograph by Gunnar Klack, distributed under a CC-BY 2.0 license, 2018.

3 B oston’s First Church of Christ Scientist Colonnade Building and Reflection Pool were designed by Araldo Cossutta for the architectural firm of I. M. Pei in 1973.

Photograph by Rizka, distributed under a CC-BY 2.0 license, 2014.

4 G overnment Services Building in Boston, designed by Paul Rudolph in 1962.

Photograph by Marcbela, distributed under a CC-BY 2.0 license, 2009.

5 H arvard University’s Peabody Terrace Apartments in Cambridge, designed

by Sert, Jackson & Associates in 1964.

Photograph by Daderot, distributed under a CC-BY 2.0 license, 2012.

6 Boston City Hall designed by Kallman, McKinnell and Knowles in 1962.

Photograph by Daderot, distributed under a CC-BY 2.0 license 2013.

by I.M. Pei & Partners (1964–73); The Government Service Center (now the Hurley Building) by Paul Rudolph (1962–1971); Peabody Terrace by Sert, Jackson & Associates (1958–1967), and of course, Boston City Hall, designed by firm Kallmann, McKinnell and Knowles (1962–69).

Boston Brutalist architecture was, and remains, a controversial style. For many architects, buildings such as City Hall are to be counted among the best of the twentieth century; in 1969 it was awarded the Boston Society of Architects’ Harleston Parker Medal, given annually to “the most beautiful piece of architecture, building, monument or structure within the city.” For others, however, they are eyesores.

Many have already been demolished—including the Martin Luther King Elementary School (1968–1971) designed by Sert (a Catalan architect who was dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Le Corbusier’s protegee)—or are under threat of demolition. Former Boston Mayors Thomas Menino and later Marty Walsh both lobbied to have Boston City Hall sold and demolished if necessary, arguing that the city government should move to the newly developing waterfront, and that the building was “cold and unfriendly.” Both were ultimately unsuccessful, and the building remains, but the public debates around the possible demolition of City Hall exposed divided opinions as to the aesthetic and urban values of Brutalist architecture.

What is often lost in these debates is the recognition of the values underlying Brutalist architecture. Not only were these buildings understood as honest and authentic material expressions, they were also seen to exemplify truly

radical and progressive architectural ideals. Indeed, a group of architectural historians has recently argued that “Heroic” is a more apt and accurate description of these works. These structures were not only bold and dramatic, they embodied radical democratic ideals, and a mandate for change. The construction of Boston City Hall in particular signalled a departure from the “old Boston” where cronyism and corruption ran rampant.

And though today some may find these buildings historically incongruous, their material qualities–solid masonry construction, monolithic character, and use of deep profiles and shadows–were intended to resonate with age-old architectural qualities. Moreover, unlike previous architectural styles which had served the elite, and which represented antiquated ideological viewpoints, Brutalism was understood as a broadly democratic architectural language: one that was open to all, requiring no knowledge of past styles.

These structures were not only bold and dramatic, they embodied radical democratic ideals, and a mandate for change.

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Creating the “new” Park School from January 1970–September 1971.

By the late 60s, Park had outgrown its original location on Kennard Road.

Which brings us back to Flansburgh’s design for The Park School on Goddard Avenue—a building designed at the height of the Brutalist period, and which capitalized on its democratic and progressive ideals.

The Park School moved to its current location on Goddard Avenue in 1971, having outgrown its former location on Kennard Street (now the location of Brookline’s Lincoln School). The Faulkner family had generously donated 14 acres of sylvan land, which was almost four times as large as the Kennard property, and once the funds were secured (no small feat given the economic climate of the late 1960s and early 1970s), the Board set about looking for an architect. They chose Earl Flansburgh, a relative newcomer to the profession, who had received his Master of Architecture degree from MIT in 1957 and founded his firm, Earl R. Flansburgh + Associates (ERF+A), less than a decade earlier in 1963. By all accounts the selection was a success: not only was ERF+A less expensive than other firms, but the project came in ahead of schedule and under budget.

