According to their website, the school's philosophy is "based upon the belief that all children can learn given the appropriate opportunities."

Unfortunately for local residents, the project was beset with delays and by July 1929 the funds originally appropriated for the new school were used instead to build Gwynn Falls Junior High.

In the six year interim, the neighborhood grew from 350 to over 500 dwellings and students attending overcrowded schools at Payson and Saratoga and Poplar Grove and Lafayette Avenues were forced to study in portable structures.

Beginning in 1899, Charles L. Stockhausen served as a general contractor throughout in Baltimore with projects including the General Baking Company (1925) at North Avenue and Harford Road and the Fairfield Farms Dairy Company Building (1927) at Front, Exeter and Colvin Streets.

In response to the rapid growth, the school administration proposed a large addition with a contract soon awarded to Philip Vizzini & Son, Inc. Phillip Vizzini established his construction firm in 1918 and attended the Maryland Institute night school earning a certificate in architecture in 1920.