Due to limitations imposed by renovation construction in the front lobby, several Upper School classes will relocate to the building at 1700 Race Street during the fourth quarter of the 2020-21 school year.

Unlike past years, in which Upper School classes at 1700 took place on the first floor, relocated classes will be held on the building’s second and third floors. History, Spanish, and art classes, as well as English classes taught by Miriam Rock, will take the following configuration:

All of Peter Sun’s classes, as well as Cynthia Vainstein’s Spanish I class, will move to the library.

Students will still enter 1700 from the corner of 17th and Race Streets. Once they have entered the lobby, they should pass through a new door directly across from the building’s entrance, which leads to the staircase to the second and third floors. Zoë’s video class will remain on the first floor, while Deborah will move to a second floor studio.

According to Chris, a layout resembling the current classroom configuration will remain until the end of next school year; about half of all Upper School classes in 2021-22 will take place in 1700.

These renovations, which are part of the school’s plan for extension into the recently acquired building at 1520 Race Street, are scheduled to be completed by the beginning of next school year. 

Once renovations at 1520 Race Street are complete, the science, visual arts, and world languages departments will move out of the main school building at 1651 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, according to Chris. Passing time will be permanently added to the Upper School daily schedule. Friends Select will permanently vacate the 1700 building in the fall of 2022.