The site chosen for the building was atop a hill on the southeastern corner of the land—offering spectacular views across the wooded property along with a nearly impenetrable base of Roxbury Conglomerate or “puddingstone,” the distinctive sedimentary rock unique to the region. Locating the building here necessitated extensive dynamiting and drilling to establish the foundation footings, but the architects were careful to leave traces of the stone. In the front entrance hall the impressive puddingstone boulders have provided generations of Park students with climbing opportunities (and a fair number of scrapes as well!) The puddingstone weaves its way in and around the building’s courtyards and perimeter as

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well, its soft gray color and pebbled aggregate echoed in the concrete structure.

The building’s structure is concrete frame, infilled with concrete block and brick infill walls. Portions of the building’s exterior are solid concrete—notably the stair towers—though here the texture of concrete is relatively smooth (like Le Corbusier’s Carpenter Center), dotted with small irregularities and air pockets.

What would otherwise be an imposing building mass was broken up by the architects through the use of multiple volumes—including the theater, gymnasium, classrooms, and the concrete stair towers, which also creates a variety of spatial experiences both inside and outside the building. The treatment of the building’s exterior also creates interesting patterns and shadow, as the horizontal bands of concrete play off of the darker brick walls. An innovative facade strategy pairs deep overhangs and stepped levels to create volumetric interest (while also providing shade to the classrooms behind.) The front of the building is raised on “pilotis”— concrete piers that effectively “lift” the building off the ground, and provide a clearly delineated entrance.

Moving through the building is a bit like driving in Boston: there are many ways to get to any location, and everyone has their preferred route! After coming up the dramatically toplit main entrance stair to the second level, the visitor or student can either continue up the dramatic central staircase, or move along the corridor that runs from end to end. The architects designed this central spine to provide access to classrooms, but also thought of it as more than a corridor, widening it at points to create designated project areas. At the center of the School is the Library, which was conceived as the physical and spiritual “heart” of the building, and is accessed from the main stairwell, as well as

The new Park School on Goddard Avenue will be library-centered and designed for flexibility…. Within the library, there is to be a diversity of moods to accommodate all types of individual study.

This carefully planned flexibility is the soul of the new school.

The Park Parent, January 1969 the classroom wings. With all of its myriad pathways, somehow each route seems to lead to the light, and ultimately to the landscape outside.

Connection to the landscape impacted all aspects of the building’s design. Trees were carefully preserved where possible. Enormous horizontal windows flood the southern-facing classrooms with light (while overhangs in the concrete slab prevent overexposure).

And Kindergarten and first grade classrooms have direct access to their dedicated playgrounds.

Throughout the building natural light floods in from above through skylights. The most dramatic toplight cascades into the triple-height entrance hall, but skylights also light the Library, as well as the as well as the six monolithic concrete stair towers, with their sharply canted/slanted tops.

The building was completed for the start of the 1971 school year. With their impressive new

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The new school is to be in the shape of an inverted P, with the main entrance near the middle of the shaft, facing southwest to Goddard Avenue.

Mary Nickerson, writing in The Park Parent, January 1969 structure—a runner up for the Halston Parker medal— Park was able to expand its PreK to ninth grade student body to 450 students. More than simply a means to grow larger, however, the new building provided an opportunity to create a more progressive and inclusive community. Reading through the memos leading up to the move in late 1960s, one is struck by the desire to create a larger school to allow for a more diverse student body. The School was also committed to small class sizes, and to immediate contact between students and teachers, both of which were facilitated by the new building. As an architectural style of the present— not the past—Brutalism embodied the School’s commitment to contemporary ideals of inclusion and openness, rather than a historical style that spoke to ideals from the past.

