The new Patterson Mill Middle High School should be the pride of Harford County. Thanks to the decision to forward fund several schools, Patterson Mill was the first in a string of long overdue construction projects intended to launch our students into the 21st century. Patterson Mill boasts many state-of-the-art features on the inside, but on the outside at least, someone clearly dropped the ball.
With several big ticket projects in the works, namely Bel Air and Edgewood high schools, Deerfield and Youth’s Benefit elementary schools, not to mention two brand new schools in various stages of development, the Patterson Mill experience may serve as a cautionary tale to the thousands of parents and other taxpayers who want to ensure that their school facilities are planned appropriately and delivered as planned.
School officials were in a hurry to open Patterson Mill by the first day of school in August, 2007. Considering the size of the project and the crush of time, it’s not surprising that some areas were initially overlooked. Parents, while delighted by much of what Patterson Mill had to offer, also made note of potential safety hazards, incomplete work and inadequate designs, assuming that reasonable concerns would be addressed. Parent Joe LaFleur first contacted school-based administrators nine months ago to bring attention to several issues. When he didn’t get action, he went to the board of education in September, expecting they would follow-up. He never even got a response.
This meant that damaged utility boxes with exposed wires sat on the site for months, despite parents’ efforts. One box was removed only after LaFleur and another parent, Dan Fuhrman, literally walked the grounds with the building engineer and pointed it out. Not that the box was hard to find, near the sidewalk along Patterson Mill Road and accessible to students and anyone else who happened to be passing by. The box is now fixed, but an open ditch was left behind and another broken box still sits not 3 feet from the upper parking lot.
Sharp drop-offs, one more than 6 feet deep, pervade the outdoor physical education areas and border active ball fields that are used not only by the school but by Parks & Rec coaches, players and fans. LaFleur, Fuhrman and other parents asked for fencing or infill at crucial locations before the spring sports season began. Their vigilance will be little solace to the first player who literally goes off the deep end chasing a fly ball.
Some of the fencing that is in place is too low, backstops are too small and the grading of many of the fields is visibly off kilter.
Overall grading problems allowed erosion, ruts and poor drainage to plague the entire site. Many students are walkers to the school, but the material used for walkways has scattered, leaving dirt paths that turn to mud trails when it rains.
Windows in the press box don’t open, so officials can’t talk to announcers if there’s an emergency or simply to convey information about the game. The building’s pitched roof doesn’t accommodate filming, the ticket windows are poorly placed for crowd control and the two small windows in the concession stand only open part way and put handicapped customers in a narrow lane up against a fence. The whole structure, while attractive from the outside, seems like it was designed by someone who’s never even been to a football, soccer or lacrosse game, let alone tried to work at one.
Finally, items that appear on the original site plan such as a walkway across the upper parking lot, never materialized. Sidewalk steps abruptly end so that students heading out from the school to the fields must decide whether to walk into an active parking lot, on marshy grass or on a narrow dirt path wedged between the stadium fence and a drop-off.
School personnel did identify some issues on their own, like the mind-altering noise in the cafeteria, although that one was hard to miss. But parents, athletic boosters and PTA members had to pepper the school system with e-mails, phone calls and requests at meetings just to get these other items on the radar.
In all, concerned parents compiled a list of 31 items (pdf file) and distributed it to the principal and to central office staff. Most of the issues involve the outdoor facilities, but they are the ones in plain view and open to the entire community. It makes you wonder about the stuff you can’t see.
Parents continued asking administrators for action all through the fall, winter and early spring. Finally, the widening circle of parents asking questions stirred the principal to arrange a walk-though of the property on April 10th. School-based administrators, central office staff and representatives from Parks & Rec were reportedly in attendance. But when LaFleur, Fuhrman and other parents offered to attend, they received no response. And when LaFleur asked central office staff for access to the site plan back in September, he was told to file a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Fuhrman, an engineer by trade, wanted to see the site plans to determine which items were the responsibility of the school system and which might be the responsibility of contractors. Site Resources Inc. was the civil engineer and landscape architect on the project and Urban N. Zink was paid about $5 million for the site work. Both Fuhrman and LaFleur eventually got a look at the site plan in April and did indeed find some discrepancies which they reported back to staff.
Rather than embrace parents who volunteer their time and their expertise, too often school officials cast these parents as trouble-makers, reject their input and end up wasting valuable time.
In this case, the group doing the walk-through in April found many of the same issues identified by parents last September (pdf file). Why did it take seven months of pressure to get people to do their jobs?
At least school officials are finally “looking into” these items and have promised a response sometime this week.
