Harford County Public School officials recommended plans Monday for a combined facility to replace Havre de Grace Middle School and Havre de Grace High School, including a new Information Technology Computer Science Magnet Program at the high school.
The latest available estimates put the cost at $72 million for construction and $87 million overall, including site work and demolition of existing structures. The 240,000 sq. ft. facility will be designed to serve 1,300 students with core areas sized to allow for future enrollment growth. Questioning the size, cost and the choice of magnet program, the school board failed to approve plans for the school Monday, and will hold more discussion before taking further action.
The Process
The plans revealed Monday at a board business meeting outlined the Educational Specifications for the new facility, which is a step required in the state’s process before the shape and layout of the building is drafted and presented in a Schematic Design.
In order to keep the project on track for state funding next year, the Schematic Design for Havre de Grace is due to the state by Sept. 1, according to comments made at the meeting by Joe Licata, HCPS chief of administration.
The school board plans to request state and local construction funding for the project beginning in its fiscal year 2016 budget. That budget may also reflect revised cost figures for the Havre de Grace project based on budget information expected from the state, school officials said Tuesday.
The Plan
Referred to as “Ed Specs” for short, the plan for Havre de Grace was drafted by a committee including representatives from HCPS central office staff, Grimm + Parker Architects, the Maryland State Department of Education, Harford County Parks & Rec, and the City of Havre de Grace, plus local teachers, parents, and students.
While subject to amendment and approval by the school board, not to mention funding, the Ed Specs as proposed Monday include the following elements:
• The combined Havre de Grace Middle and High School will be built on the campus now shared by the separate middle and high school facilities, and located adjacent to the high school stadium.
• Students will remain in their existing schools while construction is ongoing. The ideal timeline presented Monday evening would be to complete the new building in 24 months, thereby opening under the best case scenario in 2017/2018.
• Once the new building is occupied, the existing facilities will be demolished and new playfields and parking areas will be constructed. However, Licata, said Monday evening that the future of the existing gymnasium/auditorium building, which is separate from the rest of the high school, is yet to be determined.
• The existing outdoor athletic complex will not be impacted.
• The joint school will have two principals; one each for middle and high school.
• There will be two separate gyms for middle and high school
• The school auditorium will hold 1,000 seats.
The Capacity
As proposed, the Ed Specs were written to serve 1,300 students in grades six through twelve, with a breakdown as follows:
Middle School: 550
High School: 750 – Including up to 150 students from outside the attendance area enrolled in the magnet program.
Combined enrollment for Havre de Grace Middle School and Havre de Grace High School was 1,190 students last year, according to Licata. The Ed Specs also indicate that core areas in the school will be sized for future growth to 1,600 students.
In response to questions about capacity Tuesday from The Dagger, Licata offered additional clarification regarding the state-rated capacity of the school versus the number of students the Ed Specs anticipated serving:
“The educational specifications are written to meet the needs of 1300 students between 550 middle school students, 600 high school students and 150 magnet program students. The spaces needed in order to deliver the curriculum when calculated according to the state formula resulted in a state rated capacity. As was stated in the meeting last night, there are inefficiencies created by some duplication of spaces, and the inefficiencies of a smaller school. The state assumes that every classroom will have an average of 25 students in it 85% of the time. A smaller school must offer most of the same programs offered at other comprehensive high schools, but will see smaller average class sizes in many cases.”
Information Technology Computer Science Magnet Program
The proposed magnet program in Havre de Grace would add to existing HCPS magnet programs, now located at Aberdeen High School (Science and Math Academy), Edgewood High School (International Baccalaureate) North Harford High School (Natural Resources and Agricultural Science), and Harford Technical High School, which is a magnet school. Not all high schools have magnet programs, which, in HCPS, are open to incoming freshmen countywide, with selective admissions determined through an application process. Transportation has been limited due to recent budget cuts.