Over the past 50 years, the original Flansburgh building has been modified several times: in 1996, the West Building and pedestrian bridge were added. In 2008, another expansion created what is today the North Wing (home to Grades 4 and 5). This effort, dubbed “getting bigger to get smaller,” physically

This is an exciting time for Park. As we think and talk about the move, we renew our appreciation of the importance of this School. In a world where the quality of our children’s lives is threatened by crowding and by the technology of a Brave New World, the philosophy of Park has new relevance: that the individual and his development are the first value. At Park, small classes, an unfettered faculty, and an administration in immediate contact with parents and children work together for the growth of the individual child. To avoid the mediocrity of mass education, we must constantly seek new ways to encourage this growth and maintain the personal touch.

Anne Prescott, Chair Board of Trustees writing in The Park Parent, December 1968 24

THE PARK SCHOOL

enlarged Lower Division classrooms, added 50 students in Grades 1–5, and reduced each class size from 16 to 14 students. And today the School is evolving once more: recent renovations have converted underutilized locker rooms in the original building into new classrooms, and made room for greater collaboration among students in new gathering spaces. These latest renovations by the Boston-based architectural firm Utile disprove the presumption that Brutalist buildings are difficult to renovate. In fact, the architects found the building’s design to be highly systematic, allowing them to make clever use of the concrete superstructure by opening up the non-structural infill walls (composed largely of concrete block and brick walls) through large expanses of glass. The results are new spaces opening onto the landscape filled with natural light—the same qualities that the architects sought in the original building.

Earl Flansburgh, the architect who designed 171 Goddard Avenue, completed more than 200 educational facilities during his 45+ year career. He served as president of the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) in 1981, was recognized with the BSA Award of Honor in 1999, and was known for his support for young professionals and women architects. His firm, Flansburgh Associates, is committed to the ideal that “a well-designed building improves the quality of our lives.” In his honor, the BSA and members of the Flansburgh family co-sponsor the Earl R. Flansburgh Young Designers Award, which recognizes design excellence by an architect under 40.

(Source: www.architects.org/members/honors-and-awards/ earl-r-flansburgh-young-designers-award)

Like most of you, I have not entered the building in nearly two years. I miss it. I miss giving tours to prospective parents (to whom I usually offer an abbreviated version of its Brutalist history!) and running up the main stairs to deposit a forgotten backpack. I miss the serene yet buzzing aura in the Library. I even miss getting lost in one of those top-lit concrete staircases and mistakenly ending up in the lower gym instead of the parking area. And most of all I miss being in a space that I know has such a profound impact on the way that our children learn and grow.

After half a century on Goddard Avenue, Park’s building continues to embody an ethos that goes beyond the individual architect who designed it or the style in which it was built. It is an honest and generous building, fostering connections between students, faculty, staff and community. The building may have been constructed in the style of its time, but it nevertheless remains timeless. It exemplifies the School motto “simplicity and sincerity,” and offers a powerful demonstration of how an architecture of humble materials can inspire its inhabitants.

About the author Amanda Reeser Lawrence, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Architectural HIstory at Northeastern University, and has been a Park parent (Classes of 2020, 2023, and 2026) since 2010.

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IT BEGAN WITH A GIFT OF 14 ACRES. The story of a group of committed leaders who worked hard to bring the “new Park School” to fruition.

The achievement of excellence at Park rests squarely in the hands of former, present, and future members of the Park community who are the beneficiaries of its pasts and the guardians of its future.”

DAN NYHART

Chair, Development Committee Summary Report, Fall 1967

While Park had been a fixture in Brookline since 1888, by the 1960s, it was facing a crisis: if it was going to survive, it would need to expand. In 1965, Headmaster Harry Grobleski formed a long range planning committee which concluded that the situation was dire and a new site should be acquired as soon as possible!

Our committee met once a week for 18 months. We considered all aspects of the School such as what was the optimal size. It became clear that in order to have a healthy middle school, we would need to grow the earlier grades and expand to three sections and 54 children in a class.”

BAYARD H E N RY

Trustee, 1967–73 and Capital Campaign Co-Chair With the understanding that the Kennard Road campus was no longer suitable, the search for a new location began. Then (as now), land was scarce and prohibitively expensive, and the Board did not want to move to the outer suburbs and sacrifice the School’s character.

