Category: school closures

Public meetings scheduled this month in regard to Garrett County’s five-year plan

Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News

FRIENDSVILLE — Friendsville and Kitzmiller elementary schools are proposed to close, in addition to the Dennett Road Elementary School, as part of a five-year plan for Garrett County schools. Faculty members were notified Dec. 13 of the proposed closing at the end of the school year, according to Jamie Fike, a member of the Friendsville Advisory Committee.
The nine-member committee, which was formed by Friendsville Principal Tracie Miller, was created recently to research the feasibility of the five-year plan and the impact on the students and the community as a whole, according to Fike.
Prior to the Christmas break, Friendsville Mayor Spencer Schlosnagle and council held an emergency meeting on the proposed school closings. Fike told the Times-News that Schlosnagle, who is a member of the Advisory Committee, stated at the meeting that the closing would have a negative impact on Friendsville as a whole.
Fike echoed the mayor’s sentiments, stating, “The closing of Friendsville Elementary School will definitely have a devastating effect on our little town … going far beyond the town limits. It could become a whole county issue.”
Public meetings on all three proposed school closings will be held this month. Should Friendsville close, the 103 students who attend the school will be sent to Accident and Grantsville elementary schools, according to Sue Waggoner, interim superintendent of schools. In addition, school position reductions are proposed as part of the five-year plan developed by Waggoner.
The plan proposes the reduction of eight teaching/principal positions, one custodian position and one secretary/assistant position at Friendsville Elementary. The overall anticipated savings is $674,522.
Should Kitzmiller Elementary close, the 50 students will be redistricted to Yough Glades and possibly Broadford. The plan also calls for the proposed reduction of approximately 3.5 teaching/principal positions, one custodian and one secretary/assistant. The overall anticipated savings is $279,077.
The potential school closings and reductions were apparently brought on by an anticipated state funding shortfall of about $3 million and a loss of student population, according to a previous Times-News article. Waggoner anticipates an 11 percent decrease in funding from the state this year.
During a recent meeting of The Greater Cumberland Committee, Garrett County Commission Chairman Jim Raley said that according to the 2010 census, 20 percent of student population in Garrett County was lost. The county has lost approximately 800 students since 2000 and there is an expected 3.6 percent decrease in enrollment, which is the largest in the state, explained Waggoner. In 2019, the state estimates enrollment will be down by 9.3 percent. The declining student population is caused by a decrease in birth rates, according to Waggoner.
“Education is always an issue. Last year, Allegany lost about $6 million and Garrett County lost about $2 million. We are going to try to do our best to hold that cut down and introduce a piece of legislation to do something there,” said Sen. George Edwards during the TGCC meeting.
Edwards is working on a bill that would cap the funding losses, according to Waggoner. Last year, Edwards was able to help pass the Budget Reconciliation and Finance Act of 2011 to cap losses at 6.5 percent for both Allegany and Garrett counties.
“I’m glad that Edwards is pushing this legislation but I’m unsure of how will it will do because of how the state is doing at this time,” said Waggoner.
Dennett Road area residents have signed a petition in hopes of stopping the school from closing.
Last year, the board of education voted to close Bloomington Elementary School.
Public hearings on the proposed closings will be held separately for each school:
• Friendsville, Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the gym with a make-up date of Jan. 25.
• Kitzmiller, Thursday at 7 p.m. in the multipurpose room with a make-up date of Jan 23.
• Dennett Road, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. in the Southern High School gym with make-up date of Feb. 1.
Those interested in speaking at the Friendsville meeting must sign up by 6 p.m., according to Fike. Members of the Advisory Committee plan to speak at the Wednesday meeting.
Testimony at the hearing will be limited to three minutes per person but written testimony or data may be submitted to the board of education in conjunction with the testimony or in lieu of an oral presentation and must be postmarked by Feb. 29. Comments can also be at www.ga.k12.md.us.
Waggoner will make a final recommendations on the proposed school closings at the regular school board meeting Feb. 14 at 5:30 p.m. at Southern Middle School.
The final decision on all three school closings will be made at the March 13 board meeting.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.

