The Amigos School is poised to get a new home, after years in an outdated building on Upton Street. Superintendent David Murphy will recommend it take over the vacant school building at 158 Spring Street at Thursday’s special meeting of the School Committee. The School Committee, however, will make the final decision.
Murphy shared this news Wednesday in an email to the Amigos community, which Cambridge Day received from an Amigos parent. Murphy said in the email his recommendation was based on the school’s “excellent instruction” and the chance to extend its “Spanish dual-language immersion program to more students,” along with the benefits of a new “physical facility.”
Murphy’s recommendation comes after several months of discussion and community engagement. The Amigos move has remained a leading option throughout.
A majority of the feedback the district has received has been in support of the Amigos move, according to Jaclyn Piques, the district’s director of communications.
Other options presented for the Spring Street building, left vacant after the 2024 closure of the Kennedy-Longfellow School, were the merging of two Upper Schools or creating a hub for early childhood education.
Murphy’s email did not make a recommendation for unused space that could exist after the Amigos School’s 450 students move to the Spring Street building, which can house up to 650 students.
The final decision about the building’s future belongs to the School Committee, Piques confirmed. The School Committee could vote on the recommendation Thursday or at its regular meeting Oct. 20. It could also schedule a special meeting.
Murphy will also recommend that the Amigos School at 158 Spring Street be operational by the 2028-29 school year. More information about building improvements will become available soon, according to the email.
In a Wednesday email to the Amigos community shared with Cambridge Day, school Principal Sarah Marrero said, “This is an exciting opportunity not only for Amigos, but also for the City of Cambridge and the future of dual-language education.”
Marrero invited parents to attend the Amigos School Council meeting online on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.
The special meeting of the School Committee will take place on Thursday, October 15, at 6 p.m., and can be attended in person at the Dr. Henrietta S. Attles Meeting Room at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, or watched live.
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