The following email was sent from Harford County Councilman Jim McMahan to Harford County Executive David Craig, Council President Billy Boniface and the other members of the County Council. A copy was provided to The Dagger:
To: Co. Exec Craig, Council Pres Boniface, & Fellow Council Members
From: Capt’n Jim McMahan Dist “C”
REF: Scope Study BOE
Attached are some pages taken out of the Bd of Ed Budget specifically dealing with the expansion of the John Archer School(JAS) and the redesigning of Homestead/Wakefield Elementary Schools in Bel Air.
First and foremost the BOE has not fully disclosed all the facts regarding JAS. They continually inflate the onsite enrollment figures for JAS. The current enrollment indicates that there are 141 (December 2010 enrollment) students. In actuality, only 111 students attend JAS. The additional 30 students’ attendance is reported through JAS and they ride the buses; however, they are part of the Future Link program. These students do not attend JAS. The Future Link Program for 19 and 20 year old students is housed at the Reckord Armory in Bel Air. If the BOE begins with misrepresenting the facts how can we trust any of their data? (JAS enrollment has been declining due to inclusion)
The BOE is seeking funding for planning which quietly is leading us toward the following path:
Demolish Homestead Elementary School, the most recent addition was built in 1998.
Build a NEW JAS attached to the OLD Bel Air Middle School.(BAMS) The funding will have to come from Harford County.
BOE tries to sell the JAS expansion on two criteria.
1. Harford County will not get any State funding to remodel the old JAS, so build a new one to meet “Inclusion” guidelines that will benefit only 111 students at approximately 76 million ($37,705,793 Homestead-Wakefield Elementary Modernization/expansion and $37,288,751 John Archer School at BAMS) dollars to complete (redesigning the elementary schools and addition of JAS to BAMS
2. An additional argument put forth is that JAS would be closer to Upper Chesapeake Hospital. In reality, over the years the number of times a JAS student has needed critical care that could not provided by ambulance service to the closest hospital is very limited.
In order to accommodate the construction plan, have bus access to the buildings plus access to Upper Chesapeake Hospital; the BOE is again proposing extending MacPhail Road through this protected, school property. To extend MacPhail Road and place it in such close proximity to all of these schools is a project local citizens have fought to avoid. The cut through would raise unlimited safety and security concerns for elementary and middle school students, and under the B of Ed proposal, potentially endanger JAS students as well.
The extension of MacPhail Road will also mean disruption to several recreational areas built with tax payer dollars and currently are used by Parks and Recreation and the schools’ Phys Ed programs.
Another concern with this proposal is the addition of JAS onto Bel Air Middle School. The proposal to update BAMS is planned immediately following the construction of the other schools as mentioned. This building plan is not well-founded, not only because of the cost, but also expanding schools (Wakefield) or adding additions (Bel Air Middle School) both aging schools.
Budget implications:
1. The State is not funding school construction to the level this plan calls for and the county does not have the resources to support forward funding for this proposal.
2. In general the State has limited funds for school construction and it is foolhardy for the BOE to ask for and expect planning money of this magnitude for 111 students.
3. Any money for this project can be better spent in other areas or cut from the budget altogether..
It is time for honest dialogue with the BOE seeking full disclosure of information about the construction planning process.
The accompanying documents were also provided with McMahan’s email:
Attachment 1: Monthly Enrollment – (see page 4 – the last page and look for John Archer near the bottom of the page)
Attachment 2: FY12 CIP Approved Budget – (see page 1 – which is a chart on all capital requests, page 10 – Homestead Wakefield, and page 11 – John Archer)
“Budget implications:
1. The State is not funding school construction to the level this plan calls for and the county does not have the resources to support forward funding for this proposal.”
My question is: Has this ever stopped the BOE before?
Brilliant plan! Redistrict, then demolish a school, so we have to redistrict again. $76 million for a just over 100 students. The BOE is truly out of touch with reality. Why don’t we just hire private tutors for those 111 kids? It would be cheaper.
no it wouldn’t. TO send these kids to a non-public placement would cost an average of 40K a year!
Huh? $40K per kid times 111 kids is a little over $4 million per year. You could do that for 19 years before you’ve spent $76 million. Bond payment on $76 Million would be over $6 million per year for 20 years. Out of county placement is a bargain compared to this plan. It’s too bad the BOE can’t do some simple math and figure that one out. (Maybe they’re using “Everyday Math”). The real question is why are we spending so much on so few.
These “just a few” that you refer to are children of citizens of Harford County. These children suffer from severe disabilities of all types. Most teachers are working with a class size of 6 to 8 since the children need more indivdualized attention, and are entitled to the same quality education as normal developing children. It is not all about money, it is about getting what every parent expects from their school district which is a quality education. This is a “life skills” special education school designed to assist these children to have regular jobs and contribute to society.
plus bus transportation to far off places etc. The cost I gave is simply the tutition at a non-public placement. There are also not a lot of placements availible. The cost would go up.
“Justamom” would understand if one of these “few” was one of her own. I used to work at JAS, and now have two kids of my own. I am fortunate that my kids are typically developing, and that we don’t face the unimaginable challenges that the families of JAS students deal with EVERY DAY.