And where was the board of education? Instead of ensuring that the superintendent and her staff were addressing concerns, on March 10th the board approved a transfer of $140,000 out of the Patterson Mill capital account as “excess”. That was before the parent-inspired walk-through by school officials and before parents raised questions about the differences between the site plan and the completed project. Fortunately, there’s still $1.7 million left in the account if adjustments have to be made. But over the next several years, as the board spends millions more on future projects, the question remains: who will keep their eye on the ball?
It’s almost as if Halliurton did the work
Having been in the USMC and seeing the bravery and patriotism of the civilian contractors who put up shelter, provide services and deliver food/fuel and a piece of civilization in the piss-ant third world countries of the world, your comment is absolutely disgusting, as are you as well Mr F Bush.
This is standard shoddy supervision and acceptance by county government and is not limited to BOE. Parks and Rec built a soccer field at Friends Park that once opened for use was nothing but protruding rocks and glass. “Dig parties had to be arranged by rec council volunteers to remove and fill the rocks and bottles that were found in the field because the county had signed off on the final work. Who would allow rocks the size of your fist or bigger and broken bottles to be in the fill and final grade of a soccer field?
Similarly, at Blake’s Venture, a BGE truck was driven accross a new field to access a pole on the otherside. They did it on a soggy field which left 6-8” ruts which were never backfilled. Again, volunteers needed to do the work to get a playable field.
Is someone from the county even loking at these things before writing teh last check?
After review of the list of parent complaints, I also believe they may be overreaching on some issues. Some of these issues such as field lighting could be considered a luxury since many schools operate with out them. The distance to get to some equipment for field use may be a bit of whining. The size of the pressbox (schools need a pressbox?) is also trivial.
Improvements to ticket booths, press boxes, field lighting, and electrical power and water to remote fields/locations are usually handled through booster clubs and benefactors to the school. Some of these complaints seem to be based on expecting a newly opened school to have some of the accoutrements that other schools have acquired through time and donations.
Safety and hazards need to be addressed. Design errors should be fixed within reason. But sometimes you’re just acting like a spoiled/whiny brat. Get over it and on with it.
Greeting’s
bloonNot and welcome aboard. ex u.s.m.c here also. as for f bush Halliburton is simply and employer. who contract’s certain subcontractor’s. like the black water boy’s.
the work they perform is very important. and relieves military personel for other duty’s.
Hey JJ:
Do you pay taxes in Harford County? This school has been funded primarily by the taxpayers in Harford County. Before they put the school up, it was mostly used by Emmorton Recreation Council who basically lost most of their fields for this school. Where are the kids supposed to play sports in the “development envelope?” Additionally, Bel Air High School is also under construction and that school doesn’t have any fields to use either. Patterson Mill should have been available for both of those schools to use considering they didn’t have a varsity squad but Bel Air had to use fields at Fallston and other venues instead of ones a few miles up the road.
The purpose of the list was to identify what was supposed to be done by the contractors, the school system, and parks and rec. I think the school community understands that they will be paying for other things but they also need to know what didn’t get done that was supposed to.
The point of this is that here is another example of mismanagement starting with the architects and the fact that when the school system was made aware of the issues, they didn’t acknowledge them. Aren’t there supposed to be project managers and general contractors making sure everything was finished? My prediction is that this school is going to go down in Harford County history as a 60 million boondoggle.
Thank you Cindy for the enlightening article. I think you bring to light issues that many folks in the Patterson Mill community have been concerned about, but did not have an outlet to address them.
Contrary to comments by Mr. JJ above, the issues raised on the list are all part and parcel to the original construction project, They are NOT “accoutrements”.
While it is good to hear that HCPS is taking action to resolve the issues, I think it is important to bear in mind 2 key issues. First, the concerns raised in the article for the most part relate to design and/or implementation errors. It is going to cost the taxpayers of Harford County big $$$ to rectify. Had the project been managed effectively from the get go, we might not be in this position.
Secondly, and I think more importantly, take note of the time line on the list of items. You will see that many of them were raised months ago! Parents continually bubbled them up through the appropriate chain of command and were repeatedly ignored. It wasn’t until very recently that HCPS began to respond. I wonder what triggered that?? What do we know, we are just lowly citizens. Lets hope we do not see a repeat performance at Bel Air and Edgewood.
Speaking of repeat performance, didn’t we just go through something similar at North Harford? Besides both being HCPS projects, what else did Patterson Mill have in common with North Harford. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t the same general contractor involved? If my recollection is correct, would there happen to be an officer of that firm who serves on the Harford Business Roundtable? And what was the Harford Business Roundtables position on an elected school board? Is that a stretch or does anyone else see some dots that can be connected here?
