MANATEE — Questions continue to linger over Bradenton Preparatory Academy’s plans to reopen for classes in a new location next week.
Manatee County officials said they strongly doubt it will open on Monday as planned, even after meeting with school officials Friday. And school officials might be making last-minute changes to their plans, including the possibility of holding classes in two or more locations.
The private school, which lost its campus to foreclosure in July, plans to reopen as The Prep Learning Academy in a leased storefront at 7700 Cortez Road. It also plans to open a new child-care facility.
But first it needs county approval because the building is zoned for commercial use, not a school. The school hasn’t yet applied for that permit, which would take at least three weeks for the county to review and approve.
Thus, a Monday opening is “not likely to happen,” said Doug Means, a planning division director. “Until they actually submit an application, we don’t know exactly what they are doing.”
Neither Hendrik Lamprecht, the school’s owner, nor a school attorney returned telephone messages Friday.
During a preliminary meeting Friday, school officials initially told the county they wanted to rezone the site to allow a K-12 school. But after planners said that could take at least two months, school officials said they would amend that to allow a K-5 school because it would take less time.
Lamprecht did not say where else the school’s sixth- through 12th-graders could attend classes, said Means, who was among those at the meeting.
School officials said they will have at least 123 students, according to a county planner’s notes of the meeting. Students would be dropped off by parents or guardians and eat catered lunches delivered from elsewhere.
But the student body won’t include 40 players in U.S. Soccer’s Under-17 National Residency Program.
Those students, who come from all over the country to train at IMG Academies, will attend classes at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School instead of Bradenton Prep as originally planned, a spokeswoman confirmed.
Kate McMaster, press officer for U.S. Soccer’s youth teams, said she did not know if the change in schools was related to Bradenton Prep’s financial problems.
Those problems include more than $1 million in IRS tax liens; lawsuits from several creditors; teachers owed as much as four months’ pay; and vehicle repossessions for non-payment.
Duane Marsteller, transportation/growth and development reporter, can be reached at 745-7080, ext. 2630.
