2011-12 School Year Ends With Good News for Bennett Middle School

Bennett Middle School staff and its 925 students had plenty of good news to celebrate as the 2011-12 school year came to an end.

Students left Bennett Middle School Friday, June 8 to begin the summer break. The school won’t stay quiet or empty for long, though, because on Saturday, June 9 a volunteer team from Oak Ridge Baptist Church will spend all day giving the school a much needed face lift.

Oak Ridge is Bennett Middle’s faith-based community partner. From 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Saturday, numerous Oak Ridge volunteers will work at Bennett Middle to create three moveable murals for the cafeteria, put 118 motivational quotes above lockers, redo the staff lounge, and renovate the courtyard to create three 30-student outdoor classroom areas. The Oak Ridge team will also repair damaged lockers and clear lockers of any items left by students.

“We want to make this school as warm and inviting as we possibly can for the students who are here now and for the next two to three years,” Principal Liza Hastings said.

Bennett Middle staff, students and parents were pleased to learn recently that Del. Norman Conway had helped secure $10 million in Fiscal Year 2012-13 funding from the Maryland Board of Public Works. The school system’s request for FY 2012-13 state funding for the BMS project was fully funded. The state will pay 96% of eligible construction costs for the project – the highest percentage in the state.

Pending the approval of county funding for the project later this year, the groundbreaking for the replacement Bennett Middle School could take place as soon as January 2013. The replacement school will be built on a 36-acre property on South Division Street in Fruitland. The school is being designed to be LEED Silver. It will have an enrollment capacity of 937. The estimated completion date is currently August 2016.

State funding for the Bennett Middle project is good news for Bennett Middle School and many others. Many students currently attending Prince Street Elementary, Fruitland Primary and Intermediate, and Pinehurst Elementary, as well as students in a few other schools, can begin looking forward to attending the new school instead of a middle school that is 46 years old, lacks air conditioning, and has less advanced instructional technology than many of the elementary schools that feed into it.

Once the replacement Bennett Middle opens, the current Bennett Middle can be demolished to allow for the completion of the James M. Bennett High School project. The date will also move closer for the major renovation of West Salisbury Elementary, whose students also learn in a school without air conditioning.

“I’m really excited about the replacement school project because I feel it’s what’s best for our students,” Hastings said. “It will benefit not just our students but the community as a whole, because we will be able to offer access to technology that right now we cannot offer, and a building that will be welcoming for students and the community.”

In the meantime, with the replacement school still a few years away from opening, the school is working hard to make the current Bennett Middle School more pleasant. Already this spring, art teacher Laverne Harmon, as a member of the Parent Involvement Committee, secured a $2,000 Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant to fund a mural project for the school. Student designs were chosen for nine different mural panels with themes such as education and academics, character counts, the BMS Viking, and striving towards success.

The mural project, called “S.U.S. – Students Uniting to Succeed,” engaged more than 80 people in an effort to beautify the aging school, instill school pride, and provide a chance for students to demonstrate their creativity. The project increased school pride and student connections to the school, and will benefit the school community for many years to come, as the panels will be moved to the replacement Bennett Middle once it is built.