The children of Carroll County deserve to go to school in safe, modern, and well-maintained learning environments. The amount of capital investment is not keeping pace with the school facility needs in the county. We need the BOE to push for modernizations to be incorporated into the capital plan because new roofs and HVACs are not always successful options to bring a building up to the standard the community expects. We need to make progress on modernizing our schools.
Each year, CCPS creates and the BOE approves a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) request for the school system. The county looks at the prioritized list and determines which projects will receive capital money from the county and state. Carroll County should be prepared to take advantage of any action at the state level to increase funding for school capital projects or modernizations.
Capital Improvements & School Modernizations
We need to make progress on modernizing our schools.
CCPS has aging buildings that are candidates for modernization or renovation, but progress addressing the list has been slow. Most of the capital projects recently have been roof and HVAC replacements in addition to PreK additions necessitated by the Blueprint. Liberty High School modernization is the highest priority modernization on the list, amidst HVAC and roof replacements. This is the third year in a row that CCPS has requested the county fund the feasibility study for the project. A required first step, the feasibility study looks at various scenarios to determine suitability of the site and if all or part of the existing building can be renovated.
Per Maryland’s Interagency Commission on School Construction, the statewide average age of schools is 31 years. How do some of our schools compare? (Note: This is not a complete list of all CCPS schools.)
Liberty High School was built in 1980. Although it is not the oldest building in the county, it has the lowest functional score. This means the Liberty HS building has the lowest performance at meeting the educational program needs.
Sykesville Middle was originally built in 1932. Over the years it has had 4 additions and a renovation in 1984. The proposed addition to Sykesville middle is paused for one year for further evaluation. It sits on 17.6 acres, a site that is smaller than is now used for middle schools.
West Middle School was originally built in 1958 and William Winchester Elementary in 1962. According to CCPS’ Educational Facilities Master Plan, these are candidates for a modernization at a later date, likely at the same time since they share a campus.
Freedom Elementary was built in 1955 on 9.6 acres and has been added on to 5 times. The site is insufficient per today’s standards, with cars often backing up directly on Route 32.