Despite cold weather and light flurries, several public officials and members of the community braved the elements Monday morning at 8 a.m. to cut the ribbon on a new building that will be occupied by the Stevens Cooperative School’s pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.
Monday’s event was attended by Hoboken City Council members Richard Del Boccio, a former school principal; councilpersons Michael Cricco and A. Nino Giacchi, and City Business Administrator Robert Drasheff.
The private school, which was founded in 1949, offers a nursery program and grades preK through eight. The new building at 301 Bloomfield St. will house the school’s pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs. Its nursery program is located at Castle Point Terrace, and grades one through eight are on the top floor of the Rue Building at 301 Garden St., just a block away from the new facility.
According to Zoë Hauser, the school’s head since 1995, the addition of an eighth grade this year has pushed the school’s enrollment over 200, making its previous accommodations inadequate for the students’ needs.
“After decades of adapting other spaces to meet our needs, the opportunity to design a preK/K facility to our own specifications is a dream come true,” said Hauser Monday. “The project will not result in an addition to the school’s current space but rather a new ‘built to size’ facility as a separate location.”
The new building is a two-story structure. The first floor houses one 600-square foot classroom and an entry foyer that, according to school officials, will be used as a movement and meeting space.
The second floor houses another 600-square foot classroom and office space for administrative and educational support staff. Each classroom features a sturdy tile floor, ideal for block building, a refrigerator, stovetop and microwave baking, and ample wall space to display the children’s art.
Construction for the project was financed with funds from the school’s capital reserve funds and a loan from Provident Bank. A capital campaign is underway to replace the reserve funds being used for the construction of the new facility and to help with renovation of the middle school classroom.
“The Provident Bank is delighted to have helped the Stevens Cooperative School open the doors of this wonderful new facility,” said Kenneth O’Neill, assistant vice president of The Provident Bank. “It will be a great asset for these children and those that follow them for many years,”
Lee Levine Architects, PC designed the structure, and Soojlan Brothers, Co., LLC of Pompton Lakes served as the project’s general contractor.
According to Hauser, the new building is close enough to the elementary school to provide for an incorporated educational experience for the students.
“The new [facility’s] close proximity to the first through eighth graders on 301 Garden St. is ideal for our integrated curriculum and for maintaining our strong sense of community,” she said. “The seventh graders will shuttle back and forth unescorted each day to conduct their jobs with the preK/K classes as buddies and classroom helpers. The preK/K students, escorted by their teachers, will travel back and forth once a week for art, and now and then for special programs and assemblies.”
Hauser added that the new preK/K facility at 301 Bloomfield offers a logical transition for Stevens’ families, bridging the nursery experience on Castle Point Terrace to the first through eighth graders at the elementary school at 301 Garden.
“The expanded educational program provides older middle schoolers, already battling with issues of confidence and self-esteem, the opportunity to enter adolescence in an environment they already know to be safe, nurturing and secure,” she said. “With a program spanning the nursery years through eighth grade, Stevens will now offer young children and their parents a complete education experience that prepares them well, through work and play, for the high school years.”