The Ed Spec Committee chose a magnet program in Information Technology Computer Science for Havre de Grace based on the demand for workers with computer skills, and advice from state Career and Technology Education (CTE) officials, said Joe Schmitz, HCPS executive director of middle/high school instruction and performance. He also cited a 2012 Sage Policy Group study of Maryland employment opportunities.
Upon further questioning from Board members, Licata added that the choice also has support from the Harford County Economic Development Advisory Board, and it is consistent with the workforce development needs at Aberdeen Proving Ground, the county’s largest employer. Superintendent Barbara Canavan added that the choice also arose from interactions with the Chamber of Commerce, Harford Business Roundtable and other representatives of local business.
Board member Jim Thornton was among those with questions about the plan overall and the magnet program in particular. Emphasizing that he was not trying to “derail” the Havre de Grace project, he asked for a broader discussion about magnet program options and other issues, and pushed for a board work session to be scheduled before a vote. “… With a $90 million investment … it’s about trying to make sure we’re making the best decision with as much information and as informed as we should be around what the options are,” he said.
Board member Bob Frisch warned of fiscal constraints and the cost of staffing and transportation for magnet programs. He also cited flat enrollment projections, and schools such as Edgewood High School that have hundreds of empty seats, in questioning the capacity to be built in Havre de Grace.
Deadlines Loom
With deadlines looming to keep the Havre de Grace project on track for state approvals, Board members voted 4 to 2 to approve the Ed Specs as presented (Frisch and Vice-President Rick Grambo were the two against.) However, with three of nine board members absent Monday, and at least five affirmative votes needed for passage, General Counsel Patrick Spicer said the measure did not pass. The three absent board members were Tom Fitzpatrick, Joe Hau and Art Kaff.
In closing, Board President Nancy Reynolds said that a work session would be scheduled in the near future to allow for another vote at the next board business meeting planned in August.
Below is the proposed Ed Spec for Havre de Grace Middle and High School:
Boe Agenda Exhibits by daggerpress
What a waste of our tax dollars. Close the schools and redistrict the students to under capacity schools.
ok yep. Close the middle school and move it’s projected 544 students. Where are they going? Aberdeen? That’s the only middle school close to HdG, and it can only take a projected 342 before being over capacity. So where do the other 200 go? At the high school level, 583 HdG students would need to go somewhere. Aberdeen, again the only school within 10 miles of HdG can only take 280 of them.
Face it, the upper county parents would have to participate in redistricting, which is something they have proved over and over again to be against. Let close Fallston High school while we are at it, since it so under capacity.
The problem with harford schools is many were built on the perimeter of the county. A large school between aberdeen, HdG and Churchville would have bee perfect, instead they rebuilt AHS in the same location. HdG can’t pull kids from the south or east because of the county boundaries. A school should be able to pull from all directions.
Then build the new school big enough to permanently close Aberdeen.
All HCPS needs to do is redraw the attendance boundaries for all the remaining schools. They could easily close Havre de Grace Middle School and Havre de Grace High School and by redistricting all the schools in the county find a place for all the potential students. HCPS admits that there is declining enrollment for every school in the system. Currently Harford County Middle Schools are only at 81% capacity or 2027 vacant seats. Well below the 541 registered students at Havre de grace Middle School. If they eliminated the Middle School the capacity would only climb to 87%. Currently Harford County High Schools are only at 84% capacity or 2261 vacant seats. Well below the 583 registered students at Havre de grace High School. If they eliminated the High School the capacity would only climb to 89%. Add the operating cost for the three buildings and the support staff that is required to keep them operating and there is potential to save enough money to pay the teachers what they have been promised.
So unnecessary. Well on the flip side, you teachers hoping for raises…..that future money will be going to a wasted project.
Should would have been important for Fitzpatrick to be there since this affects his district in a huge way.
How can you NOT make this meeting a priority??
What a shame.
When you are appointed and not voted in, you don;t have anyone to answer to. That should change in November…
Another magnet program at a Rt 40 school, surprise surprise. How much does it increase transportation costs to bus magnet students (even with the current partial busing system) to JHS, EHS, AHS and HdGHS instead of picking one location to host all of the magnet programs? Maybe the magnet programs should be located next door to a college and in a centralized location, like on Harford Tech’s campus?
