School Planning

All eyes are on the Carroll County Board of Education as members prepare to choose next week where to build the next new high school.Hoping to head off a growing political dispute among parents in Westminster and Eldersburg, the school board has scheduled a "work session" tomorrow night to explain to the County Commissioners how the difficult decision will be made.School planning staff members will explain how they calculate school enrollment projections and set priorities, said C. Scott Stone, president of the school board.

With almost all construction bids in, South Shore Elementary School is about $375,000 over the cost estimate of $5.7 million.If the remaining bids come in close to what they were projected to be, the contracts for the school in Crownsville will total nearly $6.1 million. But the school system is on the hook for $5.7 million only, said Rodell E. Phaire Sr., director of facilities planning and construction.That is because Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., the construction management firm hired by the county Board of Education, guaranteed it would bring the project in on time and at the estimate that it helped develop.

To stave off a county government takeover of school construction, Anne Arundel school officials need to build schools with so few glitches that the only worry County Executive John G. Ghary has is whether he can get to the ribbon-cutting.That's the consensus of county leaders, who say the school construction system needs immediate improvement."It will take building schools in a cost-effective and efficient manner. It will take not coming back to the well for more money," said Lisa Ritter, Mr. Gary's spokeswoman.

INTO EVERY LIFE a little rain must fall, but the odds of being caught in the downpour could be a lot shorter if you're a student in Carroll County schools.That's if the newly reconstituted county Planning and Zoning Commission gets its way on recommendations for capital projects in the school system budget.Bean counters on the seven-member commission last monthaxed a Board of Education request to keep a "rainy day fund," as it were, for maintaining and repairing roofs at county schools on an as-needed basis.

SUDDENLY, THE YEAR 2001 appears within our grasp. If Howard County school Superintendent Michael Hickey and his staff are right, that meridian year will signal the beginning of the end for the system's long odyssey of growth.This long journey toward normality hasn't come without pain. Inaccurate growth projections have made school planning a nightmare. Increases in population spiked upward in unexpected parts of the county during the boom period of the last three decades that must have seemed like heaven to developers.

The Anne Arundel County Board of Education's new construction budget for fiscal year 1996 makes us wonder if school and county officials have their priorities straight.The board's highest-ranking major construction project is an addition to Broadneck High School at a cost of $22 million, most of which will come from county coffers.That is tremendously expensive considering that the average cost of a whole new high school in Maryland is $30 million. Broadneck does not suffer from overcrowding, nor is the school, built in 1982, in horrible shape.

Board of Education officials will discuss plans to open a new middle school on Mountain Road at a Nov. 30 meeting for Riviera Beach Elementary parents.Children from Riviera Beach, Fort Smallwood and Jacobsville elementary schools would attend the new school, which is on the same grounds as Chesapeake Middle and High schools.The plan aims to alleviate overcrowding at George Fox Middle School.Michael Raible, county director of school planning and construction, will meet with parents at 7:30 p.m. at Riviera Beach Elementary, 8515 Jenkins Road.

County Planning Board members yesterday approved a site for the planned western high school between Route 108 and Trotter Road, saying neighbors' objections were not a consideration in the decision."

County lawmakers must choose between building schools or redistricting students. The first option could cost $100 million; the second could cost legislators their political lives.County Auditor Joseph Novotny asked the County Council to face this unpleasant ultimatum yesterday while making his recommendations for cuts in County Executive Robert R. Neall's capital budget for fiscal 1992. Novotny is suggesting about $14 million worth of cuts in the proposed $95.6 million capital spending plan; he proposes slashing millions more over the next five years.

Howard County could save 10 percent on school construction without hurting educational programs, two local architects say.Architects James Schulte, vice president of Security Development Corp. in Ellicott City, and Stephen W. McLaughlin, of ARIUM Inc. in Columbia, reported results of their school construction cost study Monday to school officials, PTA leaders, local business representatives and parents whohave served on school planning committees."Schools can be built less expensively without sacrificing any educational quality," said Schulte, who said he builds shopping centersfor $50 a square foot, about half the cost of school construction inHoward and neighboring counties.