It is clear that she doesn’t put any value the lives of the students with disabilities at JAS. There might be a lot of options that would be cheaper–wouldn’t make it the right thing to do. Society used to deal with people with disabilities her way–warehouse them, exterminate them, hide them from sight. I don’t even want to get into it right this minute, but the tone of “justamom’s” comment made me sick.
The wording of the options in this article is misleading, too. “Charging” the whole $76 million to JAS, when 1/2 would be spent on Homestead/Wakefield isn’t fair, is it?
It is sad what people say, but I have gotten used to it whenever the subject of John Archer and new school are mentioned. There is still a vast majority of people in Harford County who probably have no idea JAS even exists or for what reason, and all the parents want is a more modern facility to equip these children better for the world ahead of them. I’m always amazed at the dedication the staff show to these kids, and for that I am grateful.
The Highlands school is a perfect place to re-district the JAS students. It is a private facility and provides fantastic resources for its students.
What would be the cost benefit to the school system to put all JAS students in non public placement? The costs for non public is the fastest growing component for special education services, and is already having a significant and disproportional impact on the school system budget.
The Highlands School is a private school designed to teach higher functioning special needs students, it is not a life skills based special education facility like John Archer. Your suggestion that we move all the John Archer students to The Highlands School is unrealistic. Look, I have been a resident of Harford County since 2005, and I learned about the plans for moving John Archer to Bel Air Middle School then, and I’m a private citizen. Politicians that are so out of touch like Captain Jim amaze me, what the heck does this guy do every day?
There is a lot of pontification that goes on at County Council meeting. Capt. Jim likes to report on all the notable county residents that have recently died.
The Highlands School is not designed for the type of students at JAS. The size, staff, and facility are not appropriate. Check out their website or visit personally and see the students who are being helped at The Highlands and you will understand.
BOE is completely out of touch with fiscal realities facing this county over the next few years. Harford county’s bond rating can only remain AAA if capital expenditures align with total $$$ received by way of taxes. I don’t know how they can justify this expense and have the taxpayers also fund a pay raise for staff. The CE talked about building a new high school in HdG and that I would support as that building looks more like a jail than a site for learning. Other than that, I don’t see the need over the next 2-4 yrs to add other schools to the system as enrollment has decreased over the past couple of years. Accounting for BRAC whose employees are coming to HC, you’ll see that the trend is that these new parents are bringing high school aged kids into the system and not as many elementary or middle school. If a new high school is built in HdG, then the county would have refurbished all high schools by renovation, repair or building new replacements and would set up the county to deal with elementary and middle schools in the 5-7 year timeframe. Thsi is consistent with the current redistricting plans as there is capacity in the school system to handle the new students and the BOE just needs to allocate kids to schools that can house them.
Why is the CE even discussing a new high school for HdG? If there is no money to build new or renovate existing schools why bring this up? If we can even do this later (when the economy improves) there are other schools designated by the school system in greater need of replacement or repair. HdG HS is not even on the above list of projected projects. I also do not agree with the ever expanding percentage of the BOE budget being spent on special education – an issue that was brought up during recent BOE meetings – but little can be done until federal legislation is changed which will not happen any time soon if at all. The purpose of the BOE is to advocate for students by providing the best education experience possible. That includes quality school buildings, teachers and support staff, and other related resources like textbook, technology, etc. It remains up to the CE and the County Council to decide to what extent they want to fund education. Ultimately they, not the BOE, will decide funding and bear a large measure of responsibility and accountability for the quality of education delivered to students in Harford County. Voters need to remember this the next time they go to the ballot box.
Tim-HCG is not destitute and has funds to pay for some improvements, renovations and new schools. Remember that these projects are bond funded and are paid over 30 yrs, just like you would to finance an additon, renovation or building a new home. The problem is that BOE wants to have increases in operating funds to pay teachers, staff and new innitiatives and at the same time have new schools. There is something called a wishlist and something called prioritizing your needs vs. wants. The BOE lacks the forward tought and vison needed to determine what funds can be gotten from HCG and what can be afforded in any one particular fiscal year.
Therein lies the problem. Harford County citizens want first class instruction and facilities at the same time but some do not want to pay for it. There will always be those that want to cut taxes (I am a home owner and would like a tax break too) and as HCPS is the single largest recipient of property tax dollars in Harford Co. (as is the case everywhere in the state with the possible exception of Baltimore City and PG Co.) school systems are easy scapegoats at which to throw stones. I absolutely agree that there can be greater efficiency in school spending but that only goes so far. Beyond that it is staff, which means bigger class sizes, less classroom/instructional resources, and less qualified or poorer quality teachers. Which should be cut or should we do without? I’ll bet you would get different answers from those that have children in or about to enter schools and those that do not. Again, I would suggest that voters keep a close eye on how their council person votes when it comes to school funding and vote accordingly at the next election.
