Baltimore City Public Schools is shutting down New Song Academy at the end of the year.
The charter elementary and middle school in Sandtown-Winchester is facing “significant financial challenges” and a deteriorating building, according to a letter sent Monday by school system CEO Sonja Santelises to New Song Academy staff.
Closure is “in the best interest of New Song students and staff and their safety,” Santelises wrote.
In January, the city school board voted to renew New Song’s charter for three years while noting the school needed to get on better long-term financial footing. Charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, must receive a charter from the school board to operate. At the time, the school system said New Song needed additional oversight and accountability.
New Song Academy is run by the nonprofit New Song Community Learning Center.
The school will be relocated to a building in Harlem Park during winter break. According to the letter, New Song Academy’s roof and HVAC systems are deteriorating despite previous repairs.
“The systems are at the end of their lifespans and may not last through the remainder of the current school year,” Santelises wrote.
New Song will have its own wing and entrance at the nearby campus, where Harlem Park Elementary/Middle School, Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts, and Youth Opportunity Academy are also located. New Song currently enrolls 182 students in grades pre-K through 8 and has 13 teachers, according to the school system.
The city school system declined to comment and New Song’s principal did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.
Doug Fireside was a part of New Song practically at its inception, attending the school’s ribbon cutting, teaching under the founding principal and serving as principal himself from 2019 to 2024. He recalled how the school had partnered with neighboring organizations to provide services like lunch distributions to families in need.
“It makes me profoundly sad to hear that students in Sandtown will no longer have New Song as an option,” said Fireside, who has since stopped working at the school. “It’s been an anchor in that community, not just as a school but as a community center, for 30 years.”
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