Perkins Breaks Ground on $30M Lower School Project

On Monday, November 2, 2009, Perkins School for the Blind broke ground on an exciting $30 million construction and renovation project to update the 100-year-old Lower School. A new schoolhouse will serve elementary- through middle-school-age students, and historic structures will be re-fit as students residences and administrative space. The project will be financed through the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency.

A Forward Thinking Initiative: New Lower School to Better Accommodate Students with Multiple Challenges

The old and new spaces will be configured for the educational, living and safety needs of roughly 50 Lower School students ages six to 15 who are blind or visually impaired with or without other disabilities.

The new Perkins Lower School will ...

• Be more accessible for all students
• Have larger, more flexible classrooms
• Encourage independence with more logical layouts
• Further support adaptive high-technology developments
• Honor Perkins' history and legacy

Download our fact sheet on the Lower School Construction and Renovation to learn more about this project, Perkins architectural history, green design improvements, and more.

Consider a gift to our Lower School Fund to support our newest building!

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Perkins President Steven Rothstein welcomed 200 or more visitors noting that nearly 100 years ago, Perkins director Edward Ellis Allen opened the doors to the Watertown campus saying the object was “not to build larger — that is, for more pupils; but for better service to all.” Rothstein went on to say that a century later, the goal is the same, “not to increase enrollment, but to improve the educational experience for all of our students and build for the next 100 years.”

Read news coverage of the Lower School construction project from the Boston Globe and Boston Herald .

Be a Part of History: Contribute to the New Lower School Time Capsule 

One of the ways we are celebrating the building of the new Lower School is with a time capsule filled with items that reflect our current time in history. We plan on collecting all the special items for the time capsule over this school year and bury it in the ground in June 2010. The time capsule will be excavated as part of the celebration of Perkins' 200th anniversary. Please submit your ideas by January 31, 2010.

Download our Lower School Time Capsule Suggestion Form.

Designing for Current and Future Needs

Almost all Perkins Lower School students are visually impaired with additional challenges. Many use wheelchairs or walk with supports. The percentage of students with multiple disabilities is expected to grow in coming years, requiring more adaptable, accessible facilities. While the number of students at Perkins is not expected to increase, their individual needs will be greater.

The current classrooms and common spaces can accommodate such complex student needs only with the most extraordinary efforts of Perkins teachers and staff. In the new school house, entrances and exits will be wheelchair accessible, the design will include state-of-the-art specialized classrooms, better spaces for teaching independent living skills and personal care. Covered walkways will allow students travel to and from residences and classrooms on their own.

“The impact on students and teachers will be profound,” says Rothstein. “This is truly a commitment to accessibility, it’s a commitment to safety, to personal independence for our students. It’s a commitment to planning for the next hundred years.”

Architects Miller Dyer Spears created the design over a two-year period, fully integrating student needs and the ideas of Perkins faculty and staff. Shawmut Design and Construction expects to complete the new schoolhouse (Phase 1) by early 2011. Renovations of existing buildings (Phases 2 and 3) will follow.

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