The Herald-Mail
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 (Credit: Chad Trovinger / Graphic Artist) |
 (Credit: Chad Trovinger / Graphic Artist) |
10/03/2009
Parents eye legal action to halt plans for Eastern Primary
By DAN DEARTH
dan.dearth@herald-mail.com
HAGERSTOWN — A group of parents with children in Washington County Public Schools said they might take the school system to court in an effort to halt construction of the proposed Eastern Primary School on the east end of Hagerstown.
Bill Lang, who has four children at Boonsboro Elementary School, said several parents are considering whether to pool their financial resources to take legal action.
“All options are open,” he said.
The $25 million Eastern Primary School is being considered as part of a redistricting plan to help alleviate overcrowding. If redistricting is approved, it would affect 20 of 26 elementary schools in the county and roughly 1,500 students. Many of those students would be bused to Eastern Primary School, which has a state-rated capacity of 695 students.
The school is slated to open in 2011.
The Washington County Board of Education is scheduled to consider a bid for the construction of Eastern Primary School during a meeting Tuesday.
Deputy Superintendent Boyd Michael said Eastern Primary School is in a location that can accommodate overflow from several schools.
“Eastern Primary is in a flexible area to work with,” Michael said. “You touch a lot of different districts.”
Michael said the construction of Eastern Primary School has been discussed for the past seven years. School officials also talked about building additions to Boonsboro Elementary, he said, but they didn’t think the additions would provide sufficient space to handle students from pending developments in that area.
Michael said officials intend to build a school in the southern part of the county when the time is right to receive maximum funding from the state.
“It just doesn’t justify a new school at this point,” he said.
The state has committed $14 million to build Eastern Primary School, Michael said last week. The remaining $11 million will be provided by the county.
Michael said he felt fortunate that Eastern Primary School was one of 25 proposed schools to receive state funding out of 90 requests.
Dottie Gruhler, who has two children at Old Forge Elementary School, said she believes school officials aren’t considering the best interests of the students.
“That irks me,” Gruhler said. “That is so wrong because they want to bus kids to fill a school ... Parents across the county are very, very mad.”
She said parents have been gathering petitions and took their fight to the public in a newspaper advertisement. On Sept. 27, an advertisement in The Herald-Mail encouraged parents to attend the school board meeting scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday to oppose the construction of Eastern Primary School.
“Eastern Primary represents $25 million of taxpayer money not being utilized where it is needed most,” the advertisement said. “... We would like to request an additional evening meeting be scheduled before the vote takes place to allow all the parents who work during the day to be able to attend this important meeting.”
Several other parents whose children would be affected by redistricting said last week officials should build a school where it is needed instead of busing children halfway across the county. They suggested delaying the redistricting plan until more input can be gathered from the public.
In January, the board directed the Facilities and Enrollment Advisory Committee — an organization with members appointed by the board — to address the redistricting issue. The committee met several times and held three public forums in September to get feedback from the public. Each resident who wanted to speak was given three minutes. Committee members agreed to refrain from engaging in open discussions at the forums, in part to avoid confrontations.
Jennifer Ashbaugh, who has two children at Old Forge Elementary, said she believes the committee should have requested ideas from the public before creating a redistricting plan.
One of Ashbaugh’s concerns about redistricting, she said, is that children and their parents won’t be able to participate together in school activities because they’ll be too far apart.
“I would much rather my children be in (portable classrooms) ... than to be uprooted,” she said.
Lang said school officials should consider building on to overcapacity schools instead of busing kids from their communities.
“This isn’t rocket science,” Lang said. “It’s about doing what’s best for the children.”
He said the board should think long and hard before it approves Eastern Primary School.
“I can’t see how any politician would put themselves in this position,” Lang said. “They’re putting themselves out there.”
Lang said school officials created what he termed a “cloak of secrecy” by failing to notify specific neighborhoods about how they would be affected by redistricting.
Lisa Milligan, who has one child at Old Forge Elementary School, said she believes school officials should have created focus groups long ago to get the public’s input.
“All we’re asking for is communication,” she said. “It’s a trust issue.”
Reader Comments:
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| From:bumblebee Sat 03 Oct 2009 06:01:42 PM EDT | What is best for children isn't always just creating a bigger school at the same location. Children benefit from smaller school settings, as opposed to settings where they may be one of 500+ students. Smaller schools create a better sense of community, despite where a child's actual home may be. Additionally, adding portable classrooms doesn't fix overcrowding completely. For example, in a school that is to accomodate a certain number, cafeteria space is created to serve that number of students. Additional students mean that lunch shifts must start earlier, and go even later, meaning that other activities held in that room during the day (PE, and other programs),cannot occur during that time. Often, schools employ one PE, art, music, and media teacher. If numbers increase, additional teachers are needed, but facilities do not exist for these teachers. There are many issues to be considered. Money, space for a school, and parent desires do not always match. |
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| From:whatruthinkin Sat 03 Oct 2009 06:41:14 PM EDT | Small schools are a good thing but Eastern campus will be anything but that, since it will have over 1100 students there! This is an obvious example of people NOT knowing what is going on with this redistricting!! The lunch room and "encore" class situations are valid points but the schools have that are overcrowded have been dealing with it just fine! People aren't saying don't redistrict, the are saying to delay it to get more feedback and more ideas from the general public. There are other, more cost effective ideas that are less disruptive to the children. LET'S REMEMBER THAT OUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY SHOULD BE THE CONCERN FOR OUR CHILDREN!!! |
| From: I-question-why Sat 03 Oct 2009 08:51:03 PM EDT | Deputy Superintendent Boyd Michael said it just doesn't justify a new school in the southern part of the county at this point? Does he look at his own data? Boonsboro 121%, Greenbrier 127%, Sharpsburg 127% and even Old Forge on that side of town at 105%. Yet the current Eastern 83%. Seems to me there is more justification to build a school in the southern part of the county AT THIS POINT than there is to build another school at this location. I would like to know what justification Michael's has for this school if ALL students will need to be bused from other areas? |
| From:wlang10549 Sat 03 Oct 2009 08:52:18 PM EDT | funny that the time is not right to do something for the south county schools, I mean Boonsboro is at 121% of capacity, Greenbrier is at 127%, Sharpburg is at 122% and Pleasant Valley is at 90% but let's ignore those schools and build a primary school by the hospital. Why is it that the BOE can find the money to build new schools, yet they can't find the funding to upgrade the existing schools to a point that they can support their communities. |
| From: I-question-why Sat 03 Oct 2009 09:00:06 PM EDT | I guess Michael's doen't think that the southern part of the county would be able to handle a new school. After all, it is getting along just fine without electricity in its schools. Do you think Boonsboro will have heat this winter or should the kids add coal to their supply list along with the flashlights? |
| From:wlang10549 Sat 03 Oct 2009 09:16:19 PM EDT | bumblebee, I would agree smaller schools are better, but if you look at the ratings and the test scores for the south county schools you will find they are thriving even though they are overcrowded. Doing simple math (students divided by teachers) Rockland Woods has an average class size of 26 Boonsboro is 23, Greenbrier is 21 and Sharpsburg is 23 which schools are the students getting a greater sense of community. |
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