Relocating the Amigos School to the vacant school building at 158 Spring Street will be “seriously considered,” Superintendent Dave Murphy said in an email Monday to Amigos parents and families.
Amigos has emerged as a leading contender for the former Kennedy-Longfellow building in recent months, with Murphy raising the possibility at an April town hall and Amigos parents expressing support for the potential move into a building that has an auditorium and a notably larger cafeteria.
While Murphy said in the email that “no final decisions have been made,” he acknowledged that the building’s capacity of about 650 students would be conducive to the Amigos School, a school with over 400 students and the district’s only K-8 school.
“When it opened in 1970, it was designed to serve as a 700-student Kindergarten through 8th grade school, meaning it also features appropriately sized classrooms and specialized learning spaces like a science lab, etc.,” the email reads.
The email referenced “logistical challenges” at the current Amigos building housed in Cambridgeport on Upton Street, namely overcrowding and ongoing maintenance.
Unlike the current Amigos building, the school at 158 Spring Street will have a dedicated green space, Ahern Field, which is currently undergoing renovations. After pushback from community members and some Amigos parents, the renovations will no longer include installation of synthetic turf, according to a June 10 statement from City Manager Yi-An Huang.
Other options for the building at 158 Spring Street have been mooted at previous town halls and school committee meetings, such as merging two schools into the building or creating a new school, but Murphy’s email is the only formal communication from the district about a front-running option thus far.
The district will host community forums throughout the summer and school year to discuss a potential Amigos move, according to the email.
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