Dear BIA Family,
Providing a world class education to our children is a top priority for the Board of Directors and the Administration of BIA. Because of our charter model, the school has now grown to over 560 students. With each new Kindergarten class that comes in, the school will continue to grow, and it has become necessary to split the school into two campuses.
Many different models were considered and the structure that has the most strength academically is a model that will split the campus in 2014-2015 into a primary/early elementary campus (K-4) and an upper elementary/middle school campus (5-8). At some point in the future, 4th grade will be integrated into the upper elementary/middle school campus as well, so that the final configuration would be K-3 at the primary/early elementary campus and 4-8 at the upper elementary/middle school campus.
This model will allow BIA to create campuses that will support early learners in acclimating to the immersion and Primary Years IB models at the current Frankford campus in K through 3, and then transition maturing students to a 4-8 campus that deepens the immersion learning, introduces a Middle Years IB program, and offers more opportunities for electives and learning differentiation.
BIA has identified a possible site for the upper elementary/ middle school campus in the 21214 zip code (Hamilton neighborhood) near the intersection of Hamilton Ave. and Harford Rd. The campuses are a 5-10 minute drive apart, so we are recommending that the Hamilton campus start half an hour later than the Frankford campus to accommodate parents with students in both the primary year grades and the middle year grades.
We recognize that you may have many questions and concerns about how the split campus model will work. In the coming weeks we will set up a community meeting as well as site visits, and we will be able to give you more detailed information once the architect has done a preliminary visit to the proposed site.
Your opinion is important!! Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey about the campus split. Please complete only one survey per family.