JJ,
Press boxes aren’t a luxury and are not used only for press. They are also used for announcers and coaches who, yes at the high school level, call plays from the box.
Ever turn to Harford Cable Network and watch a high school ball game? From what I have seen, HCN uses the top of the “press” box to get the aerial view that is needed to get the whole field.
I’ve never been to a Friday night football game without lights, and I’ve traveled to many parts of the county to watch.
Dude, Friday Night Lights? Ah- Hello!
JJ, you are way off. Parents have every right to raise their voices in these matters and they are not whining and don’t need to get over it.
Vet and ballon-knot…I want to pull my head off my shoulders and drop kick it to delaware when I see knee JERK comments …as if “F” was reading from a 3 x 5 card passed out be an E-Jihadist . Mindless comments as his serve no purpose what so ever. His mindless comment shows the “american bad”…”everyone and everything else good” attitude possesed by those who follow mindlessly. Why is he here anyway? He apperantly hasnt had an original, or even a critical thought yet ! Just rhetoric.
So a little education for “F”.
1. Haliburton is a contractor that is used on a massive scale.
2. Haliburton is contracted to be “ready” in case of need even when there is no need.
3. Haliburton does not build the school……it builds the entire city…fast. among other jobs.
4. Uninformed blind criticizm when one has no clue…leads to silly uninformed comments.
After reading Cindy’s article is there a question in anyone’s mind that we need an elected Board of Ed?
It really is a shame that HCPS officials from top to bottom ignored issues raised properly and honestly by concerned parents. Aside from the fact that they are taxpayers, they all have children in this school, and safety concerns should be paramount. In fact, the school, and thus HCPS, have a legal duty to act “in loco parentis” for these children, and their lack of safety concerns raises negligence issues, especially given their notice last year by this growing group of parents. In our 21st century society where everyone is so afraid of lawsuits, one would think that at least in an effort to avoid liability for the first and subsequent kids that get hurt by these patently obvious safety hazards, PMHS and HCPS would be out there fixing at least the glaring problems highlighted in this article. And as for JJ’s viewpoint that some of these other points are ‘acountrements’ – this is a very short-sighted perspective. Why build small or bare-minimum and have to spend more money to expand later? It will cost HCPS more in the long-run to try and adjust and upgrade their facilities that it would be to build them appropriately with comfortable room for growth and accomdation in the future. There is still 1.7 million in this account, it should be used to fix these additional problems. Here’s another point JJ – compare these facilities to others even in this county alone. Should the PMHS students have to get by with subpar facilities simply because their school is new? Should they not be given the same advantages that other students are across the county? The bottom line is when you build any new facility of any type, you build not only to meet the bare minimum current needs, but you build to allow continued use, expansion, and growth for the future. It’s in the budget, and it has thus far failed here. HCPS needs not only to be accountable, but to remedy its shortcomings at PMHS.
Why build small or bare-minimum and have to spend more money to expand later?
Isn’t that the status quo for the county? At least when it was with the new Aberdeen High School. And PMMHS students not having the advantages as others in the county? Get real. Even with all it’s problems, that school’s facilities are 10x what Joppatowne, Havre de Grace, and the current Edgewood High have. I’ll leave it at that…
I don’t believe that whether or not PMMHS has more or less in the way of facilities is the real issue here. I see the problem being the continued trend of HCPS and the board that supposedly oversees it, ignoring the voices of the parents, students, and teaching staff once again. Whether it involves safety issues, curriculum, scheduling, whatever, the decisions that are made by the Central Administration are not questioned by the board and those decisions are final.
The BOE should be the body that the public can go to to ask for help on issues of concern. But our voices are constantly falling on deaf ears. At least members of our County Council are willing to listen. Maybe that is the difference between elected officials and an appointed ones. ACCOUNTABILITY is the key!
Steve:
I agree with you and I think you are making the point of the article. None of this would even be addressed if parents were not pushing the issue. Joppatowne, Havre de Grace, and Aberdeen shoud all have adequate and decent facilities and it should not take parents in the community fighting for basic safety issues. That is why this story is important because Edgewood is slated to get renovated and the parents and the community need to be extra vigilant as construction occurs. They shouldn’t have to be and even when something is brought to the school system’s attention they ignore it.
Have any suggestions on how to get the school system motivated to do their job? I was hoping an elected school board would be more concerned about what the public thought but the current appointed school board thinks it is a bad idea and that the school board might be beholden to the public instead of the superintendent. I think it would be appropriate for the school board members to come to the school and see some of the issues instead of relying on the administration and staff for information.
