The Hudson School will soon begin constructing a new building at the corner of Sixth Street and Park Avenue thanks to a $500,000 grant the non-denominational, private school recently received from the Kaplan Family Foundation of Englewood. School officials plan to move the classes from the buildings the school currently rents space in at Park Avenue and Fifth Street and at Clinton and Fifth streets to the new facility in the beginning of the 2001-2002 school year. The school currently has 177 students who attend classes from 5th through 12th grades. The new facility will have enough space to accommodate 200 students. The school building will be constructed on the grounds where the Martha Institute, a home to several area educational institutions including the city’s first high school, once stood. Officials say they had always hoped to save the venerable old building at the site, but that it was nearly impossible to renovate it in a way that would comply with current safety regulations. They pointed out that the old building was not built on pilings and was therefore not in compliance with current seismic building codes. “There was nobody who wanted to save the Martha Institute more than the Hudson School did,” said the school’s director, Suellen Newman. “It just was not possible. In its place, we plan to build a building that looks as much like the original as possible and is in compliance with 21st century building codes.” Consolidating the school in one building will have a number of advantages, school officials said. “Having everybody in one place will make the school a lot easier to administer,” said School Board President Sam Reckford. “Our director will also get an office. Right now she just works out in the middle of a room. It’s difficult to run a school that way, although she does it quite well.” Reckford also noted that the school currently does not have an auditorium of its own, but that “the new facility would have a multi-purpose room that could be used for indoor recess and other physical activities.” Two of the women who run the Kaplan Family Foundation, based in Englewood, are alumni of the Hudson School. The Foundation gift is contingent on the school raising an equal amount of funds from other donors. School officials predicted that it would take approximately five months to raise the matching funds. Some money has already been raised for the school over the years. The combined total of $1 million will provide the school with almost half the equity it needs to build on the site, Reckford said. School officials said that they plan to ensure that the school’s character does not get lost in the move. “Its important that we create a space that the alumni and the current students recognize,” Newman said. “When you step into our school, you feel like you are stepping into someone’s home. We try and create a home away from home for our students. We are going to come as close to re-creating that character in the new building as we can.” School officials said that they were pleased to be putting the headaches of renting space behind them soon. “We look forward to the stability of having our own space where we are not a tenant,” Reckford said. “There have been a lot of times in the past where we have been concerned about our lease. We are like anybody else who rents. There is always the possibility that you will get your lease suspended for things that are beyond your control.” For officials like Newman who have worked at the school since it opened its doors 22 years ago, the Kaplan Family gift was like manna from heaven. “It’s a dream come true for us,” Newman said. “We have been working towards this since we originally began looking at moving the school into the Martha Institute 13 years ago. It has required a lot of hope and a lot of patience and we are so thrilled that we will finally can see our dreams become a reality.”
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