In the spring of 1967, Kim Faulkner ’45 approached Charlie Cunningham, saying that his parents, Dr. James and Mary Faulkner, would be interested in helping the School with a gift of land. The new site—14 acres of rolling fields and woods—was almost four times as large as the Kennard Road property and provided ten acres in fields alone. With the site secured, in the fall, the Committee hired Earl Flansburgh to design a new building.

To celebrate the move to Goddard Avenue and the construction of the new building, every student, teacher, and administrator at The Park School during the academic year of 1970–71 placed a message or artifact in this time capsule with the hope that every 50 years it be opened, enjoyed, added to, and resealed.

L–R: Charlie Cunningham, Dick Leahy, Dr. James Faulkner, Mary Faulkner, Bob Hurlbut, Anne Worthington Prescott, Earl Flansburgh, and Peter Volpe (contractor).

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THE PARK SCHOOL

The Faulkners’ wonderful gift of land was the keystone of the entire building program and provided the inspiration to get us going. They are the real heroes of this story.”

CHARLIE CU N NING HA M

Chair, Board of Trustees 1965–68 and Capital Campaign Co-Chair

When Board Chair Anne Worthington Prescott and Capital Campaign Chair Charlie Cunningham plunged the handle of the detonator box December 20, 1969, construction of the new Park School on Goddard Avenue was officially underway!

L–R: Kim Faulkner ’45, Peter Volpe (contractor), Anne Worthington Prescott, Bayard Henry, Charlie Cunningham, Earl Flansburgh, Bob Hurlbut, and Dick Leahy

SHARPE NING PE NCIL S WITH AN E YE TOWARD TH E FUTU RE .

M AKING TH E VISION M ANIFEST.

Needing to grow required both a new location and an unprecedented amount of money: $4 million!* (Up to this point, Park’s Annual Fund had only raised $30,000.) Undaunted, Bayard Henry and Charlie Cunningham began soliciting members of the Park community, armed with a 2x3 scale model of the proposed building. “We’d put the building on the coffee table and talk about the future,” Bayard recalls.

Park’s quest for a new home was set against the backdrop of the highly inflationary environment of the 1960s. Although fundraising was going well (having secured pledges of $1,050,000 by 1968) building costs were spiraling by 18 to 24 percent a year and the planners knew they would never raise enough money fast enough. At the suggestion of Trustee and Corporation Treasurer Steve Swensrud, Bayard and Charlie went back to a few families who had already pledged major gifts to ask them to make interestfree loans with a six-year repayment term, garnering $1,565,000.

Then, the bank reneged on providing an informal line of credit to Park, making it impossible to pay the architects and contractors.

Together with fellow trustees Dick Smith and George Seybolt, Charlie Cunningham was able to persuade eight banks to provide interim financing of over $3 million for construction.

With the financing secured, 200 families, neighbors, and friends turned out to tour the staked-out site and watch Board Chair Anne Prescott and Capital Campaign Chair Charlie Cunningham blast the first piece of Roxbury Puddingstone ledge on December 20, 1969. From then on, Building Committee Chairman Dick Leahy visited the site every morning at 7 a.m. to personally oversee the project and settle questions on the spot. A strategic commander, he insisted that every subcontractor provide a bid, and he knew every price. Even when the cement truck drivers struck for eleven weeks during the summer of 1970, once the concrete finally arrived, Dick managed to double the speed of installation. Charlie Cunningham remembers, “In reality, Dick Leahy was a one-man building committee. A committee of ten couldn’t have surpassed his expertise or attention to detail.”

(Before the work was complete, the project would also overcome strikes by iron workers, plumbers, steamfitters, and kitchen finishers.)

On September 22, 1971, 345 students, faculty, and staff began the 1971–72 academic year at 171 Goddard Avenue. That wouldn’t have happened without these leaders and so many other dedicated friends who have contributed to Park’s progress through the years—growing and thriving and shaping the lives of thousands of children and their families.

In this period of high interest rates and severe shortage of loanable funds, this can be considered a tribute to Park, its constituents, and the building program.”