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Jan. 12, 2012

Emotions ran high at Tuesday’s meeting of the Garrett County Board of Education, as concerned citizens, many of whom hail from the Friendsville area, filled the board room to express their opinions and grievances with the recent five-year plan set forth by the board to right the school system’s budget woes.

The board was scheduled to take action on a proposal to reconfigure the grade structure of the school system – a move that would place fifth grade students in middle schools – but that action was postponed until Tuesday, Jan. 17, in light of some of the issues addressed in the public comments portion of the meeting.

BOE members heard and took note of the information put forward in that public forum, which was schedule for 4 to 4:30 p.m., but ran well over 2½ hours. A video feed of the meeting was set up in the main lobby area of the Garrett County Board of Education building to accommodate the overflow of participants and onlookers.

Many of the concerns voiced dealt with the issue of young students being emotionally and developmentally unready for the change of venue, the unintended consequences of housing fifth and eighth graders in the same building, the strain placed on elementary students by the extended commute times, and the loss of the more “nurturing and intimate” setting provided by smaller class sizes.

Some of these concerns were addressed by Sue Waggoner, interim superintendent of schools, in a presentation earlier in the meeting. Waggoner expressed that the board had considered and shared the majority of these concerns, laying out a tentative but detailed schedule for students in the event the reconfiguration took place.

According to the presentation, in the larger middle school each grade would have its own “pod” within the school and be kept separate from the other grades. Each grade would have its own lunch shift and every student would also be assigned his/her own home room. Enrichment/remediation periods would also be built into each schedule.

Furthermore, fifth and sixth graders would be heterogeneously grouped and on a different bell schedule than students in the seventh and eighth grades. Classes would last 35 minutes and have four minutes between them.

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Dec. 15, 2011

A somber tone was struck at Tuesday’s monthly Garrett County Board of Education meeting, which centered around the projected budget shortfalls faced by the school system and the possibility that those financial woes may cause some major changes. Most notably, the financial deficit may force the BOE to vote to close a number of Garrett County schools.

Before a pair of presentations were given on the subject, extra chairs were brought into the board room of the Board of Education building to accommodate the larger than usual crowd in attendance.

The first informative talk was given by Larry Mc-Kenzie, director of finance, who presented tentative estimates on Maryland’s state aid wealth formula and its effects on school budgets. McKenzie explained that according to the formula, Garrett County was on track to become the fifth wealthiest county in Maryland, and therefore receive increasingly less funding from Annapolis.

This trend was attributed to reductions in local student population, as well as to increases in real estate value, presumably properties in the Deep Creek Lake area and those connected with utilities. Estimates for immediate budget losses were thought to be somewhere between $1.5 and $3 million.

Following McKenzie’s presentation, Sue Waggoner, interim superintendent of schools, addressed the board with proposals for balancing the budget. These proposals were to be taken under advisement by the board, and will be considered over the coming months.

Through the first year of Waggoner’s five-year proposal, the board was asked to first consider eliminating the high school driver’s education program. This action would reportedly net a saving of $200,000 per year. Coupled with this measure was a proposal to also consider the elimination of the full-time school-enrichment positions, allowing those duties to fall to the primary teaching staff and perhaps to part-time employees. The removal of these positions would reportedly reduce the budget deficit by around $165,000 per year.

Waggoner also asked the board to consider reconfiguring the current grade structure of schools, moving fifth graders to middle schools. This new configuration would have pre-K through fourth graders attend elementary schools and fifth through eighth graders attend middle schools. High schools would see no change.

Having middle school begin at the fifth grade level, Waggoner explained, was a somewhat common practice in the neighboring states of Virginia and West Virginia and would also allow for a smoother transition into the redistricting of students brought about by school closings.

The first school that the board was asked to consider for closure was Dennett Road Elementary, as its location would allow those currently enrolled there to be relocated to Broad Ford, Yough Glades, and Crellin. Dennett Road was also targeted because of its need for extensive renovations in the near future – renovations which could not be completed given the school system’s current financial situation.

