With the September 1st deadline to identify a viable site for the new school quickly approaching, the board of Chesapeake Public Charter School (CPCS) made an announcement about their new facility on Sunday.

CPCS was granted a charter in March with the proviso that they submit a suitable site plan and secure a facility by September 1st

 
Kate Sullivan gets excited about plans for the new charter school
           – The Bay Net Photos by Anna Bedford

Now CPCS has an identified site they will present a letter to Dr. Martirano and the St. Mary’s County Public Schools Board of Education. The school board will then place the proposition on their agenda for a future meeting.

“By all appearances [this site] has every indication that it can be made into a viable site,” said Kate Sullivan, Chesapeake Public Charter School’s Acting Administrator. By December 31 the plan must be finalized and accepted, and the CPCS board hopes to have permits in place.

“We should be getting feedback on our plans in the next couple of weeks,” Sullivan told The Bay Net, Sunday. “Next we’ll cost it out, and then send it to the Department of Planning and Zoning, for permits,” she explained. “We plan to get it to the Department of Planning and Zoning by the end of September and get permits this year.”

The site in question, it was revealed on Sunday, is the property of Tom Watts, of Raley, Watts Insurance, and chairman and CEO of Maryland Bank and Trust, and Big Blue LLC. The building is located on Great Mills Road. “It’s a big blue building,” joked Watts, “It took us a long time to come up with the name [for the LLC].”

“We’re trying to participate in the redevelopment of Lexington Park,” Watts told The Bay Net. “The State spent a lot of money building up Great Mills Road, and it’s one of the main arteries to the base.”

 
Tom Watts holds up an image of what CPCS  is proposed to look like

Currently the building is used as office space and also houses the only indoor tennis facility in St. Mary’s County. Originally constructed in the 1980s, the building was designed as an indoor tennis and health center, and restaurant. Over the years either end of the building has been converted into three stories of offices, with two tennis courts remaining in the center.

“It will be completely gutted and engineered to their specific needs,” said Watts of the 23,000 square foot wing now designated for St. Mary’s County’s first charter school. “I believe there will be nine classrooms, teachers’ offices, [in addition to] art and music rooms,” he told The Bay Net.

“The vision for the charter school – the long term vision – requires this commitme