Dear Castilleja Students, Parents, and Guardians,
We are writing to share exciting news about our campus modernization. On Wednesday night, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved our public bond financing, a key threshold we needed to cross to prepare to break ground. Along with the bond, several other elements of the process have recently fallen into place, and we are thrilled to announce that we will break ground this month! This is a milestone that our entire community has worked for over a decade to achieve, and Castilleja’s vision of delivering our unique mission in state-of-the-art spaces on a sustainable campus—is closer than ever before.
Timelines, as we all know, are always subject to change, but this is our current estimation:
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September 2024 - Construction on Phase 1, the underground garage, begins.
- Fall 2025 - Phase 1 is completed and construction of the academic village begins.
- End of 2025 - Construction of the academic village is completed.
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January 2026 - Classes shift to the academic village. Phase 2, the modernization of all learning spaces, begins.
- During the 2027-28 academic year - The modernized campus opens.
Allison Koo ’98 and Ed Chan P ’22 ’24 are leading this project for the Board, and they have been working tirelessly in partnership with our newest team member, Nandy Kumar, our Owner’s Representative. All three have extensive experience in large-scale construction projects on the Peninsula. They spent the summer considering the large questions and chipping away at small details, and we are incredibly grateful for their expertise and their commitment to Castilleja.
Meanwhile, our team on campus is working together to provide for a smooth process for the community throughout construction. In many ways, daily life on campus will continue as usual during Phase 1. We anticipate some changes to routines related to parking for seniors and the use of Spieker Field for athletics and event parking. There are going to be questions that are top of mind for many of you, and we will try to address some of them here:
- The Senior Lot - As of Friday, September 20, the Senior Lot will be closed. Instead, we are reserving all of our 25 spaces at the First Presbyterian Church, for seniors.
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The Gunn Administrative Building lot will also be closed as of Friday, September 20. Visitors may park around the perimeter of campus on the school side of the street.
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Event Parking - We will have access to Spieker Field for Back-to-School Night on September 19. After that, we will make different arrangements for events, depending on the size, the day of the week, and the time of day.
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Athletics - Because we knew this day would come, we have already reserved space at the Baylands for softball practices and games, with transportation to and from campus. We will share details about subsequent seasons later.
We also realize that the beginning of Phase 1 naturally brings to mind another series of questions about Phase 2 and the academic village. We will share more information about that part of the process as decisions are made, but for now, we want to offer a series of community meetings to share more information about the year ahead and to answer your questions:
- For Parents and Guardians - During the first 45 minutes of Back-to-School Night, from 5:30 to 6:15pm, we will hold a parent/guardian meeting with leaders from the Board, the construction team, and the school.
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For students - Mrs. Eells and Ms. Layendecker will attend Upper School and Middle School Meetings to offer information and answer questions.
As a community committed to educating girls to become leaders, we all know that the next generation of women leaders deserves these learning spaces. We also want to ensure that the Castilleja students around the Circle today share a truly outstanding year of learning, leadership, friendship, traditions, and boundless joy. Each student only gets to be a senior or a sixth grader once, and we are committed to making that experience meaningful and special. We look forward to ongoing conversations with you as this process unfolds, and again we are grateful to everyone who has helped us get to this moment of expanding what’s possible at Castilleja.
With all our best,
Zac Zeitlin
Board Chair
Julia Russell Eells
Interim Head of School
Kathy Layendecker
Associate Head of School for Finance and Operations