Oh wait, that wouldn’t make the Rt 40 schools look like they have a chance of preparing students for college.
Currently costs nothing for JHS as the homeland security program is not a true magnet .
I would be pissed if my kids were being bussed to learn how to speak over a PA system in the 3rd person and grope people because their shampoo didn’t fit in the ziplock, so I guess that’s a good thing.
Homeland Security program? Sounds like true academia to me, or some BS classes that someone made up to make themselves look good.
Don’t worry, by the looks of it – we won’t even be able to afford bus service throughout the county in the next few years.
Guess another tax is coming!
Hang on ladies and gentlemen! Tell em what else they won!
How about a big Fan question mark about how this relates to the Harford Tech trade program? If you take a look in HCPS employment, they are hiring someone for the IT/Cyber security trade, which I assume was formerly Computers/Electronics. I guess another long term trade teacher retired?
So, huh? Will a replacement teacher be hired, then fired when this school is finished? Will they be transferred?
Sounds to be like another Harford Tech program getting the axe!
The City of Havre de Grace deserves to have schools at all levels and have the ability, through state of the art facilities, to attract more families to the area. Magnet programs bring additional students to schools and give a dynamic to those schools that may not ordinarily attract students of caliber geographically. Havre de Grace has a history and an identity that is unique to the county and for anyone to think that an arbitrary redistricting of students is a solution, is naive, at best. The schools in this city along with their ongoing activities, parent involvement, sports, music, theater, as well as academic achievements are part of the lifeblood of Havre de Grace.
Mrs. Brown,
Activities, sports, music, theater, and other academic achievements are part of the lifeblood of every city – in every county – in every State.
So your argument is that by building this new school, and possibly adding another Magnet Program, HdG could potentially attract students of higher caliber? Well, the students don’t choose where to live – it’s the parents. With looming job cuts to APG, I don’t see many parents moving into HdG just because of that Magnet Program. Many of the Magnet Programs attract students from different schools / different cities. Not sure how having outside students come into HdG is “attracting students of caliber”. They don’t become permanent residents of the City – if anything, it will increase vehicular traffic as we all know the County has cut bus service to Magnet Programs. Unless, of course, part of the HdG Magnet Program will ensure “all students have adequate transportation to their programs”.
Speaking of the Magnet Program – who is going to teach it? It is well advertised here that Harford County has abysmal teacher salaries, horrid raises, and a shoddy teacher’s union. Try as they might, other Maryland counties are paying their teachers more, which is causing the talent to flock to those areas. Not that Harford does not have talented folks, but even talented teachers can only take so much. Coupled with a pretty-lousy County Council (who don’t fear cutting education benefits to help pay for other areas of interest), it is hard to imagine how another Magnet Program could (a) be funded, and (b) be professionally staffed.
So instead of redistricting, and making use of fully adequate facilities in other areas nearby areas of the county, you are suggesting that we spend valuable capital dollars to rebuild a school that – at best – will not reach capacity?
Do other schools not deserve “state-of-the-art” facilities? I am wondering if a survey was completed to weigh the differences in cost – spend millions on a single new school; spend the money on upgrading several existing schools?
It is obvious that you have a love for the city in which you live, however I believe that love for HdG has blinded you to the fact that nothing is really special about Havre de Grace…and adding a few brand-new schools won’t really change that.
Yes. Every school should be in a long range plan for a state of the art facility and HdG is overdue. Magnet programs draw students and that brings parents into the community to participate and spend time and money in town. HdG is a tourism hub for Harford County and it is unique to the county. If not self-evident, then perhaps it’s a lack of vision for the city.
Before reading your well thought comment this blog was eroding my confidence in the value that Harford County and Havre de Grace residents place on education.
Thank you
My comments were in reference to Mrs. Brown’s.
Not to the Lazydog comments about “Havre de Grace not being special or unique”.
Any objective examination of Havre de Grace whether historically or currently would refute that opinion,