Three Traverse City schools are set to break ground on expansions this summer, with two – Eastern Elementary School and Immaculate Conception Elementary School – both hosting community groundbreaking ceremonies today (Thursday) on all-new elementary schools. A third facility, The Greenspire School, aims to begin extensive renovations on its property July 1.

Eastern Elementary School
Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) officials will host a public groundbreaking ceremony for the planned $14.5 million reconstruction of Eastern Elementary School tonight from 5pm to 5:30pm at the school property at 1600 Eastern Avenue.

The ceremony will “take place before the demolition of the old building and construction of the new building begins, which is expected to take place between June and July,” according to TCAPS. Abatement work has already begun at the project site, with utility disconnection and construction site mobilization set to occur in June. Eastern students relocated to Bertha Vos in April and will continue to attend that school until Eastern’s reconstruction is complete in August 2018. The new school would open in time to welcome students for the 2018-19 school year.

“At this point, everything is on track (for that schedule),” says TCAPS spokesperson Christine Guitar.

The district’s finance and operations committee is expected to review demolition bids on June 7, with the rest of construction bids to be approved in July. The new two-story, 59,000 square-foot facility will feature modern classroom designs and amenities and expanded capacity to accommodate up to 550 students. Some of those students are anticipated to come from Old Mission Peninsula School, which will cease operating as a TCAPS school at the end of the 2017-18 school year and is on track to become an independently owned and operated charter school. TCAPS could also consider hosting talented and gifted (TAG) students and/or Intermediate School District (ISD) programming at Eastern in the future, according to TCAPS Superintendent Paul Soma.

Families looking to take home a piece of Eastern history with them can attend a memorabilia sale tonight immediately following the groundbreaking ceremony from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Items for sale will include lockers, desks, bulletin boards, pencil sharpeners, maps, piano, scoreboard, room signs, swings, gym equipment, and more. Items will be individually priced and sold by cash or check only in “as is” condition. Purchased items must be picked up at the time of sale.

Immaculate Conception Elementary School
Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools (GTACS) will host a groundbreaking ceremony this morning at 9:30am in Immaculate Conception Elementary School’s parking lot at 218 Vine Street. The lot is the site of a future new $12 million, 70,000 square-foot school that will replace the existing facility, which is over 100 years old.

Today’s ceremony will be preceded by a mass at Immaculate Conception Church at 8:15am presided over by Bishop Steven J. Raica. Students will participate in both the mass and groundbreaking ceremony. According to GTACS Advancement Director Wayne Mueller, the district has raised over $12.4 million in donations to date for the construction project. Noting that GTACS had raised $9 million from over 300 donors by September during a “quiet” phase of fundraising, Mueller says the district’s donors have tripled since moving into the public portion of the capital campaign. “We’re basically at almost 1,000 donors,” Mueller says.

The success of the fundraising campaign means project costs are covered for the new two-story elementary school, which can accommodate up to 560 students in preschool through fifth grade when it opens for the 2018-19 year. While the majority of students will continue to attend Immaculate Conception in the old building while the new building is being constructed next door, demolition of a portion of the old building this summer to make room for parking and construction staging will require the relocation of third-grade students to the Holy Angels campus for 2017-18. GTACS will host an open house in the “old school” section of the property on June 7 from 3pm to 5:30pm.

Mueller notes another $8 million in improvements are planned for St. Francis High School in the coming years. Funds raised above and beyond project needs at Immaculate will go toward the next phase of upgrades at St. Francis, Mueller says, with multi-million dollar injections planned in the school’s arts, athletics and academic programs.

Greenspire School
A new expansion at The Greenspire School at the Grand Traverse Commons will allow the school to welcome 20 new students this fall – expanding enrollment from 105 to 125 and relieving a two-year wait list that’s grown to nearly 50 students.

Greenspire Head of School and Superintendent Kevin Kelly says the $105,000 project will include extensive renovations to the school’s Maple Hall. “It’s going to be an expansion as well as a renovation of existing spaces, claiming some outside space to become new interior space and putting in accordion partitions in our existing classrooms so we can segment those more appropriately,” says Kelly. New furniture, equipment and computers will be included in the upgrades. As a result of the increased student load, Greenspire is also adding new teaching staff in math, physical education and project-based education.

While $70,000 of the project will be covered out of Greenspire’s savings, the school is hosting a pledge drive through June 30 to raise the remaining $35,000. Supporters have already pledged $17,500 in matching funds, leaving $17,500 still to go. Kelly notes Greenspire won’t receive per-pupil funding from the state for its new incoming students until the following year, stretching the school’s dollars thin in the interim. The state funding formula “makes it challenging for a school to self-fund an expansion program,” Kelly says. But he’s optimistic the fundraising campaign will meet its goal and says the project is set to move ahead this summer.

“We’ll be breaking ground on July 1, and we’ll look to have those renovations completed by August 15,” he says.