TH E PARK PARE NT

December 1969

*$28,000,000 in 2021 dollars.

Thing that has pleased me the most is that succeeding Boards of Trustees have taken up the torch and the School keeps getting better than ever every year. Successive Heads of Schools have done a fantastic job of working with their Boards and the faculty to bring Park into a better position.”

CHARLIE CU N NING HA M

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Celebrating Our Past with a Vision for Park’s Future On Friday, October 15, 2021, Park officially launched SPARK— The Campaign for Park—an ambitious plan that builds on the founding vision for our campus to carry Park forward in its next 50 years and beyond.

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“We believe that the best way to honor our past is with a clear and inspiring vision for our future—a vision already taking shape.

As we embrace this vision for the future, we keep thinking about the hope and possibility it ignites, on so many levels. The fire for learning and the discovery we see in our students, the ways our teachers light the way forward, and the way our facilities and programs fuel growth— these are the things that drive us. It begins with a spark—that flash of possibility that inspires us all.”

— S COT T YO U N G , H E A D O F S C H O O L

I NTRO DUCI N G

E X E M P L A RY AC A D E M I C S PAC E S AT H L E T I C S A N D O U T D O O R L E A R N I N G FO S T E R I N G A D E E P E R S E N S E O F B E LO N G I N G

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E X E M P L A RY AC A D E M I C S PAC E S

SPARK is grounded in the power of studentcentered learning, and the large, flexible spaces that ignite inspiration and innovation.

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E X E M P L A RY AC A D E M I C S PAC E S

Fifty years ago, classrooms were fixed and the teacher was the center of teaching and learning. Today, classrooms must be flexible spaces that place students at the center and allow teachers to create academic environments that meet the varied needs of diverse learners.

A flexible classroom facilitates many different modalities of learning—auditory, written, kinetic, and visual. Students are sometimes listening to a lesson, sometimes solving a problem by “making,” sometimes debating, sometimes journaling, sometimes presenting to peers. The teacher facilitates and guides, varying instructional methods from class to class and even within the same class period. When students, especially in the exciting middle school years, are given agency, choice, and opportunities for movement and differentiated learning, their engagement is much richer and deeper.

Student-centered learning happens best in spaces that support collaborative student engagement. In these spaces you might observe a student working one-on-one with the teacher at a white board, a small group discussion, or partner work.

Technology is seamlessly integrated and furniture is movable to support this. Learning overflows to collaboration spaces outside the classrooms—spaces that also ignite greater cross-disciplinary opportunities, serving as the central hub connecting classrooms of varying subject areas.

SPARK will invest $7.4 million in exemplary academic spaces for student-centered learning.

To fully unleash the potential of our Upper Division academic spaces, SPARK transformed the first and fourth floors of the Main Building into 11 new classrooms and dedicated collaboration space. These new classrooms are illuminated by window-walls that look out to Larz Anderson Park.

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E X E M P L A RY AC A D E M I C S PAC E S

SPARK will reimagine existing art and Lower Division science spaces to establish a STEAM Corridor and a Maker Wing.

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The synergy between science and art has been proven to foster important creative and intellectual pathways for students. This new corridor, including three science labs and an art studio, will create more opportunities for cross-disciplinary STEAM connectivity for students in Grades 1–5.

In recent years, Park has undergone a “making” renaissance, recognizing the infusion of applied learning as an integral component of educational excellence. This renovation will move the Woodshop to neighbor the Makerspace, bringing together traditional and modern forms of “making” in a Maker Wing that opens onto the back terrace and Outdoor Learning Garden.

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AT H L E T I C S A N D O U T D O O R L E A R N I N G

SPARK invests in first-rate athletic and outdoor facilities to fuel our excellent whole-child program.

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AT H L E T I C S A N D O U T D O O R L E A R N I N G

At Park,

children develop their whole selves— intellectually, socially, physically, emotionally, and creatively.

