Charter School Eyes Location At Oxford Valley Mall

The ongoing six-year saga of  MaST Charter School’s efforts to open in the Neshaminy School District will continue this week.

According to a public notice, the Neshaminy School Board will hold a public meeting to consider MaST-Neshaminy Charter School submitting a new proposed location. The charter school has previously looked at numerous locations in Middletown, including Wheeler Court, but is now proposing moving into the “Sears building” at the Oxford Valley Mall.

The meeting will take place Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Neshaminy School District Administrative Office at Maple Point Middle School in Middletown.

As of Monday, it was not clear whether the Sears in the mall was planning to close or whether there was additional space for the proposed charter school to potentially open in that wing of the shopping area.

A mall spokesperson told LevittownNow.com that management was aware of MaST’s charter school application but could not release any details on the public notice that listed the mall as a potential site for the school.

While Sears has been shuttering locations across the nation and has closed their Kmart stores in Lower Bucks County, the company has remained in the Oxford Valley Mall and has not publicly commented on the future of the store. A spokesperson for Sears did not return a request for comment.

The Oxford Valley Mall has four large anchor store slots. Three of the anchor stores are Macy’s, J.C. Penney and Sears. A fourth anchor position was previously occupied by Strawbridges and later Boscov’s before closing and sitting empty since 2006.

MaST first filed an application to open a K-12 charter school in the district in 2012. The application was denied and the Philadelphia-based charter school fought the decision. At school board meetings in 2012 and 2013, a group of community members spoke in support of MaST, citing that unique educational opportunities the new school can bring to the area.

MaST focuses their efforts on math, science and technology, offering unique educational experiences to its students. Currently, the school has a campus in Northeast Philadelphia.

Past school boards have previously opposed MaST’s plan and begrudgingly approved it in 2017 after a state court ruled in favor of the charter school.