The Story

The Jewels School is an inclusive preschool committed to educating and involving special needs children in not only the classroom, but also the everyday activities of their typically developing peers. It offers an equal opportunity to all children, regardless of ability level to receive the most beneficial academic, social and life skills necessary for future success. By embracing students' diversity, the school helps foster leadership roles for many children, while encouraging others in their challenges through positive peer encouragement. The inclusive preschool setting benefits students by modeling diversity and compassion, teaches that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and embraces the meaning of true friendship.

"We had a vision to create a safe and loving space where every child could succeed. Our aggressive plan to break ground in January and have 400 children in their classrooms come September meant that we could not afford to pick the wrong construction partner" said Rabbi Fuchs, Executive Director for the Jewels School in Baltimore. "Iconic Builders' transparent and realistic approach gave us confidence that they were actually prepared to partner with us on this important project."

In addition to creating unique learning environments, the Jewels School is also certified to operate comprehensive and integrated therapeutic practices within the school. The Jewels school offers on-campus integrated speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. All students with unique learning requirements get to stay on campus with their friends and in the same loving environment they get accustomed to each day.

“We take immense pride at Iconic Builders in delivering projects that exceed our client’s expectations. We understood from the beginning that the Jewels school was very important to the Baltimore community and that this project had to remain on schedule for the fall. What we didn’t know was that the world was going to be hit with a global pandemic healthcare crisis” said Josh Reznick, Managing Partner at Iconic Builders. “This was one of the most difficult projects that we have ever encountered. We had supply chain challenges, issues with labor due to COVID and significant new safety precautions that we had to put into action. It was all hands on deck but was absolutely worth it when we saw the children arrive for their first day of school. I’d do it all over again for them!”

Rabbi Fuchs went on to say, "We were very concerned that the COVID pandemic would delay our project but Iconic began to accelerate creative options and to enable multiple workstreams in parallel. I have never seen such commitment from an organization before and their work enabled us to stay on schedule and welcome all of our special students in September when we opened our doors at our new school. I will enthusiastically endorse Iconic Builders going forward!"