Category: garrett county schools

>Cumberland Times News

OAKLAND — Garrett County public schools will be in session April 18 through 21 and April 25 for make-up days, according to the Garrett County Board of Education.

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>From Staff Reports
The Cumberland Times-News Mon Mar 07, 2011, 11:43 PM EST

CUMBERLAND — Local public school officials are trying to do a little damage control on massive state funding cuts that loom on the horizon.

And they have asked state legislators for help.

Superintendents and finance directors from Allegany and Garrett County public schools traveled to Annapolis last week to testify in support of a bill that would cap at 7 percent the amount of state revenues a school district could lose in a year, as calculated by budget formulas.

Allegany County schools stand to lose $6.5 million in fiscal 2012, or more than 8 percent of state funds.

Garrett County schools are in line to lose about $2.4 million — closer to 10 percent.

The losses are due to declining enrollment and a wealth per-pupil state funding formula that measures real property values, personal property values and taxable income from tax returns.

In addition, the Budget Reconciliation and Finance Act of 2011 pending in the state legislature would reduce Allegany County’s state funding by another $1.3 million, school officials have said.

“What we’re trying to do is preserve some money for Allegany County and Garrett County, but it’s a statewide bill,” Sen. George Edwards said Friday. The bill would be effective for five years, he said.

“Garrett and Allegany are impacted this year, but other counties could be impacted next year.”

The legislation, if approved, would restore about $880,000 to Allegany County schools in fiscal 2012.

Last week, Allegany County Superintendent David Cox proposed a $109.6 million budget that includes the elimination of several programs that directly impact children.

On the chopping block are after-school programs at elementary and middle schools and a contract with Washington County that has allowed residents of Little Orleans to send their children to Washington County schools. The board is scheduled to vote on the proposed budget at its meeting today, then present it to the Allegany County Board of Commissioners later this month.

During testimony in Annapolis last week, Cox asked legislators to help avoid “further eroding the very support that has brought us tremendous gains in student achievement.”

“In our county, over half of our children receive free and reduced meals, and the median income is $39,000 per year,” Cox said. “It is hard to explain to your community that our wealth per pupil has increased due to utility company improvements and the relative stability of our real estate market, even though property values are not as high as in most other areas of the state.”

Cox and other school officials are scheduled to travel to Annapolis again Wednesday to give similar testimony in support of House Bill 937, which mirrors Senate Bill 495. No vote is expected until later this spring, Edwards said.

Allegany County Board of Education member Ed Root observed testimony before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee last week.

“I sat there and tried to read the committee, but they get numb after a day of all that testimony,” Root said. “It was hard to get a read on how well-received it was.”

Delegate Wendell Beitzel, who sponsored the House bill, said that delegations from Prince George’s County and Baltimore City schools are lobbying hard for additional funds for their school systems. That could bode well for Allegany and Garrett counties.

“There’s a lot of maneuvering going on,” Beitzel said, adding that legislators could very well approve those additional funds. “If they do that, then I think we’re entitled to get thrown in the mix.”

Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kbarkley@times-news.com.

Board to accept bids for South Penn pre-K addition, Allegany stage lights

CUMBERLAND — At its public meeting today at 7 p.m., the Allegany County Board of Education will accept a bid of $1,222,059 from the Frostburg-based firm Lashley Construction for construction of the pre-K addition at South Penn School.

Other bid items on the agenda include:

• Bus drop-off contract for West Side Elementary.

• Stage lighting at Allegany High School.

• S&S Electric Inc., $49,000 for replacement of emergency generator at Allegany High School.

• L&R Floors Inc. for carpet and floor tile replacement at various schools.

Also on the agenda:

• Recognition of the Fort Hill band for first place in the Maryland State Band Competition.

• Recognition of the students who participated in the All-State Chorus and Orchestra.

• Donation of computer equipment to Allconet.

The 5 p.m. work session includes the discussion of minimum standards for participation in athletics by athletics supervisor Tim Scaletta.

Other presentations include:

• Maintenance/construction update, Facilities Director Vince Montana.

• Building trades program extension, Harry Smith.

• Responding to public inquiries and complaints, Secondary Education Director Karen Bundy.

• Student schedules and course loads, Fort Hill High School Assistant Principal Ben Brauer.

• Library materials selection, Media Coordinator Lisa Stevenson.

Both meetings will be held at the Central Office, 108 Washington St.

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Nov. 25, 2010

Northern High School junior Josh Tichinel won the grand prize in Baltimore during last Friday’s state “Rethink Recycling” Sculpture Contest for his “Canagator,” an alligator made of more than 700 soda cans and other recyclable items. The contest was sponsored by the Maryland Department of the Environment, and Josh received an iPad from MDE Secretary Shari Wilson for his efforts. See story for details. Pictured above, left to right, are Bailey Umbel, Josh with his iPad, NHS student/contestant Bayley Smoot, Alec Smoot, and Dillon Russell. Photo by Kim Madigan, Garrett County Solid Waste and Recycling Division.

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Kristin Harty Barkley
Cumberland Times-News Fri Oct 08, 2010, 07:57 AM EDT

— BITTINGER — Jordan Kight peeked out from inside the hollow tree.

