SPRINGFIELD – Despite COVID-19, Springfield Preparatory Charter School is set to finish the renovation of their new, permanent location in August 2021.           

The renovation will cost over $20 million to complete. The K-6 public charter school has been operating in small, temporary lease spaces for the past five years while they grew in size. Springfield Prep has 380 students now and they plan to have almost 500 once they are fully grown in their new building.

According to Meghan Wagner, director of finance and operations at Springfield Prep, each year the school adds a grade as students move up. They then bring in a new class of kindergarteners each year. This process allows students at Springfield Prep to grow within the school and Wagner said in two years the school will be fully expanded to K-8.

Springfield Prep is a free, public school open to all students who apply for entry through a lottery. Springfield students have preference when it comes to the lottery, according to Wagner. Charter schools also have more flexibility than a regular school when it comes to their model, said Wagner.

Each classroom has two teachers and the school focuses on doing interventions within the classroom. One teacher could work with a majority of the classroom and the second could work with a small group to support students who may need extra help, said Wagner. Springfield Prep’s model also focuses a great deal on teacher development and teacher coaching.

Given their steady growth and the need for a permanent space, construction on a new school space began in August 2020.

“We always knew our long-term goal was to have a more permanent home to sort of take that stress off of the school so we could fully grow and grow out our programs so this has been the goal, it’s just taken some years to get there,” said Wagner.

The new school will have a lot more overall space and classroom spaces designed more specifically for their program. There will be an outdoor play space, outdoor classroom space, a large gym with a performance space, cafeteria and community room and dedicated spaces for programs like music, science and art. According to Wagner, the construction is going well and is right on schedule.

“It’s really exciting to see the progress. I’m there almost every week and I get to see how much progress is made week by week, so that part is going really well. We haven’t seen any delays or anything,” she said.

The new location is a renovation of an existing building located at 2071 Roosevelt Ave. According to Wagner, it is a complete renovation. With construction set to finish in August, Wagner said the school plans to have students in the new classrooms by the fall.

 “The building was an office building before, so we are doing a complete renovation and then the gym is a new addition that we’re adding on. And then also adding on all of the outdoor play space,” she said. “We’re adding an additional amount of plantings and trees and green space for kids to play in so it will feel more like a school campus rather than an office building and parking lot.”

Wagner said she is most excited for what opportunities this new space will give students and staff of Springfield Prep.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what our students can do in a space that’s really designed for them. Our students and teachers have been doing amazing work in sort of less than ideal spaces over the past few years,” she said. “We were named School of Distinction in 2019, with amazing results of meeting and exceeding targets from the state, so to see how far kids can excel once they’re in a space that’s really designed for our program, I think is going to be really exciting,” she said.

Those interested in learning more about Springfield Preparatory Charter School and their new renovation are encouraged to visit their website at https://www.springfieldprep.org/.