New Campus

Please visit the following media links for news coverage of Groundbreaking.

The Salinas Californian
The Monterey County Herald

GROUNDBREAKING REMARKS, by Douglas Atkins, Executive Director

"We are very appreciative of the expertise, dedication and talent that our partners, EHDD Architecture, Community Bank of the Central Coast, and our contractor, Ausonio, Inc. are bringing together to make this new campus a reality.

A few brief comments about the new campus itself and why in unexpected ways it is a significant extension of our core values as an educational institution.

Chartwell's modest history of succeeding where others have not exemplified today by setting in stone and earth a new type of school. It is a school that challenges us to lead rather than follow. It is a school that causes us to look at ourselves, our students and our stewardship of all that is important in ways that future generations will continue to discover as essential.

What is essential is this... that the process of education is what sustains a community. The more effective we are in our efforts to educate the members, the more robust and sustainable will be our economic activity, our public and private institutions, and the welfare of our citizenry.

Sustainability is the defining term for a new type of thinking that connects what was once unconnected in a way that produces surprising achievements. If this sounds like what Chartwell has been doing for 22 years with literacy and the learning processes of children, then you would be right.

In fact, so effective is this new way of thinking when applied to the process of education that California and other states have labeled facilities so designed as High Performance Schools... High Performance Schools, like the new Chartwell campus, will be designed to produce an environment that will optimize the achievement for every student through elaborate planning and meticulous quality control.

In fact, so important is the learning environment for our students that, with the determination and vision of our trustees, donors and partners we plan to assemble the highest certified sustainable K-8 school in the country right where you sit. This campus will be the first school in the country to achieve a U.S. Green Building Council Platinum rating for Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED).

Let me help you imagine what a green, high performance school of the future will look like:

Under your feet you see rubble that last week was an asphalt parking lot, tomorrow it will be an athletic field with recycled water for irrigation.

Off a ways toward the bay you see the land of sand and iceplant, tomorrow it will be under a heat reducing, rainwater catchment roof that will feed a cystern, irrigate a garden and reduce building potable water usage by 70%.

Tomorrow you will see classrooms that are daylit by carefully configured site placement and window systems that conform to studies showing how these elements alone can contribute 20% or more to achievement scores in math and reading.

These same windows are so effective throughout the year in controlling both light and heat gain that they reduce the need for electricity by 50%... which allows one 30 Kilowatt photovoltaic array to power the entire campus with net zero electricity usage... that's right, there will be times when our electricity meter will be running backwards... PG&E promises a $9,000 per year reduction in utility costs, which when added to other savings results in an electrical generation system that will pay for itself in about 15 years.

Tomorrow you will see buildings with no need for the high maintenance and ambient noise of ventilation ducting systems because air will be handled by microfans and air quality sensors in classrooms that take advantage of naturally occurring convection currents.

Tomorrow you will see a campus with plenty of opportunity to build and sustain a community of learners. By simply moving through the thoughtfully designed series of courtyards, trails, recreation and gathering places, students, faculty, families and visiting community members will know a sense of place that causes us to belong, to take ownership and to care. This belonging will extend beyond our own campus into all of our neighboring communities through the new capability this campus will afford our outreach effort... we know by listening and by practice that sustainability is not something that can survive in isolation.

This is what the future will look like. This is how to discover the essential sustainability of our communities through the quality of our educational experience. This is Chartwell.

Now, let's make this future... let's break some ground and throw some dirt!"