Program areas traditionally deemed “extracurriculars,” like physical education and athletics, are essential to cultivating well-rounded students, and people. We believe this so strongly that the academic schedule includes PE class for all students through eighth grade, long after most schools shift to a strictly after-school athletics program.

The introduction of turf at Park will prepare our athletes to thrive at the competitive level at their next schools, while also extending the length of the training season, particularly in the spring when grass field conditions often delay the start of outdoor practice and competition. Throughout the year, all students will have increased field access in physical education classes and during recess, an important benefit to year-round outdoor learning.

Park has waited for the right time to invest in a state-of-theart turf field, now a staple of most independent schools. The time has come!

Building upon the successful introduction of indoor adventure equipment in 2019, a new outdoor ropes course will spark new opportunities for Park’s PE program.

Incorporating high and low ropes elements, students will work independently and collaboratively to problem-solve and take healthy risks—a workout for the brain and the body. Located behind the pool house, the outdoor adventure equipment will join the turf field in re-energizing the west side of campus and better connecting students with Park’s full 34 acres.

SPARK will invest $3.5 million in athletics and outdoor learning.

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SPARK will build a competition-grade turf field, encompassing the current Faulkner Field and the Goddard Field, as well an outdoor ropes course to enhance the physical education curriculum and support social-emotional development.

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The playing field is Park’s biggest classroom.

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FO S T E R I N G A D E E P E R S E N S E O F B E LO N G I N G

SPARK is a catalyst for community, belonging, and change.

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FOSTERING A DEEPER SENSE OF BELONGING

The cornerstone

of Park’s program is academic excellence, affirming high standards of scholarship while encouraging each child to develop to their greatest potential.

Students learn most effectively when they feel a deep sense of belonging, when they feel safe, known, and respected in an environment that prioritizes equity and inclusion, and when they learn from the differences in backgrounds and perspectives shared within their learning community. It is in Park’s deep commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, therefore, where academic excellence takes root.

Neuropsychological and other educational tests are powerful tools that equip parents, teachers, and Academic Support specialists with the critical information needed to best support students with demonstrated learning differences.

Each year, because of the significant cost and complexities of insurance, some Park families are unable to pursue testing for their children. The income from this new endowed fund will ensure that economic barriers do not prevent Park families and educators from fully understanding a child’s learning profile and what they need to thrive.

Park has committed to an ambitious Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Implementation Plan, and an institutional priority of this breadth requires robust funding for optimal impact.

SPARK will be the catalyst that moves our DEI goals from aspiration to reality with an endowed fund that will increase the DEI budget five-fold.

SPARK will invest $1.25 million in diversity, equity, and inclusion to foster a deeper sense of belonging for all at Park.

SPARK will invest $500,000 to support educational testing for students with learning differences.

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The SPARK Campaign is about all of us creating the optimal conditions for that spark of understanding, the spark we so often see in our students’ eyes.

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The Park Campus Master Plan: Building on 171’s Visionary Foundations

BY P E T E R M . B A R K A N ’ 8 6

I

was a skinny first-grader when I first walked through the doors into The Park School.

It was the start of the seventh year on Goddard Avenue. The complex Brutalist building was the biggest and most overwhelming building I’d ever explored. There were endless rooms, corridors, stairwells, and a rumor of secret tunnels. Walking from our classroom all the way to the Dining Room was an exciting excursion, and venturing beyond the stone wall towards the Faulkner House seemed like a trip to Narnia. The walls popped with all the colors of Starburst candies. At that time, the driveway meandered through ancient pine and maple trees, and it provided a comforting boundary between the castle and the wild beyond. Park’s technology footprint was only two PET 64 computers secured in crude plywood carrels. The scene in most classes would be 17 kids facing the chalkboard, flipping pages in a workbook, and occasionally watching a movie…on real film. Our backpacks were very, very heavy.

A lot has changed in the 43 years since my first day. I went on to three more campuses, learned a bit about Brutalist architecture, and I’m no longer intimidated by the “wild beyond.” I have also experienced Park’s carpool as a parent, and yes, I’ve actually been in the secret tunnels.

