Old Friends School – proposed site for College Park Academy
Recently a news on the UMD paper The Diamondback has made quite a stir among residents and Council alike about the relocation of College Park Academy.
We haven’t discussed this latest development at the Council recently. Thus the news caught many of us off-guard.
It’s true that the school’s board of directors are planning to move the school to Hyattsville, but I think and hope that it’s rather a temporary measure. I’ve heard that the move is only for 1 or 2 years. Also, I don’t think the school is moving mainly because of the concerns from a section of the residents. There could be other reasons, such as lack of time for renovation and build-out of the new school extension. Relocation of school or office equipment and supplies can be overwhelming so anyone who’s planning to move may consider hiring a professional office moving company. With the assistance of professional movers taking care of things efficiently, any move becomes a breeze. And if you are looking for storage solutions, then you might want to consider hiring professional companies like Boombox Storage.
Even the school moves out of the College Park temporarily, I haven’t heard that the name of the school will change from ‘College Park Academy” to something else.
In terms of reaction from the residents, we’ve received emails from both sides. I’ve heard that there is a fairly large number of residents who support the school at the proposed location. If the concern is due to size of the school, we can perhaps solve that by having the middle and high schools at two locations in the city. This is, in fact one of the proposals we discussed in the council a few months back. One issue we’ll need to look at cost of operating two schools instead of one.
I personally think the school is extremely important to our city and its students, given the lack of middle and high schools in the city. It’s a great initiative by the City-University partnership. The Council allocated 80,000 in the FY2013 budget to support the school. We’ll continue this support as long as it serves College Park’s students.