Judging by the comments of Councilman McMahan, he is all heart. He probably hasn’t set foot in JAS in years, if ever, and if he did, he would see how seriously outdated the school is. These are special needs children, all with severe mental and physical disabilities, they deserve the same updated facilites as any other child. Perhaps the esteemed Councilman can proprose some viable alternative, but as with most politicians, they just point fingers and blame someone else. At the very least, John Archer needs serious modernization, so perhaps this was the lesser evil. As a proud parent of a John Archer student, let me tell you the staff is top notch. Now, let the facilities match the people work and learn there.
Gee did Jim ever think all he has to do is ask the greatest expert in Harford County history on education Dick Slutzky about what’s going on ?
How about building the JAS replacement as an attachment to the new and larger capacity Campus Hills ES. That way we do not need to build two separate schools. A bigger Campus Hills would take care of the terrible over crowding at Patterson Mill. The JAS could then be torn down or renovated to allow for an expansion of vocational opportunities at Harford Tech which are sorely missing in Harford County schools.
First I do not think Campus Hills is happening or needed. I also think John Archer does need to be core closely located to two things it is not located near. One being the hospital and the second being a middle school pool. Building on the Bel Air campus or better yet the PM campus would reasonable solutions.
Part of my post regarding Campus Hills was intended to be tongue-in-cheek, but expansion/adjustment of the Harford Tech program is sorely needed.
I believe the correct solution would be to demolish Wakefield and expand Homestead (to allow the extension of MacPhail Road), and then to demolish BAMS and build a new BAMS/John Archer complex. Nobody can tell me that the BAMS isn’t decades past due for replacement.
All we need is a big pile of money sent from a blue state government to a red county… no problem!
There you go Phil, not using the kind of fiscally sound forward thinking that Frankly Speaking would espouse. Shame on you.
Can anyone tell me why we keep Darlington Elementary open? It serves just over 100 kids and has surrounding schools with excess capacity. Simple math would suggest that with K-5 class sizes are less than 20 kids in each class – not classroom… the whole grade! It seems very very wasteful. Norrisville is a close second. That school serves well under 170 for all 6 grades. In my view, redistricting should have closed BOTH of these schools, consolidated the kids to schools where they could have the services that would be available from a larger base and looked forward to where the growth is happening. My guess is that in 10 years Darlington and Norrisville will still have the same number of kids or less. What am I missing here??? Is Captain Jim only interested in cutting corners in District C?
Capt’n Jim needs to retire. The BOE isn’t “quietly leading” anyone anywhere. All of these decisions have been made publicly at BOE meetings. He neglects to mention that as Homestead is demolished, Wakefield is being expanded and updated. Don’t those elementary students deserve updated facilities? Though he brings up some points that need to be further discussed (MacPhail Rd. for one), he is being disingenuous and trying to create a panicked atmosphere by pretending this is all being done in secret. Be responsible as a public servant. Why didn’t he just call the BOE to get some answers? Just stupid politics as usual.
Capt Jim is a tax and spend liberal. He is part of the David Craig, Jesse Bane, Billy Boniface crowd. Go along to get along – political opportunists that are part of the good ole boy network. They love to slap each other on the back and tell each other how good a job they are doing.
The only one on the counsel worth a damn is Mary Lisanti. Don’t necessarily agree with her but she is honest.
I have started watching the county council on cable. They are fee raising maniacs. They are often self congratulatory and seem out of touch with the “average” county resident. I can live with Mr. Shrodes and Slutzky, they at times have shown some independence but I am sorry for the vote I cast this past summer and in the fall elections. As far as District C goes I should hope Mr. Hanley will run again as this council needs new blood to be shaken up.
Here’s another example of foolishness: Bel Air High School was built with an expanded auditorium for county cultural events. This cost extra dollars from the original plan. Now the county is pursuing a “Cultural Arts Center,” separate facility – more money. Didn’t the county lay off workers recently? Is anybody getting the message out there?
Capt Jim, so what is it like to be deceived? Bullsh&^ed and lied too….??? Maybe you should look in the mirror….
The Captain is a joke. From this issue to many others, he is out of touch. The last time I wrote him about a community concern and asked him to address a couple of issues regarding development, his complete reply was “Thanks for the email”. Too bad he won reelection
JAS is understaffed if anything and building could use spruce up. the way we treat the kids with the greatest needs for help speaks about how we feel about life itself. Instead of all this bullcrap about cultural arts buildings and snazy tax breaks for friend of politicians we should be putting bucks in kids and teachers that could use help. a teacher at JAS was assaulted by an older bigger student last year and is still out on medical leave. Maybe if the staff had help this would have happened. I’m so tired of pompus do good in their own eyes self absorbed politicians.
The MacPhail Road extension IS on the Master Plan for Bel Air but the town commissioners have said that they are not in favor of it. A large portion of the property belongs to HCPS so it would have to get BOE approval as well. The BOE accepted plan for the Bel Air Campus does not include a MacPhail pass through and would in fact make it impractical by putting a rather large building in it’s path. I have never heard the BOE say anything in favor of putting a major street down the middle of the campus. The only plausible way I see it would work would be Phil Dirt’s senereo. It would solve a lot of issues but added to those costs would be bussing the entire neighborhood adjacent to Wakefield that currently walks.
It’s possible that the Councilman knows more about this and I am completely mistaken -but I doubt it.