By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — Just a few days after the Spruce Street School moves into its new Frank Gehry-designed building next year, New York will commemorate the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.
Spruce Principal Nancy Harris wants to record both events in a documentary film.
“It’s about our evolution and the community’s evolution,” Harris said. “It’s been a long process, both for our school and for the community.”
Just as the World Trade Center rebuilding has been plagued by setbacks, so has Spruce.
The Spruce Street School was originally supposed to open in 2008 in the base of a rippling steel tower Gehry designed, just a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. But the opening was delayed by money battles between the state and city, along with developer Bruce Ratner’s trouble getting construction financing.
While waiting for its final home to be ready, Spruce welcomed its first kindergarteners last fall in temporary space in Tweed Courthouse. The school will grow to serve about 150 kindergarteners and first graders there this fall.
Harris envisions the documentary as a poignant way to look forward on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, while at the same time capturing her fledgling school’s first days in a brand-new skyscraper downtown.
“It is a very personal connection for me — the way things come full circle,” Harris said.
Elda Rotor, a Spruce parent leader, said the documentary would also teach Spruce students about their place in the larger community.
“Hopefully these children will become peacemakers, giving back to the world,” Rotor said.
To fund the film, Harris applied for a $25,000 grant through the Pepsi Refresh Project, which awards $1.3 million each month to nonprofit causes that get the most online votes.
The Spruce documentary project is now ranked 112th in its category and needs to rise to No. 10 or higher to get the money.
People can vote every day through May 31, when this month’s winners will be decided.
Even if the Spruce documentary does not win the grant, Harris hopes she can still find a way make the film.
“Every person in this community has a story,” she said.