The planned urbanization of central Columbia may eventually require a new elementary school, county school officials say. But a more pressing worry is crowded classrooms along the redeveloping U.S. 1 corridor. Joel Gallihue, manager of school planning, told the County Council and school board recently that apartments and condominiums like those planned by General Growth Properties for Town Center produce more school-age children than they did a generation ago. Although the economy is slowing, housing will come once land-use approvals are granted, Gallihue said.

A proposal that would send close to 90 students from Howard High School to Long Reach High School for the 2010-2011 school year has struck a nerve with some Elkridge parents, who say they moved to the area with the understanding that their children would attend the Ellicott City school. Joel A. Gallihue, the school system's manager of school planning, said it's too early to say what will happen in 2010. "It's so far out," Gallihue said. "And because the decision has not been made yet, I hesitate to say what neighborhood [would be affected.

With no plans for new school construction beyond 2007, Howard County schools are looking to purchase land because they know it will be needed. "We need to be prudent about acquiring sites in the future," said Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin. "They are not making any more [land]." The school system, which has $5 million budgeted for land acquisition, is targeting the area around Turf Valley, an 800-acre planned community on the western edge of Ellicott City with two 18-hole golf courses, a hotel, resort center and homes.

David C. Drown - who has become identified with the laborious task of redistricting for the Howard County public school system - has accepted a new role as director of pupil transportation. He replaces Glenn Johnson, who retires at the end of the month. Drown will be responsible for a transportation system that includes 400 contracted buses that carry about 37,000 students each school day. His biggest challenge, he said, will be to attract and maintain qualified contractors and school bus drivers.

Members of Harford's two Friends meetings said last week that they plan to open the county's first Quaker school since Colonial times in September 2005. Harford Friends School will begin as a middle school, said Mary Ellen Saterlie, chairwoman of school planning and a member of the 11-member board of founding trustees, who come from the Deer Creek and Little Falls Friends meetings. "That's the time when people are looking for smaller class sizes," she said. "We felt that's where there is a need."

Members of Harford's two Friends meetings said last week that they plan to open the county's first Quaker school since Colonial times in September 2005. Harford Friends School will begin as a middle school, said Mary Ellen Saterlie, chairwoman of school planning and a member of the 11-member board of founding trustees, who come from the Deer Creek and Little Falls Friends meetings. "That's the time when people are looking for smaller class sizes," she said. "We felt that's where there is a need."

Group is honoring minority children who did well on test The Council of Elders of the Black Community of Howard County will recognize elementary school-age African-American and other minority children who attend community learning centers and scored at or above the 81st percentile on this year's CTBS/5, the national Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. The test was given to second-, fourth- and sixth-graders in March. The event has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. today, Friday and Nov. 12, because of the large number of children who will receive awards.

Superintendent John R. O'Rourke announced plans yesterday to streamline the management of the Howard County school system to make it run more like a business, with departments more logically aligned and fewer managers reporting directly to him. Nearly 80 managers now report directly to O'Rourke. These include three associate superintendents, 67 principals, a director each of elementary, middle and high schools, a public information officer, a human resources director, a general counsel and two special assistants.

Better planning would win schools more state funds It is time for the taxpayers, parents and educators of Carroll County to know why our state has repeatedly refused to fund new school construction in this county, especially the Cranberry Station Elementary School and the new Westminster-area high school: Our county does not appear to have a comprehensive systemwide school plan at this time. Our county and school decision-makers continue to insist on building new schools in the wrong places and have different rules for different areas of the county when it comes to school planning.

THE LONG, LANGUID days of summer are coming to an end, at least for the school-age population. But fall brings its own delights. There are new clothes to buy for school and new friends to make in the coming year. And many area groups present new ventures and schedules. The Savage Boys and Girls Club offers a large roster of activities for school-age kids. While soccer registration has indeed ended, there are a few places available for the tardy. New this year is flag football, a noncontact sport for the 7- to 14-year-old set. Volunteer coaches, referees and league directors are needed.