Steve,
I agree with your perspective generally, and of course PMMHS is light years ahead of the older facilities in most ways. I was specifically addressing JJ’s points about press boxes and fields. I should have been more clear. Many of the other schools, such as Aberdeen and Bel Air, have had their press boxes and fields overhauled to be exemplary facilities in the last 10 years. My point was – why build sub par press boxes and fields (@ PMMHS) only to have to fix and/or upgrade them later?
I think we can all agree that the Board of Education and HCPS has not met it’s goals in any recent school construction project. It’s unfortunate that the parents have to expose them.
What I can’t understand is how this lack of project management happens when with have BOE members (even presidents!) and HBRT members with vast construction management experience.
The point is not what should they get or shouldn’t get as far as upgrades – those decisions were made years ago when the plans for the school were finalized. “PWH” is correct – the real issue here is the accountability of the county school system. It is ridiculous that parents have to be this involved and have to actually push these things themselves. I can maybe understand the initial pointing out of these items way back months ago, but once they were first pointed out, the county should have jumped on it immediately, if for nothing else but out of sheer embarrassment and for liability purposes. Can you imagine if a student had actually touched one of those exposed wires and suffered injury or worse? The school system would be forking out a lot of money right now in court. They should be ashamed that they have to be pushed this hard into action.
Steve you may be able to leave it at that but I am not. While I appreciate the concerns above at Patterson Mill they are minor compared to the conditions at the older schools in the County. My daughter is at Havre de Grace Middle School and there are stalls in the girls bathrooms without doors and some of the other stall doors do not close all the way. If that is acceptable to HCPS and the Board of Ed do you really think they care about a poorly graded field?
jean – what has been the response of the administration at Havre de Grace Middle School regarding the bathroom doors? None of this should be acceptable to HCPS or the BOE and we need to bring attention to all of these issues.
I agree that it is a shame that it took this long to get a response from the “powers that be” regarding the issues at PMMHS. We did not ask for light and a press box, it was part of the plan and should have been completed well and in a timely manner. Has anyone gone to Carroll County and seen the beautiful lighted fields that Parks and Rec have there???
Cindy….Jean….
There is absolutly no excuse for even a minute why a simple swinging door does not work right in a bathroom. Even if its a temporary fix while new doors are ordered through the beauroacracy of procrument…there is just no excuse.
Does the building not have a maintanance man…that is simply not acceptable under any circumstances. No excuse accepted…why a door wont close.
GO-DAGGER
Safety, damage and hazards (exposed wires/cables, damaged areas, unfinished walkways, diamonds too close to housing, etc.) need to address as stated earlier. However, lighted fields, water/power at fields, pressbox size, and “the infield is mounds of dirt and weeds” are all relative luxuries. These “luxuries” are items for booster clubs to address. Luxuries beyond the standard for education cost money that you and I pay in our taxes. “Keeping up with the Jones” will of the next school or county will continue to feed this.
If these items were already paid for by the county, then they should be completed. But unless you have ALL the contract documents available, you cannot be the judge of completeness. You cannot go by the usual concept drawing that have been presented for public consumption to selling the deal. There are often huge differences between what may have been planned at the concept phase and what actually become a deliverable.
The idea that just because “Fallston, CMW, Bel Air, Aberdeen, HdG, Edgewood, NH, or Joppatowne have some luxury, then we should have it, too” will surely send us to the poorhouse. Just because it isn’t as good as someone else’s doesn’t make it subpar. Local businesses advertise on your scoreboards and programs and booster clubs support the school’s programs to bring these luxuries.
It wasn’t that long ago that most football games were played on Saturday afternoons. Why? No need to light the field at 2 in the afternoon. You would think that energy conservation would push for a return to this tradition.
If I am not mistaken, a community group had to raise the $$ for press boxes, lights, bleachers etc for HdG HS. They are still fundraising for amenities. What should or could be does not necessarily jibe with what is or can be. A plan is just that- sometimes plans change as other priorities arise.
My bet is that many of the same people who want these things, deride tax initiatives and budget requests that fund them as exhobitant. Ya can’t have it both ways. Safety issues must have priority as do educational expenses. The other stuff- not so much.
the custodian’s as a rule should report any damage etc too there immediate boss.of which should in turn report said failure’s to the office of the vice principal or principal of which notify’s hickory maintenance.
of which should respond to repair the problem.
how’s that for passing the buck. somebody is not doing there job.
This is even a story? Backstops being too low? Grading of fields? I suggest that everyone reevaluate their priorities.
You are leaving your kids with a huge national debt, inflated home prices that allowed everyone to live above their means, a planet drained of resources, and a country across the pacific with enough money to buy whatever they choose in 10 years and make the rules.
