A new education model is in the works not just to provide
a convenient, consistent learning setting for interested students but also to
revitalize Harrisburg's Midtown.
The Midtown Educational Continuum — dubbed “Education
Row”, a takeoff on the city's Restaurant Row — will bring together different
levels of the education system within a block of each other that can take
students from prekindergarten levels through a four-year college degree.
In the process, the project will inject new
education-based businesses into Midtown, according to Doug Neidich, CEO of
Harrisburg's GreenWorks Development LLC, the principal developer on the
project.
The group hopes to have the model up and running by fall
2015, according to Maurice “Reese” Flurie, CEO at Commonwealth Connections
Academy, the cyber charter school at 1426 N. Third St., which is participating
in the continuum.
“It's not a secret that young professional families who
love Harrisburg leave the city for better education solutions on the West Shore
or other places,” he said. “We can be that solution. As we grow it, maybe more
families want to move into the city to be part of this.”
U-Gro Learning Centres Inc. would handle prekindergarten and
day care education, Commonwealth Connections would be the education system for
kindergarten through 12th grade, and Harrisburg Area Community College would provide four years
of college education at its two Midtown locations.
All will be within a block of each other, except for the
HACC location at Fourth and Harris streets, about three blocks away.
“Without education, there can't be any redevelopment,”
said Neidich, who has been involved with Midtown redevelopment since the
mid-2000s. “You can't substantively revitalize a city without incorporating
education. I have nothing against the Harrisburg School District whatsoever,
but there needs to be alternatives and options in education in the city.”
Since Commonwealth Connections is chartered as a cyber
school, it does not house students in its brick-and-mortar location. However,
the Midtown location is a drop-in center for students in grades seven to 12.
With Education Row, it would expand to be a drop-in center for all enrolled
students looking for extra help.
But Flurie said if another entity would seek a charter to
be part of the continuum, there is enough room in the 60,000-square-foot
Commonwealth Connections building for it to be housed.
U-Gro plans to move into a building next to Commonwealth
Connections and open in June. The three-floor, 100-year-old building will be
renovated for a capacity of 106 children ages 1 to 5, according to President
and CEO Gregory Holsinger.
“This is going to be a very popular program, I'm sure,”
he said. “We're going to be able to put a lot of parents' minds at ease.”
HACC's two Midtown campuses — one of which is across the
street from the Commonwealth Connections Academy building — house almost all of
the school's trade and technical education.
There is no requirement for enrolled students to stay
with the program from start to finish, Neidich said.
Additional partners on the project include public
broadcaster WITF and Penn State Harrisburg.
WITF will provide training and credentialing courses to
teachers at both U-Gro and Commonwealth Connections on using video and
animation in the classroom.
“We already conduct about 60 courses a year, and we reach
about 500 to 600 teachers,” according to Kathleen A. Pavelko, president and CEO
at WITF Inc. “We have that resource they're looking for.”
Partnering with Penn State Harrisburg allows the school
the possibility of offering its degree programs through the continuum in the
future.
Space is available for future growth, including the
addition of other institutions,
“We're actively talking with other institutions and
community groups that want to be part of this,” Neidich said.
Source: Central
Penn Business Journal
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