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Feb. 24, 2011
Kitzmiller mayor Jim Browning does not want his town to become another death statistic in a local history book. But that could very well happen if Kitzmiller Elementary School closes, according to town officials.
“We don’t want to become a ghost town,” Browning told the Garrett County commissioners last Thursday afternoon.
The mayor, town council, and about 30 other residents met with the commissioners in an effort to rally financial and moral support to keep the school open.
Located along the North Branch of the Potomac River, Kitzmiller was incorporated in 1906. The former booming coal town’s current population is about 300. Community Action president Duane Yoder noted that the population had been decreasing, but raw census data indicates it has stabilized and may be increasing.
Kitzmiller is one of only four remaining Maryland communities of 31 identified in a Garrett County Historical Society publication titled Ghost Towns of the Upper Potomac, the mayor noted.
“A decision to close the school is a permanent solution to a temporary problem fueled by a depressed economic situation,” Browning said.
KES currently has 55 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, plus 12 in Community Action’s Head Start program. The annual cost to operate the facility is about $410,000.
The school is the heart of Kitzmiller, the mayor said, and a focal point for activities and services for residents of all ages, including after-school and basketball programs and the town’s annual homecoming event. In addition, a branch of Ruth Enlow Library has been located within the school’s library since 1987.
“We’re in partnership with the best education we can give this community of Kitzmiller,” said branch manager Diane Kisner. “For the school to be lost, it would be detrimental to the town of Kitzmiller. I just see so many positive things going on in the community, as the public librarian there.”
The library board announced it will discontinue the Kitzmiller branch if the school is closed, as funding will not be available to maintain the library in that or another building.
“The town will lose its identity as a community and become just an aggregation of residents,” Browning said about the possible school closure.
State allocations to local schools were significantly cut early last year because of economic conditions, an increase in the county’s wealth index, and the expiration of “hold harmless” legislation, which previously ensured level funding despite enrollment decline. As a result, the GC Board of Education is facing a more than $4 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2012.
As a cost-saving measure, Dr. Wendell Teets, superintendent of Garrett County schools, proposed on Sept. 15, 2010, that Kitzmiller and Bloomington elementary schools be closed. He explained that these two schools have the highest cost of operation per student with the lowest enrollments. The cost to operate the Bloomington school is about $426,000 a year.
