By BRANDON CANTWELL

Staff writer

LIBERTY — Akiva Academy representatives hope to continue under one charter, as they requested the Liberty Board of Education release property partially within the district.

On Monday, board members heard from Melissa Bateman, the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation’s director of community engagement, who spoke on behalf of both the federation and the private school.

Bateman said the school had a “significant opportunity” when Allen Mirkin of Allen’s Pharmacy donated land at 520 Gypsy Lane last year, which crews began preparing in July.

“Subsequently, the federation purchased the land around it. After carefully evaluating the community’s needs and potential uses, the federation decided to allow Akiva Academy to use the building for its middle school program,” Bateman said.

Bateman said the middle school is now housed at the back of the Jewish Community Center in a single hallway. She said while they were grateful for the space, it didn’t adequately support middle schoolers’ developmental needs.

“Adolescents benefit from a sense of independence, identity and ownership of their learning environment;” Bateman said.

Bateman said they plan to move grades five through eight across the street to 520 Gypsy Lane, which she approximated to be about 60 students.

She said the building is across the street from their current location, but it’s situated within Liberty’s school district, resulting in Akiva Academy being unable to operate under its middle school charter unless it’s annexed into Youngstown and the city’s school district.

This resulted in Bateman’s request to the board, which she said is contingent on the Youngstown City School District approving the annexation as well.

“This would allow Akiva to continue operating under a single charter and provide uninterrupted services to our students,” Bateman said.

Bateman noted that the school was not recruiting additional middle school students, adding that they “very rarely” accept students beyond third grade because of Hebrew and its learning curve.

“Hebrew is a level three language in difficulty by the Ohio Department of Education, and we don’t have the capacity to teach multiple levels,” Bateman said.

Bateman said she wanted to emphasize how much the federation values the relationship it has with Liberty, explaining that they’re pleased to welcome many of the district’s students to summer camps, art programs and swim programs.

“Annexation is the best possible outcome for Akiva Academy. It allows us to remain under one charter, and ensures continuity for our students,” Bateman said.

Board President David Malone said the board had no plans to take action on the request at Monday’s meeting, noting that Superintendent Brian Knight would reach out if they planned to do so in the future.