New Village Academy promised to do high school differently. But now it won’t be educating kids at all.

Four months ahead of its planned opening at Annapolis Mall this fall, the nontraditional high school’s governing board voted to end its efforts to welcome students, according to a Friday news release.

“Despite an unwavering commitment and substantial progress, the project faced insurmountable challenges stemming from a disrupted federal funding environment and rising construction costs,” the news release reads.

New Village Academy, a charter school touting innovations like internships and “food court Fridays,” had already faced a series of setbacks. Its planned opening this school year was pushed back as the Annapolis Mall was sold to a new owner.

Then earlier this year, as New Village Academy was finalizing its lease for the second floor in the mall’s former Lord & Taylor department store, a company that was supposed to sublease the space pulled out. It would have been a health care center that served both students and the community.

In a more detailed explanation of recent events, the school said the partner left “because of the massive upheaval in federal funding, which made building and launching an expensive new clinic too risky.”

Then one of the partners on the school’s construction loan also pulled out because it’s a nonprofit dependent on U.S. Department of Education backing, the release said. The resulting $2.9 million funding gap snowballed with “inflation, tariffs, and supply chain delays” that raised construction costs by $900,000.

The school said that efforts with a slew of government and community partners fell short of fixing “unresolvable barriers,” leading to the board’s April 16 decision to cancel a fall opening. The school said it would have been at risk of running out of funding in the middle of construction.

“We are heartbroken,” New Village Academy Head of School Romey Pittman said in the news release. “This school was designed to give our community’s young people the will and the skill to take charge of their education and their future with Annapolis as their classroom. ... We are devastated by the loss of this innovative opportunity for Anne Arundel County youth.”

In a letter for families and community members linked on the school’s website, New Village leaders said the challenges “happened so quickly that we are not sure yet what’s next.”

Pittman said there is no other location in Annapolis the school could use for a fall opening. But school leaders said they are “considering new approaches” for the future.

About the Education Hub

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