Yorkship Elementary Only School Of Four On Chopping Block In Camden That Will Not Be Closed
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- Three schools in Camden will close at the end of the school year but one is now being spared. The decision has been made, and of the four schools that were on the chopping block, Yorkship Elementary is the one that will be saved.
However, Sharp, Wiggins and Cramer schools will close at the end of the school year. The planning process started last June with a number of community meetings.
Back in January, Superintendent Katrina McCombs announced a plan to address the district's deficit by closing underutilized buildings that were in need of desperate repairs.
This came with a number of protests from families that will be affected.
Gov. Phil Murphy and Acting Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan have pledged to garner funding to repair Yorkship Elementary.
McCombs says the Camden City School District was able to save Yorkship because it is the only school in this area.
"There are no other charter schools, renaissance schools, traditional public schools, not even any private schools in that neighborhood," she said. "So that would have been a great hardship because that neighborhood would have been left without any schools at all."
McCombs says transportation will be made available for all affected families, regardless of the distance from their new schools come September.
As for the three buildings that will be abandoned, she says the district hopes to turn them into the hands of individuals that will transform them into spaces useful to the community.