Maybe take the time utilized to complain about meaningless menutia like press box windows and redirect that towards something constructive like sitting down and learning Mandarin with your kids.
Cindy
I checked today and the door has been replaced after 3-4 months of it being fixed, there are still times where there is no soap and no paper towels. The saddest part of this is that my daughter’s explanation as to why it took so long (granted it is coming from a 13 year old) is that their school is poor.
To the truth,
Mandarian ha! I still haven’t been given a reasonable explanation why foreign languages are not offered at HdG Middle but are available to students in other middle schools across the county.
Again I think some people are missing the point of the story…
How much money did it cost to build this school and were things done that were supposed to be finished? Why is wrong to expect decent facilities at a school in this county? This article addresses the outside of the school, but you can bet there are issues on the inside as well with the poor design, not enough lockers, classrooms being too small, etc. that weren’t talked about. Is it really too much to ask that our tax dollars are being used properly? I think too the point about the press box was that it was designed and/or built INCORRECTLY so shouldn’t it be fixed and why doesn’t the school system address the issue. If you paid money to have something done in your home, I would think your expectation would be that it was done right. What is different in this case is that the government is taking our money and not doing a very good job to construct public facilities. It is wasteful…
Also to the Truth … that field with the grading issue is used by kids all over the county not just Patterson Mill. You might think it’s not worth fixing but when someone sues the county when they get injured, again that’s money coming out of your pocket. It is an accident waiting to happen and there really is no excuse for it.
My life doesn’t revolve around sports either and I know there are other issues that are much more serious, but the county is slated to build several more schools and the public needs to know that this is the type of work that is being done (or not) with your hard earned dollars that they are taking from you in the form of taxes.
Vet…and am i correct that there should be an immediate repair even if its temporary to make the broken door (in this case) workable…even if a new door or sytall has to be installed later ? Is that not the way its done ? Is there a conceivable excuse ? Lets go back a few years to Jackie Hass and the Aegis….The picture of her in her “NEW DIGS”….a clear showing that the grass roots of quality education is not her priority…rather Doctor Hass has lost site of her charge…to be steward to the education and care of our children during that process.
Kate…its not lost…its paramount !
Tax payers should get what they are paying for !
Who was the general contractor…and does the new board of ed bldg have the same problems ? Did it have an inspection and defiencies corrected ?
Who took possesion of the school …was it inspected before hand? Were defencies noted ?
As I read over the list of 31 items filed by “concerned parents” I couldn’t help but laugh. Honestly, are you people serious? Complaining about side basketball hoops in the gym not being regulation glass backboards? Come on, they are used for practice and gym class and do not need to be glass. Complaining about sidewalks not being in place on grounds that don’t aren’t even the school property? Complaining that the stadium seats 1000 and not 1200? How can you tell when they are bleacher seats that aren’t numbered?
I do agree that with some of the items where safety is the concern but remember your kids aren’t going to PMMHS to be the next Michael Jordon or Cal Ripken Jr. They are going to PMMHS to get an EDUCATION. And I know sports is part of High School life, because I was an athlete in HS, but lets get real folks. Most of these things are trivial and can be achieved thru fundraising by the Athletic Boosters and the PMMHS community.
Rather than bickering and pointing fingers as to who is to blame come together and work as “a team” to make PMMHS the utopia you all want it to be. Then once you have your Graceland turn to the communities of HdG, NH, Joppa, Edgewood, Aberdeen, and others and show them how the community and the school can work together in making their school great for both learning and athletics.
jean, I’m glad the doors were fixed but what has the principal said about the lack of paper and soap? Clearly, that’s a health hazard.
We had the same problem at Bel Air HS many years ago and as I recall, parents tried unsuccessfully to get action at the school level. But when a (now retired) member of the BOE was brought out to see some of the issues, including mold, leaks from the ceiling, a broken HVAC system, she was so upset, she bought some toilet paper for the school herself.
At Havre de Grace, hopefully the school administration will address the issue. Unfortunately, sometimes that doesn’t happen and parents have to move up the chain of command.
Just a side bar random thought here… The schools are given a budget that supports an ample supply of consumable materials. OFTEN, some of our children do not apear to have an understanding of limited supply . I have seen children use 10 paper towels to dry one hand. I have seen entire rolls of TP tossed into toilets. Teachers make every effort to teach children about resposibility in this regard, but poor habits- that begin at home- die hard. We all need to step up to the plate and make conservation a value to our children. The taxppayers have made it clear that rhey do not want to fund “waste” at any level. The natural consequence of waste is scarcity- life lesson.
Curious…you make a valid point….BUT…as you say, knowing that kids are kids….you must account for that to happen and be prepared.
