Building Bush

As The Bush School matured, it began to grapple with the consequences of its own success. Reminiscent of the founding years when Helen Taylor Bush took bank loans to pay faculty, administrators were forced to consider how to manage rising overhead and maintain quality instruction without drastically increasing tuition, a common issue among independent schools. Increasing racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity at Bush also became an important objective during this time. In 1994 the administration formed its Diversity Implementation Program to both increase representation in the student body and create more diverse perspectives in the curriculum.

One of the core goals of its 1999 long-range plan was to “recruit, retain, and support a diverse student body, faculty, and staff.” The school hired its first K-12 diversity coordinator in 2001. Under these initiatives, the percentage of students of color would steadily increase at Bush. Creativity among students at Bush flourished, thanks to the addition of Benaroya Theater to the Urban Courtyard. A formal music program in the Upper School encouraged musically inclined students in their pursuits, and some graduated to earn local and national acclaim. The late nineties and early 2000’s ushered in a campus expansion that well positioned Bush for the twenty-first century. In 1999, Wissner Hall was built on the Upper School campus. In 2006 the culmination of a $34 million capital campaign resulted in a completely new Lower School building, playground, library, turf field, parking garage, and gym. The project required the removal of the Livengood Learning Center, displaced Lower School students for an academic year, and was a huge undertaking that required the full support of the Bush community.