The AP ran a piece outlining the strain placed on local governments as they struggle to operate and maintain new public schools. Maryland comptroller Peter Franchot makes specific mention of Charles and Wicomico counties.
"It's not just Charles County and Wicomico which were on the agenda today," Franchot said. "Every jurisdiction is going to take it, have some version of this dilemma."
Franchot recommended that state officials revisit guidelines used to decide school construction needs, noting that St. Charles High School has some particularly snazzy features, such as a swimming pool and observatory.
"Given the tough times, shouldn't we reassess the guidelines so that we're not building expensive, shiny, new schools that people can't operate because they don't have the money?" Franchot said. "And, if that's the case, shouldn't we be looking towards value-engineering redesigns of some of these schools that are on the books, maybe less observatories and less swimming pools and less bells and whistles?"
These are similar to recommendations put forward by Wicomico County councilman Joe Holloway over the past few years. Each time Wicomico schools superintendent John Fredericksen has dismissed them out of hand.
In Wicomico County the current stock of school buildings is not being adequately maintained while the WCBOE requests new schools. Perhaps the county’s taxpayers and students would be best served by maintaining and (when necessary) renovating existing schools with an emphasis on basic education.
11 comments:
A swimming pool is not a 'snazzy' feature. Here on delmarva, we average two children drowning each year. Teaching our children to swim is necessary and responsible. It is part of the curriculum already! The county rents pool time to do this task -- how much does that cost?
Shame on Wicomico county for having ZERO pools as is.
If you want your children to continue drown in every body of water we have around here, just keep on doing what you are doing.
From this article, it seems as though the guidelines are set from "State Officials" and not our local BOE.
All of the blame regarding the new Bennett Middle has been placed on Dr. Fredericksen and the others at the BOE.
Are we wrong in what we have been saying on this blog lately? Maybe we should not have been putting our hostility toward the BOE and more of it toward our state leaders.
Mark these words...now that the D-Comtroller has embraced this ideal....so will our leadership. Just the savings realized in the land cost and road upgrades at the new location would go a long way in fixing BMS.
The building that used to be Pocomoke Primary is 60 years old and is still being used as a MAC center and is is very good shape. Pocomoke High School was built in 1957 and has been maintained regularly and renovated at least twice. Regular maintenance may be a pain but it is a whole lot cheaper than building new schools.
Shiny new buildings don't teach kids. Emphasis should be on educators and education materials, not frivolous things. I went to school at Pemberton and Bennett, before either was upgraded. The lack of new facilities didn't limit my education whatsoever.
Schools have accepted the responsibility for just about everything related to a child's upbringing. Why should swimming be part of a school's curriculum? Could parents do something? Perhaps the pool in the article is at a special education center and is really a therapy pool.
10:19 and 1:27, thank you for your succinct but "right on" comments. If we don't have the funds for all the "bells and whistles," then we build what we can afford, the same as if a couple can afford a $200,000 house but would like one for $500,000; it should be out of the question. 1:27, I thougt the same thing before I got to your comment. Where is it written that schools have to teach everything? Since when is learning how to swim something a child should learn at school? That should be the parents' responsibility. Pools would be nice, but it the county can save money by eliminating the pool, then so be it. We need to build schools that are within our budget and then maintain the ones we build.
Anon 0858 -
You seem to misunderstand both this post and the underlying article. Franchot was simply arguing a point of view - should the state be funding the construction of projects like Bennett Middle when the county then has a tough time operating a new school.
While the state does mandate certain things like LEED certification it was the Wicomico BOE that demanded the homage to ego which is the planned Bennett Middle.
Anon 1019, 1327, and 1511 -
Thank you! I'm glad ya'll get it.
GA
I just find it interesting that we "assume" that it will cost more to operate and I have not seen one study to the contrary. All of the comments on this blog have been about the cost to build the project. I don't remember discussions on the operating costs. People just see the price to build it and don't care about how the upgrades save money in the long run.
With the HVAC being run by geothermal energy, special considerations with windows, etc. to increase efficiency and all of the other "upgrades" to operate it more efficiently, I find it hard to believe that it would cost more to run the school.
I would be interested in finding out what the monthly cost/sq. ft it is to run the new JMB with all of their upgrades compared to a school like Wi Middle, Bennett Middle, etc. I would guess that it is cheaper to run per month than all or most others.
8:58
10:17, 10:19 right on. thank you joe holloway for your oversite and due diligence regarding our tax dollars.
it makes common sense to maintain the buildings we have. look at wi middle. i attended that school 52 yrs. ago and it's still going.
our current economy WILL NOT allow for spending beyond our means. this should be the end of this story but it won't be because MOST of the people who work in the field of education have NEVER owned a business; made a payroll or even worked for someone in the private sector to see how the REAL WORLD works.
Anon 1937 -
You could be right about the operating costs. I honestly don't know. This argument was put forward by Franchot and others. I simply linked to the AP article.
You are correct that the reluctance to fund the new BMS focused around cost. However, we are not talking about just the gross construction costs.
Joe Holloway has been arguing that the state could adopt a stock plan for an elementary school, one for a middle school and one for a high school. This would save immensely on planning and engineering costs. The WCBOE has strongly argued against such a proposal.
An additional item that is of concern to many here is that the WCBOE is not maintaining their existing schools adequately. Why should we borrow for new schools if they will not maintain what they have?
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