Gresham's Bittersweet Demolition

With Galloway’s recent announcement of Gresham’s demolition, ‘protesters’ have spoken up concerned about the building’s historic value.

I had the privilege of talking to Natalie Pitchford, Galloway’s Director of Fine Arts and the Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing. According to Pitchford, the idea that ‘protestors’ were coming to Galloway to ‘protest’ was just a rumor; there was no actual protest. However, an organization called GASP (Galloway Alumni and Supporters for Preservation) is actively trying to stop Galloway from demolishing Gresham. Their motive is that because Gresham is a historical building, destroying it would be like erasing a piece of history. The main issue with GASP is that they don’t seem to care about the students attending Galloway - not once in their ‘protests’ have they mentioned the student experience nor the deterioration of Gresham. Pitchford explained that GASP seems to think of Gresham as a stand-alone building, not a school. If they thought of Gresham as more of a school rather than just a building, they’d be able to understand how problematic the current deterioration of Galloway is to both current and future Galloway students. Although Mrs. Pitchford can understand that GASP (especially the few members that are alumni) equate the building with Elliott Galloway and their experience at Galloway, she is a firm believer that Galloway’s new building is “a great tribute to Mr. Galloway’s legacy,” because “given that [Mr. Galloway] was deeply student-centered in his approach to education, [she] believe[s] that he would recognize the need for a new, larger, and more appropriate building. His legacy is that our incredible faculty and leadership are equally student-centric and are willing to make difficult decisions on behalf of our current and future students.” She also thinks that because “Mr. Galloway always said that all it takes for learning is a student, a teacher, and a log to sit on,” he would understand and enthusiastically support Galloway’s decision. 

GASP started making noise last fall, around the time the announcement for the new building was made. A few people were annoyed with Galloway’s decision, so they started organizing GASP in late December - late January. Since then, GASP has become more organized, but their following hasn’t significantly grown. Not too long after, GASP planned a ‘protest,’ but it ended up being more of a media gathering. GASP brought a table and posters and set them up in front of Galloway; at the table sat an alumnus, Fran Galloway (who did not graduate from Galloway); someone who claimed he was an alumni parent; and Joe, who had no affiliation with Galloway, but said that his wife went to Galloway. He was described as an agitator and as someone who “notoriously gets involved in projects like this to prevent them from moving forward.” There were also a few bystanders who were alum from the 70s. GASP also hired their own PR firm, and there were two news reporters at the scene as well. GASP has also created an Instagram page where they keep members and supporters of GASP up to date with the work they are doing. GASP recently made a petition which was posted all over their social media. The petition now has 2,094 signatures, only 97 of which (at Galloway’s last count) have been affiliated with Galloway. GASP also approached Galloway and offered a different plan for the demolition. According to Pitchford, it was evident that GASP didn’t have enough information about the building because the design didn’t take the students into account, and because the plan simply wasn’t appropriate for school usage. 

However, Dr. Calleroz White, Head of School, did take the time to acknowledge GASP through an email. In the email, he said that GASP is “singularly focused [on] [a] narrative regarding our project, uninformed by accurate facts, which only highlights the fact that not everyone values the needs of our current families and students the same way we do.” He went on to say that Galloway “empathize[s] with their feelings, their vision and version of what [Galloway] should do has only helped [Galloway] to become even clearer on what we already knew: that at Galloway, a building is not a school,” and that although “[Galloway’s] history was born in the Gresham Building, it is not bound by it.” This being said, Galloway is confident that they know what’s best for the future of Gresham, so they are planning on continuing to move forward with the next steps of their demolition plan: Galloway Forward.

Galloway Forward is Galloway’s most recent project, which will ultimately be Galloway’s biggest transformation. The project is to start this summer, and their goal is to finish the project in 2026. The new building will include amenities such as an expanded library and a huge lunch room; the final product of Galloway Forward will be incredibly beneficial to the everyday lives of students and faculty. In the meantime, while the new building is being built, students and faculty will be placed in modular classrooms, similar to Gresham’s current classrooms. They will be smaller than Gresham’s classrooms, and not as ideal for the lives of Galloway’s students.

Although there have been mixed opinions about Gresham’s demolition, there’s one thing the Galloway community knows. Galloway Forward is the next best step for Galloway, and the new building will be better than we ever could’ve imagined. As the school year ends and the Galloway community says a bittersweet goodbye to Gresham, Dr. CW reminds us of one thing: “Galloway is as strong as ever, being built inside and outside to thrive for generations to come.”

By Marin Zocca