School At Annapolis Mall Is 'No-Brainer' For These Students

ANNAPOLIS, MD — It's a blank canvas. Steel beams and unpainted drywall are the only things inside the cavernous space. A football field would fit comfortably in the dusty, hangar-like room.

In nine months, however, the 50,000-square-foot box will open as a charter school in the Annapolis Mall. The tuition-free New Village Academy promises "high school done differently" with "Annapolis as our classroom."

The academy will be located above The Container Store on the second floor of the former Lord & Taylor, which has been closed since 2018. Starting with about 170 students and growing to 270 by year three, the school will teach hands-on problem-solving skills with its project-based curriculum.

Officials, families and future students filled the building Tuesday evening for a ground-breaking ceremony. Attendees gathered around folding chairs and a podium, where a speaker extension cord stretched over 100 feet to the nearest outlet. Guests kept their jackets on, as the facility does not yet have heat.

"There is a lot more to be done to realize this crazy vision. We need to turn this enormous, empty space into a school," Founder and Head of School Romey Pittman said at the event. "This space is now a bare slab of concrete, but it will soon come to life as a vibrant and inclusive home base for our students and families."

New Village Academy plans to open in August 2026, two years behind schedule. Construction is slated to cost $11.6 million and is being financed by nonprofit Civic Builders, which will sublease the property to New Village Academy. The school will take over the lease and refinance the loan in a few years after it develops a financial history.

The academy originally planned to open in fall 2024, but the sale of the Annapolis mall that summer delayed the school's opening by a year.

This April, the charter school announced that it would not open as planned in August 2025. Planners cited financing struggles stemming from President Donald Trump's tariffs and federal grant cuts.

The academy bounced back and resumed construction plans last month.

Pittman said the project overcame "legal and financial and logistical obstacles that kept falling out of the sky and into our path."

Students Drawn To New Model

New Village Academy has caught the interest of home-schoolers seeking socialization. The smaller class sizes and interactive lessons lured in other families.

Pittman aims to create at least 100 internships. She also wants to partner with mall businesses and the Annapolis city government, challenging students to tackle real-world problems.

Kimberly Gomez Posada, a sophomore at Annapolis High School, plans to attend New Village Academy next year. As an aspiring veterinarian, she dreams of interning at the SPCA's Paws at the Mall, a pet adoption facility in the shopping center.

"It is this out-of-the-classroom experience and opportunity for me and many other students that make New Village Academy so exciting and different from other schools," she said.

Tanisha Hill of Glen Burnie home-schooled both of her daughters. She eventually sent her youngest to public school for more socialization, but traditional classroom learning didn't suit her eighth grader, Alana Hill.

"She's confined to a desk all day," Tanisha Hill said, noting that her daughter prefers the frequent movement and social interaction expected at New Village Academy. "This was the better option. When I found out about it, I had to jump on it."

Alana Hill is excited for the new experience and reimagined schoolwork.

"I kind of like how the building is set up," Alana Hill said. "I'm not going to be sitting in a classroom for a long period of time."

Vision For Future

The school's focal point will be the light well, a square opening that looks down into the mall below. A common area, seating steps, study booths and reading caves will surround the light well.

The cafe will double as a performance stage. There will be typical school amenities like a library, science lab and art studio.

Stand-out offerings, however, include a peace room and a recording booth in the digital lab. A studio for martial arts, dance and yoga is also on tap.

Morgan Stroud of Severna Park said it was a "no-brainer" to choose New Village Academy. Stroud, who also serves on the school's board, will send four of her children to the academy next year. A fifth will follow in the school's second year. Her sixth child has already graduated.

Stroud home-schooled her children, but they started craving more social interaction.

"We have gotten to a point in our home schooling that I think we need to do something different," Stroud said. "I think we need something better, and New Village, I think, is it."

Stroud lauded the smaller classes at the charter school. Students will be grouped in 14-person cohorts called crews. These crews will advance through each grade level together as a unit, maintaining peer continuity and ensuring smaller class sizes than traditional high schools.

Instruction will also be offered in Spanish for native speakers, but the academy will not be a language immersion school.

"Annapolis has a large Hispanic community we want to reach," Stroud said. "This is a school to reengage their children at."

Stroud understands the concerns about attending school at the mall.

Shoppers will not have access to the school. The academy's private entrance will be located atop the Green Garage between The Container Store and Crate & Barrel on the Bestgate Road side of the mall.

"It is going to be safe. The kids are not going to be running around in the mall," Stroud said, adding that upperclassmen may have a chance to get lunch in the mall.

New Village Academy has a contract with Anne Arundel County Public Schools, which will keep the facility tuition-free for county residents.

AACPS Superintendent Mark Bedell said charter schools are not designed to replace public schools. For them to succeed, Bedell thinks they must provide something that public schools cannot.

"New Village Academy accomplishes that," Bedell said. "This will become a national model if we do it right."

Interested students can apply to the school's lottery at newvillageacademy.org/how-to-apply. The lottery window is open until Jan. 15, 2026.

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