This maneuver would also allow for the removal of 16½ teacher, principal, and custodial positions throughout the school system.

Two other facilities – Kitzmiller and Friendsville elementaries – were also presented to the board as candidates for closure. If this were to occur, Kitzmiller students would presumably be redistricted to Yough Glades, while Friendsville students would be sent to Accident and Grantsville. Waggoner estimated a savings of around $279,000 per year if Kitzmiller were closed, while closing Friendsville would reportedly save around $674,000.

Beyond the closing of schools, reductions in spending on transportation, maintenance, and staff were proposed in order to balance the budget. Waggoner felt that the transportation budget could be reduced by around $128,000.

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Apr. 7, 2011

Closing two of Garrett County’s 11 elementary schools this August was the final recommendation of Dr. Wendell Teets, superintendent of schools, given at the Board of Education meeting held at Southern Middle School on Tuesday.

This recommendation came at the conclusion of a presentation given by Teets on the school system’s current budget dilemma. In this presentation Teets assessed the current state of finance for Garrett County schools and made speculative assessments of the system’s future.

In a review of potential fiscal year 2012 state aid, it was stated that Garrett County was one of only six districts in Maryland that would see an increase in wealth. As the state’s wealth as a whole is projected to contract by 2.58 percent, it was stated that Garrett County will see a 4.95 percent increase in wealth and also an enrollment loss of 2.36 percent. The report went on to outline the adverse effects of these factors on future state aid to the Garrett County school system.

It was also stated that beginning in the fall of 2009, a system wide review was conducted of numerous budgetary considerations. These included a review of the school system’s transportation efficiency, the possible effects of redistricting, and the savings obtainable through central office staff reductions.

The findings presented the potential savings through the majority of these possible changes inadequate to the task of fiscal sustainability in the foreseen budget crisis. Though it would not be the only measure taken to correct the budget deficit, the one consideration shown to be potentially most effect and least detrimental to the school system as a whole was the closing of the most costly schools in operation, namely Kitzmiller and Bloomington elementary schools.

Of all the public school’s within Garrett County, Bloomington and Kitzmiller were shown to have the highest projection in future costs, as well as the lowest trend in growth in terms of enrollment. It was stated that the total cost per student for Bloomington and Kitzmiller was $13,305 per annum and $7,444 per annum, respectively.

Bloomington was also shown to have the largest costs in facilities per pupil of any Garrett County school. Though both schools were considered to be in good shape currently, it was presented that state aid would most likely be unavailable for future repairs and renovations due to low enrollment.

In a detailed proposal of best-case scenario reductions the closure cost savings of Bloomington totaled $443,861. It was also reported that Kitzmiller’s closure cost savings would be $371,705.

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Mar. 3, 2011

More than 30 Bloomington Elementary School parents, students, teachers, and other supporters met with the Garrett County commissioners on Tuesday afternoon to plead their case for keeping the school open.
Located at the foot of Backbone Mountain near the Allegany County line, Bloomington Elementary has 34 students in prekindergarten through grade five.

“If the recommendation to close the school goes through, it’s going to have an effect not only on the school kids, but on the community,” said Greg Harvey, BES Advisory Group. “It’s not just an issue that deals with 34 kids.”

He said the school is the hub of the community, and closing it would have detrimental effects on Bloomington. Those include decreased property values, a decreased tax based for the county, the loss of after-school and community activities, the loss of school- related jobs, and the eventual loss of businesses, services, and residents.

Harvey pointed out how nearby Westernport declined after Allegany County closed Bruce High School.

“The reason for being in Westernport went away,” he said about the exodus of numerous families.

The local BOE is facing a more than $4 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2012 because of state cutbacks, 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 cost-saving measure, Dr. Wendell Teets, superintendent of Garrett County schools, proposed last September that Bloomington and Kitzmiller elementary schools be closed. He explained that these two schools have the highest cost of operation per student with the lowest enrollments.

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