Small Friends breaks ground on new home
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Small Friends will break ground on its new, 6,938-square-foot building on Friday afternoon, signifying the success of a capital campaign that has generated more then half of the $3.1 million needed to raise a roof next to the Nantucket New School.

The new building on Nobadeer Farm Road will be a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified green building rated at the gold level by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Founded in May 1988 by Anne Bradt and the late Bernie Grossman, the nonprofit school operates on the premise that working parents need high quality, affordable care for their children during the day. The Small Friends experience offers children aged three months old through six years old year-round education-oriented care.

Currently, Small Friends is operating at capacity in two buildings - the infant and toddler program in a space behind Nantucket Cottage Hospital, with pre-k students in a two-story building behind the

new schoolhouse lot. Once the new Small Friends

building is constructed, the existing building at the west end of the property will be used for teacher housing.

"To have gone this far without a permanent home and given the level of childcare for this long is not only a testament to the exceptional people that have been involved, but to those who have run Small Friends and believed this island deserved a childcare center," said Small Friends Director of Development Gabrielle Gould. "When the building is built, we're going to house 45 percent more students. Right now, we have a wait list of 40 students from ages three months to pre-k at the existing school."

When builder J.K. Scanlon of East Falmouth completes the new schoolhouse in about a year, it will be a LEED-certified green building rated at the gold level by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a rating system that classifies the impact of a building on its environment in relation to energy use and environmental sensitivity.

The council looks at such aspects of construction as building materials, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, recycling of construction waste and debris, indoor environmental quality and building site sustainability. There are three rating levels, silver, gold and platinum.

Small Friends' new building will have, among other earth-friendly accoutrements, water conservation systems and energy efficiency systems, and will also make use of natural light and ventilation.

The groundbreaking ceremony takes place this Friday at 19 Nobadeer Farm Road at 5:30 p.m. with

guest speakers Lucile Hays and Anne Bradt. I