“This is a maple tree,” he said, grinning, as his fifth-grade classmates passed by on a muddy trail at the Garrett County 4H Education Center.

“It’s hollowed out, so I got in here.”

Allegany County Superintendent of Schools David Cox planted his walking stick in the mud and took a look.

“That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” said Cox, who hiked with students Thursday during the final week of this year’s Outdoor School.

“You could just make this your home,” Allegany County Board of Education member Mike Llewellyn told Kight. “Get a chair, some food.”

“I think I could probably sleep in here,” Kight said.

More than 600 Allegany County fifth-graders have attended the Allegany County Outdoor School this fall, camping out for a week at a time to learn about the environment.

The decades-old program, which was discontinued for many years because of a lack of funding, was reinstated three years ago, said Mike McGowan, supervisor of Elementary Education.

Sixth-graders from across the county also participate in an annual environmental learning experience at Rocky Gap State Park.

“They do things they can’t do in the classroom,” McGowan said. “Plus, the social interaction is really good. They’re getting hands-on experience.”

On Thursday, a fall morning with sunshine and sweatshirt temperatures, Outdoor School instructor Mallory Smith showed students a beaver skull, a beaver pelt, and imprints of beaver tracks before leading them on a hike to look for beavers. School board member Sara-Beth James also went along.

“Looking at the size of this group, there’s no way you’re going to see a beaver,” Smith said. “Because beavers are really afraid of us. … But if we can be very, very, very quiet, maybe we might see some beavers.”

The students didn’t see a beaver. But they saw some evidence of the existence of beavers.

“So what do you think this is?” Smith asked, as students gathered at the edge of a stream to look at a pile of sticks.

“A hut,” one student said.

“Yes. This is a beaver hut or a beaver lodge,” Smith said. “This is their home.”

Students, who arrive on Monday and leave on Friday, sleep in cabins with parent chaperones and spend their time hiking, canoeing and fishing, as well as learning in on-site classrooms about everything from soil to weather, orienteering to tree-types.

Inside the Nature Center, students from Westside Elementary School sat in a circle Thursday and passed around a mouse, a giant toad, and several snakes.

Earlier, during a hike with Cresaptown Elementary School children, instructor Darrell Spence — a.k.a. Mr. Canoe — picked through his backpack, reviewing essential items for a camping trip.

A flashlight, for example. Compass. Toilet paper. First-aid kit.

“If you’re lost, what do you do?” Spence asked.

“Hug a tree,” one student said.

“Hug a tree,” said Spence, who owns Allegany Expeditions and works at the Outdoor School every fall. “We say hug a tree because then you stay put. Someone’s going to come looking for you.”

Cresaptown Elementary fifth-grader Gary Alexander said he was a little homesick the first night at camp this week, but then he started enjoying staying overnight in the woods.

“We told scary stories,” said Alexander, whose favorite part of Outdoor School was the bog and nature hikes. “It’s kind of better than being in school because here you get to, like, have fun while you’re learning.”

Parent chaperone Deana Reid remembers attending Outdoor School more than 30 years ago when she was a student at Cresaptown Elementary.

“It was cold and wet then, too,” said Reid, who said she slept with a hand-warmer on her nose one night. But none of the children, including Reid’s daughter, Caroline, complained about the weather, she said.

“I think it’s a good thing for them because none of them have been in front of a television all week,” Reid said. “You know? They survived without TV or a cell phone.”

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Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News

Oakland — OAKLAND — The Garrett County school board will wait until May to discuss a policy change that would impact families in the eastern end of the county.

The board is considering abolishing a decades-old policy that allows some Garrett children to attend schools in Allegany County. Currently, 48 students take advantage of that option. Many Finzel-area families now send their children to nearby Allegany County schools after they attend Garrett’s Route 40 Elementary School through fifth grade.

Superintendent Wendell Teets said Monday he expects the board to discuss and act on the proposal during its May 11 meeting.

“We weren’t ready, after we had the hearing, to bring it to the board in April,” Teets said. “We’re doing a little more research on some things.”

The board held a special meeting March 30 to hear public comment on the proposal. About 16 people addressed the board during the 1 1/2-hour meeting, most in strong opposition to the change. Parents argued that it would create a financial and scheduling hardship for their families, especially because many of them work in the Cumberland area.

Teets said in an earlier interview that the school board is considering the policy change because declining enrollment and other factors have reduced the school system’s state funding, leaving it to wrestle with a significant budget shortfall.

“We pay tuition and provide transportation for those students to go to Allegany County schools,” Teets said. “Ultimately, by changing this policy, we would eliminate the busing expenses, the payments to Allegany and gain state aid by keeping those students in Garrett schools. So that’s a significant amount of funding.”

If adopted, the policy change will go into effect for the 2010-11 school year. Garrett children who now attend Allegany schools would be allowed to continue through graduation, but their siblings would only be allowed to do so if they attend the same facility at the same time. That provision is intended to prevent parents from having two middle- or high-schoolers in different districts.

The board will hold its April public meeting today at the board office, 40 S. Second St. Time is set aside for public comment at 4 and 7 p.m.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350