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Former charter-school CEO plans to turn old Harvest Co-op in Forest Hills into a private elementary school
By adamg on Thu, 08/08/2019 - 6:03pm
The Croft School of Providence plans to build a K-6 school in the space once occupied by the now defunct Harvest Co-op Market on Washington Street.
The school hopes to open next summer, starting with K-1 and K-2 classes and eventually expanding through grade 6 to serve students primarily in Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury.
The school is owned by Scott Given, who resigned in 2016 as CEO of Up Education Network, which runs three charter schools in Boston and two in Lawrence. He cites the experience of having two kids, now 2 and 4, for starting the private school after he left Up:
For a while, we leaned towards city public school as our default option, but we observed just too many quality inconsistencies, classroom to classroom, to pursue that path. Our review of most private schools yielded options that were unaffordable and/or didn't "check the boxes" on other criteria, too. We felt stuck - there were no undeniably high-quality mid-priced schools.
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Comments
Parochial school enrollment numbers?
Any one have data on how Holy Name and Sacred Heart do these days?
Yes!!! I’d love another
Yes!!! I’d love another school option in my neighborhood.
I really wanted a Trader Joe’s, but this will do.
Space?
I'm certainly curious about a school that would theoretically fit 7 grades in that space.
Edit:
Hmm, looks like they plan on having more of the building than just Harvest’s former space.
I know the store had its
I know the store had its problems, but I enjoyed shopping at Harvest and after I moved to Rozzie from JP, I considered myself lucky that they opened the store at Forest Hills. As I don't own a car, I liked the ease of being able to hop off the orange line at the end of the work day and cross the street to pick up things that can't be found at the Village Market. I was keeping my fingers crossed that another grocery store would fill that space. I even thought it was likely given the hundreds of new condos being built in the vicinity.
Meh
The Croft School in Providence is $17k/ year. I'm sure the tuition in Boston will be even more. Clearly this will not be a school option for most families.
Maybe that's good though?
To reheat the same old argument...
1) BPS budget goes up every year (per city documents)
2) Enrollment is growing slowly but still lower than previous high points.
3) BPS advocates will argue that the budget is still too low even though it is among the highest per student in the state.
Every parent who opts for a non-BPS and non-charter school option is doing us collectively a big favor by paying for their kids education while still paying taxes towards BPS.
Of course, these same parents are then excoriated by exam school reformers as stealing money and seats from more deserving 'BPS' kids which is absurd but that's another topic.
With the new 2.5 million
With the new 2.5 million condos being built around this property, one would think a grocery store would be a gold mine. I loved Harvest. the location. Not the store.