OK taxpayers let’s boil it down for those of you not watching the bouncing ball:
1. These people have been asking for information and attention to issues for 9 months. They went to the Bd. of Ed in Sept, and no one responded. Not one board member and no one from central administration. Also makes you wonder what is going on or not going on between the school and central adm staff doesn’t it. School officias didn’t return phone calls nor emails. These parents obviously had to become activists because they were ignored and disrespected.
2. Cindy wrote the article to tell you to wake up and look out at Bel Air and Edgewood, Aberdeen and Joppa for your upcoming construction. We all read about the mess at North Harford and they told us it wouldn’t be repeated. Why do you all think N. Harford is getting the first turf recreation-physical education-athletic field? They were activists and they were right and the county had to shut them up because they were embarrasing the school district. David Criag pulled the Board’s bacon out of the fire. I’m happy for N. Harford sorry for what you went through.
3. The conncession stand is up against a fence. It doesn’t work for handicapped people. You can’t take an order because the the opening is knee high for the people working in the stand. More than 600 people in this place and it’s chaos. The press box doesn’t work for PMHS or visiting coaches or the media. Poorly designed.
4. The pictures don’t do the field grading problems and the severe drop offs justice. Kids from all over the county will be playing here. If the parents had not started to stand up for these issues last fall the fields would never have been ready even for JV’s this spring. Next year twice as many teams/games will be played at PMHS and the fields are not ready even after a full school year.
5. It’s not just the outside facilities and the cafeteria problem the article memtioned. It’s teaching areas as well. The technolgy lab that will be torn apart this summer and redone because the walls were put in wrong and the electicity is inadequate. Yeah, you paid for it and now they are redoing it. Technology students lost the whole year with no lab. You don’t know about all the problems internally. Cindy couldn’t write about it all. Have some faith here.
6. Who buys softball backstops for baseball fields? Competant managers?
7. Who snickers at Harford County beause we can’t create level baseball fields? People from New Jersey (BRAC) and surrounding counties who wonder what’s up in Harford when they come to play ball or are looking to buy a house? The Board is not helping APG get the transfers going, this is our newest school, the ones the New Jerseyites on the recent bus tour saw.
8. Who can’t put in the State Dept. of Education standard for an 8 lane track like N. Harford has and Harford Tech will get and they shoud get? Patterson Mill has a 6 lane track. The state standard has beeno in place for almost a decade. Who can’t get their track correcctly painted? (Psst: answer Patterson Mill, but don’t tell anyone, they are hiding it).
9. Who has such small locker rooms that there may not be room for all the physical education and athletic participants to have a locker next year when you get varsity teams and in two years when you have a senior class? (Patterson Mill). Try using them let alone being a teacher and supervisng in the area.
10. Are field conditions an issue, you bet. Next year twice as many teams to wear out the fields that are already in bad condition – walk around on the soccer and lacrosse practice fields used by parks and rec and the high school classes. They already need to be reseeded. (Bel Air will have water to their fields and they should). Can’t grow seeds without water. PMHS needs a reasonable standard of care like every other school should have. Walk around the place, and if you know anything about teaching and outdoor recreation team sport activities you’ll say, who signed off on a new facility like this? Better yet ask yourself who accepted the design at school system headquarters? Every field in the county should meet the minimum standards. (Oh, there are none)
The broken cable boxes in the picture in the story have been that way for nine months. No one is paying attention. There is more. Who would buld a high school for 1600 students and a staff of 60 and not have a place for the principal to to get all the kids together or have a place for graduation that could hold a large crowd or even a graduation on the premisis in 3 years. You see the gymnasium only holds 763 seats, the nice auditorium has 900 seats and the outdoor bleachers have 1200 seats. Visting team parents get there early (yes come and see a game). All we are saying is do the job right. Fix what we can and we’ll live with it and the rest of you take an interest in your dollars and the new facilities. Help us get the school system to fix what we can! Thanks.
have we forgotten? the goof up. at aberdeen high school after major repair’s they discovered the the gym roof was to low. when your getting low bid contract’s don’t expect to much.
Vet…I attribute that to the blind leading the blind.
Cindy, Kate and JL …… you’re completely on target! You’ve very clearly made the point that our tax dollars have not been well-spent on certain aspects of the PMMHS project. It’s great to have a new facility in the area for our students, but if I hired a contractor to build a new home for me and they left the job site in the state that this school was left in I would be knocking on their door on a daily basis and probably consulting my lawyer at this point. Not only does HCPS need to look at how they handle their contractors, they need to reevaluate how they go about coming up with the design for new schools and grounds. Sure, mistakes can be made with any large project, but if you start with a plan that has some major flaws (as this one apparently did) you have to question the competence of those planning our new facilities. Is it too much to ask that athletic facilities be regulation size? Is it wrong to expect that a group could hold a meeting in the school cafeteria and be able to hear someone speak without having their voice be unintelligible due to heavy duty reverberation?