In the 50 years at Goddard Avenue, Park’s community has grown by about 200 students, and shortened by one grade level. Park’s World Languages offerings have expanded from French and Latin to include Spanish and Mandarin, and the program includes STEAM, extensive athletics, and a focus on social-emotional growth. Technology swelled in the 2000’s to fill three dedicated computer labs, and then shrank down into the fingertips of our youngest students. Learning has become collaborative,

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self-directed, and supported by endless technology-enabled resources. The roadway now crowds the buildings and hosts a twicedaily gridlock of harried parents. Backpacks are still heavy.

Park’s campus has been adapted extensively to always meet Park’s mission to provide excellence in education and a joyful environment. The School added the West Building and the bridge in 1996 to provide science labs, more classrooms and a double gymnasium. Then, in 2008, we added the North Wing as part of a strategy to enlarge the number of students at each grade level while also reducing the number of students in each classroom. We’ve also acquired eight precious acres of woodlands and three houses.

Acquiring the additional land in 2012 was the impetus for creating a Campus Master Plan to evaluate our infrastructure against the state-of-the-art in educational institutions. For more than a year, we engaged with faculty, parents, students, coaches, and a wonderful team of outside experts to dive deeply into our infrastructure and our vision of the Whole Child, which prioritizes a child’s full developmental needs to help them reach their fullest potential. More importantly, we looked at the trajectory of academics, social-emotional learning, and athletics to ensure we would remain a leading independent school for the next fifty years. The resulting Campus Master Plan guides how Park can reshape, repurpose, and expand our facilities to meet our goals in both the short-term and long-term. Among the key insights that emerged in the process were:

1.

L earning requires larger, more flexible spaces where teachers can guide collaborative learning, rather than delivering content.

2. Learning spaces include classrooms as well as lounges, collaboration spaces, hallways, nooks, gardens, fields, and the “wild beyond.”

3. Children need a sense of their “home” in the building, and a progression through different homes as they advance through the grades.

Every member of the community should easily access the myriad environments, resources, and discoveries across our 34 acre campus. (…but not the secret tunnels.)

An example of the Campus Master Plan being realized is progress towards an indooroutdoor, analog-digital Maker Wing where learners can problem-solve and create whatever they imagine with the latest technology, materials, and tools. This began to be realized in 2019 when the Makerspace was built in the North Wing to support project-based learning,

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The flexible new Dining Commons will become a focal point of campus.

Programs change, the student body changes, and the approach to learning changes. The Campus Master Plan anticipates that evolution by providing right-sized spaces, sensible flow through the buildings, and connection to the myriad elements in Park’s amazing campus.

design thinking and coding. Next summer, the adjacent room will become a woodshop where students learn the tangible side of engineering.

When the roadway is reconfigured in a later construction phase, this Maker “classroom” will extend seamlessly to the learning garden, fields, and the woodlands behind the School.

Another sequence of projects in the early phases of the Master Plan is updating our classroom portfolio. During the summer of 2021, the School converted underutilized locker-room space and nine small classrooms into eleven large, right-sized classrooms as well as two grade-level homes. These renovations have also provided optimized spaces for counseling, secondary-school advising, fitness education, and other specialties that are essential to a Park experience.

The work planned for summer 2022 is very exciting. Inside the building, we will renovate the Lower Division science rooms, and the Lower Division art/woodshop spaces. Out on the campus, we will create a multipurpose outdoor-education complex in the Faulkner fields. This will add a competition-size turf field and a ropes course next to our existing

Eventually, we’ll be able to redesign the traffic pattern at Park. Cars will be contained in the driveways and parking lots at the front of the building, leaving the rest of campus free from congestion.

