May 31, 2005 --- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
More Room for Chartwell School, Monterey County Herald article
More room for Chartwell School
After long wait, school to begin construction on Fort Ord property
By SUKHJIT PUREWAL
Herald Staff Writer
Twenty-two years is a long time to wait for a new school.
But starting next year, students at Chartwell School should have a new campus to break in.
Students who have been turned away in previous years because of a lack of space will have desks of their own on the larger campus, which will be built on Fort Ord.
School officials had hoped to break ground last year, but a slowdown in funding prevented that from occurring, said Douglas Atkins, executive director of Chartwell.
Now the goal is to get the project started sometime this summer. Just recently, the Seaside City Council agreed to allow the new campus to use about 6 acre-feet of water annually.
Chartwell School is a private school for children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Students from outside the county also rely on its services.
Waiting list the norm|
The school has been around for more than two decades, the last 18 years at a former Monterey Peninsula Unified School District school site now owned by Salvation Army. At its current site on Imperial Street, Chartwell accommodates about 100 students with the aid of two portable classrooms. A student waiting list has been the norm for the past several years.
The new campus will be able to accommodate 160 students. The former Fort Ord Officers Club at Normandy and Numa Watson roads was razed to make way for the new campus. Although the site is 29 acres, the actual campus will occupy only eight acres. The remainder will be set aside as an oak preserve.
A larger campus will also make it possible for more outreach services to mainstream schools and students. The parcel was attained through the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.
School officials had hoped to break ground in 2004, but weren't able raise all the necessary funds despite a $4 million grant from the Catherine L. and Robert O. McMahan Foundation and a $500,000 grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Most of the $8.5 million in construction funds has been raised, Atkins said.
"We hope to be breaking ground before too far into the summer," Atkins said. Construction should be completed within 10 months.
"We should be able to occupy by summer of 2006."
Chartwell's aim is to help students transition back into mainstream education after spending two to four years at the school to get the personal help they need and to build up their confidence.
Tuition will increase next fall to $22,600 annually, up from $19,400. At the same time, the school will give out $320,000 in financial aid.
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