JJ — Why would HCPS contract for completed facilities that are not useable? Are we “whining” by asking that students be able to safely use what our tax dollars have purchased, and that our tax dollars be spent on something we can actually use?
I agree with the last paragraph of Dobbers comment. Regardless of the mistakes made in planning (bound to happen) and the mistakes made in execution (it’s a big job, hasn’t been done in 25 years) we have what is arguably the most advanced facility in the county. Instead of finger pointing and trying to make others clean up the messes, the boosters, PTA, and parents should pull themselves together with a team approach and figure out how they can help fix it. PMHS has had a great group of parents that jumped in at the start and have bent over backwards for the past year getting things off the ground, and admittedly mistakes have been made. This is the only middle/high school in the county, people, there is no blueprint!! And they have accomplished a lot…..but now the rest of the parents want more, and don’t want to help. That’s just flat out wrong. People need to understand that this is not going to be a perfect scenario for some time. There are still changes happening at the school on a daily basis, and flexibility is tantamount. Take the high road, stop trying to complain and make others do what you want done, and set an example for the rest of the county and state to follow…….and put your time where your mouth is!!!!
tired of it all,
Nice website for the PMHS boosters! And a video scoreboard!!!??? Can you tell us more about it? Are you looking for sponsors to foot the cost? Fundraising? HCPS money?
Tired of it all::
What parents want more and don’t want to help? Not the people who identified the issues in first place… It was parents who made sure the fields were ready so the JV baseball team could play this year. If you think it is acceptable that the stewards of your tax money and the contractors who are supposed to execute jobs don’t do it, then fine. If you want to go fix an electrical box that has been broken for months, go right ahead. Do you know how to move a hot water heater that was installed incorrectly? There were people PAID to do these jobs and they haven’t been finished and they have insurance to cover them. The architects and planners of this job had to compete for it so the expectation is that they would know what they are doing.
If there was unfinished work to be done and there was a timeline to finish it or change it, the parents and the community should have been made aware and they were not. They asked for the information and they were denied. No one is asking for the county to pay for enhanced websites, etc. The administration of the school didn’t even know what issues were still at large. When the school system was made aware of the problems in October 2007, they should have reviewed them and even offered to have a meeting with the parents at the school to answer questions. Not unreasonable by any means….
Dobber, Steve, Tired of it all:
Are you people kidding me? Clearly, you are missing the key issues here. As stated before, “the list”, for the most part, addresses items that were part of the original construction plan. The concern is that they were NOT delivered as they were contracted for. I think all that is being asked for here is that the taxpayers who footed the bill get what they paid for. Sure, mistakes happen with a project of this magnitude, but it is not the responsibility of the PTA, Boosters, and/or parents to go back and fix them.
This brings me to the other major point, that is why does it take a group of parents….who are involved and do volunteer their time in various capacities at the school……months and months to get HCPS to even respond to a phone call or an e-mail? That is unacceptable.
This is not about fancy scoreboards or astroturf fields. It is about the fact that the taxpayers of Harford County did not get what they contracted for and the leadership at HCPS was once again asleep at the wheel.
Lew Jr.
I’m not kidding you. I understand that there are things on the list that need to be addressed. This isn’t unique to PMHS. The HCPS management sucks.
But some of the concerns are ridiculous. For example:
Level and seed the left field area of the varsity baseball field this fall
My kids play lacrosse at a local HCPS facility. 50% of the grass was missing, and the grass that was there was high, which poses a hazard, creating holes where one can easier hurt their ankle. Know what we did? We sure didn’t complain to the HCPS. We moved the field slightly, and brought out mowers and field liners, and created a new, better playing surface.
Patterson Mill students in outdoor activities are being discriminated against as no scoreboards for football, track, soccer and Lacrosse have been
provided on the stadium field.
Are YOU kidding me? Is a lawsuit being filed? I mean, the kids are being discriminated against. I didn’t know electronic scoreboards were necessary to play sports.
The side court basketball backboards in gymnasiums are not the regulation glass boards.
Then get in line. What percentage of schools in the county have this? None that I know of, but I haven’t been in all the gyms recently.
And finally…
There is inadequate storage for spring outdoor sports particularly baseball. Screens and other material/equipment have to be carried to Baseball
Field and back to school every day with equipment stored in the Community Room Closet.
Guess what. I played high level college baseball. We had to carry screens from a a nearby shed to the field everyday. In high school (a HCPS school), we didn’t even have have screens.
