One study option recommends shuttering three facilities to close budget gap
Elaine Blaisdell
OAKLAND — The Garrett County Board of Education released information concerning the elementary school facility needs assessment and master plan study for its public schools as well as information on potential school consolidations done by Bushey Feight Morin Architects Inc. of Hagerstown during a meeting Tuesday.
The study was done by Facility Engineering Associates of Fairfax, Va., and the board paid $61,680 for it, according to Jim Morris, supervisor of research, evaluation and information for Garrett County public schools.
Even if the board of education chooses the most extreme option of the study, the savings wouldn’t be enough to close the $2.2 million budget gap, Paul Swanson, of Facility Engineering Associates, indicated during a presentation of the study in October.
The most extreme option proposes closing two schools in the northern end of the county as well as one school in the southern end and includes reconfiguration of all grades in northern schools and adjusting school boundary lines.
“If we were to take the most extreme option and still only realize an 83 percent gain towards the $2.2 million deficit that we anticipate, how would we come up with what’s left?” said Superintendent of Schools Janet Wilson during the presentation of the study.
If the schools were reconfigured, it would lead to reductions in teachers, according to Wilson.
“We have reduced our staff by 88 positions since 2009,” said Wilson. “We have lost 609 students; at a 1-to-20 ratio we probably should reduce the staff.”
If schools were to close, it would increase costs of transportation due to the distance traveled to get students to another facility, according to a letter to Wilson written by Michael Gehr of BFM Architects.
“The closed facilities will still require exterior maintenance and maintaining watertightness of buildings and possibly heating costs to prevent damage to the facility until repurposed, demolished, transferred or sold,” writes Gehr. “All options will have expenses for unknown durations though it could be mitigated if a closed facility is sold or transferred to another entity sooner than later.”
BFM Architects held a meeting in August to determine what could be done to absorb displaced students at remaining schools should some schools close.
“The current approach would be to realign the schools based on grade levels as all schools have the ability to handle additional students,” writes Gehr. “Consolidation of schools in Garrett County can be achieved based on the projected enrollments and the existing facilities as they currently exist. However some modifications will be necessary to achieve that goal.”
If the schools were to be consolidated, any savings wouldn’t be realized for at least a year because it would take more than a summer break to design and construct the modified layout for a fourth to seventh grade level school, according to Gehr. The timeframe for a complete renovation would take about two years.
To view Gehr’s letter as well as the study, visit the GCPS website at http://www. garrettcountyschools.org/public-information.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
