Green Woods Charter School Plans Move To Chestnut Hill

Green Woods Charter School, which is based at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Studies in Upper Roxborough, is preparing for a big move—to Chestnut Hill.

The school entered into a purchase agreement in early February with Greylock Holdings, LLC, for $2.2 million for Greylock Manor, a circa 1909 house located at 209 W. Chestnut Hill Ave. The historic building has been vacant for several years, according to Green Woods CEO Jean Wallace.

Wallace said the school plans on expanding their enrollment, pending approval from the School Reform Commission, and have some students on the new campus by September of this year.

“We know that it is an aggressive timeline, and that we might have to delay, but hopefully the due diligence process will take us on a course to settlement. We want to get the old girl ready for some students and some life. She needs it back there,” Wallace said, referring to the century-old building.

Green Woods is currently located at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Roxborough. Although it is a unique space for a school, Wallace said that growth requires a new home.

“Where we are now, we have carved our school out of pieces of a nature center. It’s been great to have the connection with the natural world outside, but to operate a school on a daily basis we don’t have enough space. To be sustainable, we have to grow our student enrollment,” Wallace said.

The school put in a request to allow higher enrollment with the School Reform Commission early this year. The vote, which was originally supposed to be taken in February, has been delayed until April 20. With higher enrollment comes more money from the school district and the state, which would allow greater debt services to pay for the new property.

Wallace said that they began looking for a property early in 2010, and found Greylock to be the perfect fit. The school’s curriculum is centered on environmental and social education, Wallace explained, and Greylock would provide enough room for an outdoor learning laboratory for students.

“We looked long and hard at a couple of things, to be able to have enough ground to create an outdoor learning lab for younger students right on the property. It’s really important to me,” Wallace said.

“We wanted to have enough ground to do that, and to plant organic gardens to utilize as teaching tools for our students. We also wanted to be in close proximity to getting outside and be able to hike and interact with environment in ways few students get to do nowadays, since it is the focus of our curriculum.”

Neighbors will have to weigh in on the changing face of the manor, if all goes according to Green Woods’ plan. Wallace has already met with neighbors who have concerns about traffic.

The Chestnut Hill Historical Society also holds preservation and conservation easements on the property, which protect historic facades, open space and public views, according to a letter from CHHS Executive Director Jennifer Hawk.

Wallace said she understands that there will be a lot of interaction with the community before any plans get finalized.

“I would certainly hope that would be the case. I know there are lots of steps in the process. We do have a project manager, Bob Hoe, that we are working with and he lives and works in Chestnut Hill and has been guiding me through it,” Wallace said.

She added that, because there is a long driveway, school buses would be off of the street as they were picking up and dropping off students, which would reduce traffic impact. 

The school has 120 days from the purchase agreement to enter into settlement for the property. In the meantime, the project manager, Hoe, has begun the process of hiring a traffic engineer for a study, and Wallace said she will continue to make sure residents are informed and involved in the process.

“We want to be able to always communicate the facts as we know them,” Wallace said.

Check back for updates on the Green Woods move to Chestnut Hill.