Our campus and facilities are an essential platform for our faculty and administration to bring their academic vision to life for our students. Our campus and facility strategy remains focused on two key elements: It is driven by the school’s needs as defined by our strategic plan, as well as the continual maintenance and modernization of our campus while being true to its original design.
Upgrades
We have continued efforts to upgrade our facilities to match the incredible programs designed by our faculty and administration. Including this year, the school will have invested over $7.4 million throughout our three divisions.
Completed Projects
- Program space in Chilton House was renovated to include an additional kindergarten classroom
- Updated music classroom for Chilton and Little School students
- The admissions office relocated to the entrance of Little School, where visiting families are exposed immediately to the life and energy of the EMS programs
Upcoming Projects
The Administration and Buildings and Grounds Committee are engaged in a continual evaluation of improvements and current projects for the summer of 2024 and beyond including:
- Environmental Expansion Project
- Replacement of Peter Lawrence Gymkhana roofing and HVAC upgrades
- Infrastructure and systems updates, including security, electrical, exterior lighting and landscaping, as part of ongoing campus-wide updates
Food Service
Food service changes are in progress as our partner of several years (Yay Lunch) is leaving the New Jersey/NYC food delivery service market. New offerings are under review for launch in January of 2024. In our efforts to replace this service offering, EMS will be focused on maintaining a variety of lunch options, focus on reducing costs where possible and continuing to increase lunch program participation across all divisions.
Our Food Service Committee continues to hold regular meetings to review program offerings and solicit feedback. The committee will continue to seek opportunities to refine offerings, reduce costs, and make the program as accessible as possible to all community members. Sustainability efforts in lunch packaging will remain an important focus of continuing to reduce plastics and pre-packaged materials in our lunch packaging.
Transportation
Transportation services for EMS have seen the same challenges faced by districts across the country this school year. EMS will offer only traditional bus services where routes are able to be established for the upcoming school year.
Safety and Security
emergency operations plan
has been updated to current National Standards and aligned to best practices with the Englewood Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.
Monthly emergency drills
as required by the state are conducted regularly.
Visitor Management procedures
deployed during the pandemic remain in place for all campus visitors.
Visitor Screening
against a national sex offender database.
Visitor Scheduling
is required, with most unplanned campus visits, including food deliveries, not permitted.
Identification / Access Card system
was implemented in 2022, requiring employees and authorized visitors to wear visible provided IDs on campus. This system ensures all EMS community members can quickly and easily identify those adults who are authorized to be on campus.
Emergency Notification System
enables EMS to communicate with families across multiple platforms (phone, email, and SMS text) regarding important school updates and will be further refined for emergency planning use.
Emergency response training modules
are planned to provide practical training for all faculty and staff.
A new safety app
will be launched in late November 2023, which organizes emergency response teams on campus with instant emergency alerts, while simultaneously notifying faculty and staff.
Faculty and Staff identification badges
allow movement between campus buildings through locked entryways. Badges are scanned daily into the SchoolPass system so we always have up-to-date information for accountability during any on-campus emergency.
Technology
There’s been a continued focus on updating and improving the EMS campus network infrastructure.
Upgrade Overview
Updates in the past year have continued to build upon the recent work, which included replacement of all fiber connections between campus buildings, new core network equipment in Morrow House and Chilton House, installation of CAT6 network wiring throughout Morrow House, and campus-wide installations of CISCO Meraki Wi-Fi access points. Before the end of 2023, core network equipment in Little School will be replaced and upgraded. Additional improvements to XXXX’s network cabling are a focus for the summer of 2024.
Campus Internet
The communications bandwidth for our campus continues to support the greater demands of our internet cloud-based services, such as Google Workspace apps, Zoom, myEMS, SchoolPass, QuickBooks, and all of the other educational and business systems on campus.
Firewalls
New high-performance firewalls — devices that help protect us from cyber attacks outside of the school’s network — have been added in recent upgrades.
Technology Initiatives
EMS is in its third year of two one-to-one technology program initiatives: upon entry to fifth grade, each student receives an Apple MacBook Air, and each Little School student receives an Apple iPad.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR VISION AND GOALS FOR THE FUTURE OF EMS
Important 2023–2024 State of the School topics include updates from Chilton House, Little School, and Morrow House, as well as Advancement, Auxiliary Programs, Communications and Marketing, Enrollment, Finances, and Community Life, Equity, and Belonging.
