For the past several years we have experienced incredible interest in our Primary Division because of the exceptional Montessori-based program that we offer. Our amazing faculty nurture and develop our youngest Cyclones in an environment that allows the children to explore learning in comfortable, calming, and inquisitive ways. Faculty guide our “Little Cyclones” into the most fundamentally important development time of their lives setting the foundation for our mission, “to develop skills and knowledge so that they may lead successful lives of balance, purpose, and joy.”

With this heightened interest in our program comes growth pressure, causing us to have to defer enrollment of great children from wonderful families. As we consider this accelerated interest and thoroughly review the demands, we believe that in order to allow more families the experience of the excellent and nurturing environment of our Primary Division, we must expand.

Our Board of Trustees is committed to this important entry into Casady School. Through a thoughtful process, the Plant, Admission, Finance, and Development committees have all worked together to create a plan forward. Ultimately, in our next campaign we will begin to address a permanent solution.

In the meantime, the first phase of expansion involves adding temporary space for our PreK-4 students, allowing us to increase the number of children in our youngest program. We would then be able to expand Kindergarten to four classrooms, create additional space for PreK, and make some improvements to the existing area in the Loeffler Building. We want to be thoughtful and ensure that every child has an individualized Montessori-based education and that the rotations continue to enrich students through playful and engaged learning. To that end we are working to ensure that class sizes and work groups remain small.

We are confident in the sustainability and carefulness of this phased approach and look forward to when we can fully raise the funds for a permanent long-term expansion of the building. Please feel free to reach out to any of our team members with questions you may have. The Admission Team, Clint McEwen, and I remain committed to providing our youngest Cyclones with a positive, nurturing, Montessori-based program as they launch into their educational journey.

Faithfully,

Nathan L. Sheldon