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March 15, 2019

Celebrating Community at Boze Elementary

By Melissa Frey

When asked what her favorite thing about the Boze Elementary replacement was, BCRA’s project manager, Heather Hocklander, replied, “Boze is truly a community school.”

The new Boze Elementary meets the needs of its school and larger community through dedicated spaces for partners, such as a WIC office, family liaison space, and a community meeting room with a separate entrance. Outside, a beloved community garden will be relocated on site and enhanced.

Reflecting the sense of family and community at Boze, the interior entry features a customizable Welcome Wall and Family Wall. The entry wall celebrates diversity and inclusion of the school’s large number of English Learners by translating the word ‘welcome’ and ‘family’ into multiple languages. The Welcome Wall will be used for school information and news. The Family Wall is a visible opportunity to celebrate the different cultures represented at Boze through sharing photos and art.

A large number of resource classrooms, therapeutic learning center, and a peer inclusion space meet the varied needs within the student population. Teachers were given dedicated areas within classrooms and shared offices for collaboration.

“Our design-build team is so pleased that we met so many community needs within budget,” Heather said.

Boze broke ground on March 1st and will be opening for students and staff in September 2020.

Watch a walkthrough video of the school here: https://www.bcradesign.com/projects/boze-elementary-school/