More News

Hyattsville Middle School parents are worried that the school's Creative and Performing Arts department could potentially be shut down after discovering the program is under review by the Prince George's County School system.

The CPA department is a 7-year-old magnet program offering classes in drama, band, orchestra, dance, creative writing, visual arts and media arts.

The program's evaluation coincides with a review of school boundaries meant to address under-capacity, overcrowded or under-performing schools as well as increase access to special programs.

In the current boundary proposal, there are no boundary changes recommended for Hyattsville Middle, which is at 120 percent capacity, so the school system won't recommend changes to Hyattsville Middle's boundaries until the CPA department's evaluation is complete, Hohndel Jones-Brown, county director of pupil accounting and school boundaries, said during a Nov. 17 public hearing at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville.

Principal Gail Golden said the CPA department evaluation is similar to the one Berwyn Heights Elementary School's music and technology program underwent last year. That program was originally grant-funded, but the school system continued paying for it after money expired five years ago. It then voted in the summer to cut funding altogether. It had budgeted $677,000 for the Berwyn Heights Elementary program and for replicating it at another elementary school.

Golden said she doesn't know the timeline for the evaluation, but the school is on track to hold auditions in February for entry into the program.

"It's a signature program. I think it's made Hyattsville Middle School what it is, and I would hate to lose it," she said.

Parent Teacher Association President Denice Melito said parents are mobilizing to speak out in favor of keeping the program during the next public hearing on the school boundary plan, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro.

Although Hyattsville Middle hasn't yet met annual benchmarks — called Adequately Yearly Progress —in state-mandated tests, Melito said the students in the CPA program help the school's overall score since students have to maintain a C-average to remain the program.

"What we know already is what we see in the school, as parents of the students in there, [which is] how well our students are doing," Melito said.

PTA vice president Errick King spoke at the Nov. 17 boundary hearing about his daughter, currently enrolled in the CPA department.

"I chose to put her in there because I felt the program would be a good experience for her," he said. "I believe if you take that program away from her, it's not only going to hurt her, but other students in the school."

Rebecca Wilson, whose daughter attended Hyattsville Middle last year, called the CPA program the "pride and joy of our community."

"The entire community rallies around that school. It's not just a program that can be moved to another school," she added.

E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.