This is an emergency. New Song Academy is facing closure and a forced mid-year relocation of children and teachers. If this happens, the harm won’t be temporary. It will land in children’s bodies, minds, and futures—right now, in the middle of the school year.

BCPS has cited roof and HVAC issues, unpaid bills, and operational instability at the nonprofit operator, New Song Community Learning Center (NSCLC). Leadership resignations left urgent responsibilities unmanaged. Now the consequences are being placed on the people who never created this crisis: the students, the families, and the Sandtown community.

New Song is a predominantly African American school serving Black children in Sandtown. These students deserve what every child deserves: stability, safety, and a place where they are known and protected. Instead, they are being asked to absorb adult failures and a familiar pattern of disinvestment that too often treats Black communities as disposable—expected to “adjust” after loss, again and again.

Why relocation is harm—not a “transfer” -- A mid-year move is not logistics. It’s a shock to a child’s nervous system and a rupture to learning.

Relocation and closure can mean: Loss of trusted teachers and routines—the anchors that keep kids regulated and learning.

Attendance drops as transportation, schedules, and safety routes change overnight, academic backsliding during a critical part of the year, mental health impacts: anxiety, grief, anger, shutdown—especially for younger students, higher risk of disengagement for middle graders at a stage where stability matters most; and in Sandtown, this stacks onto the social and structural determinants of health—poverty, housing instability, food insecurity, limited access to care, community violence exposure, and chronic stress. When you uproot a school, you don’t just move children—you destabilize the very supports that help them thrive.

What this fight is really about: Children are watching what adults do in moments like this. They are learning whether the community will stand up for them. They are learning whether they are worth the effort. Because the truth is: the future shouldn’t be something they’re forced to survive alone—it should be something we protect.

As the song reminds us, “the greatest love of all” is giving children the chance to grow, stay rooted, and believe in themselves.

What the Stabilization Team is doing: A Steering/Stabilization Team has stepped up to restore lawful governance, rebuild transparency, and meet BCPS requirements with proof, deadlines, and weekly reporting:

No closure. No mid-year relocation.

Fix roof and HVAC issues immediately.

Pay down urgent arrears (utilities, water, vendors).

Keep staff paid and students supported without interruption.

The most direct way to show up for children right now: give and share.

This GoFundMe is not symbolic. It’s the fastest tool the community has today to protect students from being uprooted.

We need $185,000 immediately for urgent, documented needs:

--Roof and HVAC service/repairs

--Past-due utilities and water bills (utilities arrears include $35,000, plus water arrears)

--Trash removal and snow removal contracts

--Emergency operating continuity (payroll/benefits buffer + required compliance costs)

--Administrative stabilization (accounting support and required documentation)

Here’s what to do—right now

--Donate what you can. Even $10 matters when we move together.

--Share and repost this fundraiser everywhere—Facebook, Instagram, group chats.

--Text it to 5 people and ask them to do the same.

Sandtown’s children should not be uprooted in the middle of the year. Not again. Not like this.

Thank you in advance for whatever you can do to support and uphold New Song.

Give. Share. Repost. Hold the line so our children can stay rooted, learning, and safe—right where they belong.