Again, I understand the need to have safety concerns addressed. And I applaud the parents for being this involved. But you aren’t the only school in the county, and you already have a better facility than every one else.
We should hold the Contractor and the the inspectors and the people who pay the bills (HCPS) accountable. If it’s in the Contract Documents— make them do it right or withhold payment. Otherwise, don’t let these same contractors and sub contractors get the low bid, do shoddy work and sail off into the sunset, until the next HCPS Construction project. The contention on this blog seems to be with the parents etc. who provided the list and tried to work with the Administration. It should not be. If we pay for it whether you agree that it is a convenience another school may not have, it should be delivered, as contracted. I am not in this school district nor do my chidren attend Patterson Mill. So I don’t have any vested interest in this project, other then, there appeared to be a drop dead date for this school to open and there were some deficiencies not addressed in order to meet that date.. Well, guess what –when I rush the Contractor to finish a job at my home and pay him I may not see him again for the deficiencies that I let him get away with. That contractor has deposited the money and moved on. Unfortunately, HCPS lets this happen too often and then seems to put their head in the sand. Look at the North Harford High fiasco, there were dozens of excuses but no accountability, unfortunately that is the norm and not the exception with HCPS. Stay tuned for the present and future construction projects and see if we are not discussing the same issues of –Getting what we pay for–. In PMMHS’s case, immediately fix the safety issues and hold the contractor accountable for the contract documents. There may be some issues which are minor but why isn’t the Administration at least having discussions with the parents. Again, wasn’t communication the main problem identified with the HCPS and the Board of Ed?
The point the detractors of this article are trying to make is that the level of outrage is not proportionate with the offense.
YES the government and contractors should do their job. But in this case the amount of effort exerted COULD BE UTILIZED ELSEWHERE.
The problem here is that the topic of baseball fields causes way more controversy than attacking Iran. Which is a bigger threat to your children… uneven playing fields, or growing up in a war ravaged world oil-thirsty world in which they owe thousands of dollars before they are even born?
You have spent possibly $100-200 each for Patterson Mill school… which was budgeted and payed for.
You have payed about $50,000 (possibly more) dollars each for the war in Iraq, yet there is no proportionate action taken to your federal government. The level of outrage for this offense should be 500 times as much but it is not. And that my friends, is why nothing will change. The shortsightndess, pettiness, and selfishness of a generation that thought a 13mpg SUV for commuting one person was a great idea.
“TheTruth” is, you’re on the wrong thread. Find the anti-war, no blood for oil stuff someplace else. It’s here, too. People responding to this story are concerned about the fraud, waste, and abuse perpetrated by the rogue state known as the BOE.
Bottom line is that nobody would pay a contractor to build them a new home, move in, notice a laundry list of defects and just blow it off as the cost of doing business. Nobody but government.
BTW-$50,000? Really?
According to Jim Harper, Director of Information Policy Studies at the CATO Institute, it’s more like $2,700 per person, or $8,600 per US family. Unless “the truth” is that you are Jim Harper and you’re here to update your figures…
Dell;
Thanks for doing that to Truth in such a decent fashion. Intelligent argument and discussion require that the subject remain stationary. I can think of thousands of things that can and should be more important than the fraud and waste at the Harford County and BOE level, but as you so sagely state this about that subject and not the price of rice in China. Thanks. Another tactic of a scoundrel in conversation is to overstate the numbers, any numbers. Who can argue with a bill, law, etc. that cites the four hundred billion children dying every second because we won’t jump on the cause.
You guys are right. I am detracting from this intelligent argument about baseball fields and scoreboards. Lets keep commenting here (during work hours) and eventually someone is going to step up! This is brilliant. I think message boards are truly the best method to enact change. And also the best way to make advertising money for webmasters…
yes i did lie about the figures. I secretly factored in the cost of WW3. you win as usual.
“TheTruth” is that you don’t want to engage in any discourse on the topic of backstops and scoreboards, and I was merely pointing out that there is indeed a place on this very site where you can go on ad nauseum about any topic which you deem of significant import. Try the post “The Iraq Conflict by the Numbers.” There are 36 responses there already.
“TheTruth” is that sarcasm and derision are not YOUR exclusive providence. Everybody know that WW3 will be fought over a weekend game of “Risk” at the secret Rocky Mountain compound known as “The Meadows.” The game will be played by the Queen, The Vatican, The Gettys, The Rothschilds, *and* Colonel Sanders (before he went tits up). Oh, I hated the Colonel with is wee *beady* eyes, and that smug look on his face. “Oh, you’re gonna buy my chicken! Ohhhhh!”