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An architectural rendering of the new Dining Commons, as imagined from the interior view.

pool and Faulkner playground. This will immediately generate a magnetism towards the West side of the campus for competitive athletics, experiential education, after-school programming, and summer learning. The next part—and what I’m most excited about—will come a few years later when we will build a new dining commons off the rear side of the Main Building. Eventually, this will allow us to eliminate the roadway loop behind the buildings. The result will be Park’s own Emerald Necklace of indoor and outdoor spaces stretching all the way from the Library to the furthest tip of the North Fields. The community will be able to experience the entire campus and all its learning spaces, gardens, fields, woods and streams. Cars will be safely contained in the roadways and parking lots at the front of the buildings, and carpool should get easier.

Throughout the work to date, there has been an intense focus on achieving a modern, joyful aesthetic. While I’m an alum of Park’s original color scheme, the new spaces feature calm colors and backgrounds to the work of learning and connecting. With lots of glass, LED lighting, renewable textiles, and durable finishes, we’re seeking the best environmental profile possible in all our designs. Of course, all the new spaces are accessible, have gender-neutral restrooms, current technology capabilities, and updated life-safety features.

The past 50 years on Goddard Avenue have taught us that the Park School experience

is constantly evolving. Programs change, the student body changes, and the approach to learning changes. The Campus Master Plan anticipates that evolution by providing rightsized spaces, sensible flow through the buildings, and connection to the myriad elements in Park’s amazing campus. I’m grateful to Kimberly Boyd, Assistant Head of School for Finance & Operations, for her outstanding partnership on this project. Above all, I am proud to build upon the vision of those who brought us to Goddard Avenue 50 years ago, and to leave Park with a vision of how to continue growing with our campus long into the future. The investment of time and money in recent years on the early phases of renovation have already proven the merit of this vision and our ability to achieve it.

About the author Peter M. Barkan ’86 is the CEO of the Barkan Companies, a regional competitor in multifamily real estate development, property management, and affordable housing. A parent of two Park students and a member of Park’s Board since 2016, Peter chairs the Buildings & Grounds Committee, serves as Secretary, and led the Master Planning Committee.

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Park Giving Day 2021!

PA R K ’ S S E C O N D A N N UA L G I V I N G DAY was a rousing success! Learning on campus this year meant that students, parents, faculty, and staff were able to join in on the fun in real-time, while alumni, parents of alumni, grandparents, and other friends of Park joined us virtually and enthusiastically—from around the corner, and around the globe!

Giving Day 2021 was a fun-filled celebration of Park, and this community’s outstanding generosity to the Annual Fund. The School set out to secure 370 gifts in honor of our 370 current families, and a generous group of donors representing the full scope of the community—current parents, alumni, grandparents, and parents of alumni—offered an inspiring $50,000 challenge to help us meet this goal. And meet it we did! With an amazing show of support, Park raised an incredible $256,729 for the Annual Fund, from five hundred (yes, exactly 500!) donors, blowing away all expectations.

The spirit of generosity shown by the Park community throughout the day was spectacular to witness. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the 500 donors listed throughout the pages that follow who supported the Annual Fund and made Giving Day 2021 a tremendous success.

163 ALUM NI DONORS

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$193,606 CONTRIBU TE D BY CU RRE NT PARE N TS

260

$80,613

CU RRE NT PARE NT DONORS

CONTRIBU TED

BY ALU MNI

ALU MNI G IFTS HAILE D FROM

ALU MNI DONORS S PA N N E D FROM THE CLASS E S O F

25 DIFFERENT STATES

1948 2020 TO

We celebrated philanthropy at Park with signs (and pompoms!) at carpool.

Students got in on the Giving Day fun, as well!

Students enjoyed cupcakes with lunch thanks to the efforts of alumni, who met their alumni challenge and unlocked this schoolwide treat.

Our tradition of celebrating Grade 8 continued this year when we hit 48 current parent gifts, unlocking M&Ms for our 48 Grade 8 students.

Park members from near and far (some as far as Colorado!) sent in photos to tell us why they celebrate Park.

Chloe Page ’15

John Tayer ’79

John Tayer ’79 Lorraine and Stephen Dvorin GP ’24

Re por t on Phil anthropy 2020 – 21

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The Park School 171 Goddard Avenue Brookline, Massachusetts 02445

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