Garrett County commissioners must approve use for former elementary school
Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — Both the Garrett County Community Action Committee and the Kitzmiller Charter School Initiative Inc. have approached the commissioners about possible uses of the former Kitzmiller Elementary School.
The former Kitzmiller and Dennett Road elementary school buildings reverted back to the county following the Board of Education’s decision to close both schools on May 30.
During the July 5 commission meeting, Brenda McCartney and Matthew Paugh of the Charter School Initiative presented an overview of the application for the charter school and requested the commissioners approval to utilize the building for the school.
The commissioners’ final approval of a possible charter school will be based on further review and will be made once the application is approved, according to Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator. The application for the charter school is due by Sept. 1 to the Board of Education, according to McCartney.
“The forming of a charter school is a long process and the soonest we can open is for the 2013-2014 school year,” said McCartney, who said the group has filed a letter of intent for the school with the school board.
Once the application is filed, the school board will have 120 days to render a decision in the matter, according to McCartney. If the board denies the application, the group can file an appeal with the Maryland State Board of Education, according to the county’s board of education website.
Since the charter school will be public, it will be operated under the school board, with extended funding coming from the board with the Charter School Initiative seeking additional funding through grants, according to McCartney.
“From the discussion during the public meeting and my prior meeting with the Kitzmiller group, the cost of maintaining the facility will be covered by the charter school,” said Pagenhardt in an email.
Also during the commission meeting, the Kitzmiller Learning Co-Op suggested utilizing the former school for home schooling and community functions during the 2012-2013 school year.
“Some parents would like to utilize the building for a home school. I don’t know if it will be available,” said McCartney. “At this point it’s difficult to say what it (home school) would look like. It would depend on number of parents who make the decision to home school.”
The commissioners will take the utilization of the former Kitzmiller school for home school purposes under advisement, said Pagenhardt.
In June, Duane Yoder, president of Garrett County Community Action Committee, approached the commissioners about the continued use of Kitzmiller building as a Head Start center.
Yoder also hopes to relocate the senior meal program there as well. The Kitzmiller Head Start Center has had a classroom in the former school for about 35 years and would most likely close down if it can’t continue to remain in the school building, according to Yoder.
“Kitzmiller is the only building that is feasible for Head Start,” said Yoder, who noted that he had considered busing the preschoolers to a new location in Oakland. “I’m not willing to transport 3- and 4-year-olds on a bus from Kitzmiller to Oakland.”
Yoder said although he hasn’t had a conversation with members of the Charter School Initiative, that the Head Start would fit in nicely with a charter school and would “enhance their planning.”
Yoder also hopes to relocate the senior meal program to the former Kitz-miller school building. If the senior meal program was to move from its current location at the Kitzmiller Municipal Building to the school, the program would likely grow, according to Yoder.
“More people would participate in the the senior program at the school because they wouldn’t have to deal with the steps like they do at the municipal building,” said Yoder.
“I would like to make it (both ideas) work if it could be made to work,” said Yoder. “Even if the charter school doesn’t come through, Garrett County Community Action Committee is committed to keeping the Kitzmiller building open for use as community center for the good of the community.”
The Kitzmiller building also contains a branch of the Ruth Enlow Library.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com
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