Photos from a recent visit to West Towson Elementary School, under construction and opening this fall.
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Archive for the 'Inspiration' Category
Two years ago this month, Towson Families United was formed. If it’s hard to remember what was happening back in January of 2008, that might be because nothing was happening — at least when it came to the Towson area’s elementary school overcrowding.
Despite dramatic evidence that our schools would soon be unable to handle the number of incoming students, the county executive and the schools superintendent were engaged in a high-stakes game of finger-pointing. And the only plan the school system had put forth to partially solve the problem was shelved a month before, by the county executive.
That is when residents from many parts of Towson — Stoneleigh, Rodgers Forge, Riderwood, Hampton and West Towson — came together and got to work. We made phone calls. We wrote letters. We dragged our children to meetings and rallies. We got in the face of anyone who would listen to the facts.
Now, two years later, the results are becoming visible.
The new West Towson Elementary School will open this fall on Charles Street, and will accommodate 451 children. It promises to be a showcase for the county — a state-of-the-art school filled with the latest learning equipment, led by a passionate, experienced principal who is hand-picking her entire teaching staff from across the county.
But West Towson Elementary is only part of the solution to Towson’s overcrowding problem.
In the past few months, the school board has also approved $1.1 million for the design phase of an addition and renovation at Hampton Elementary — including funding approved this month to make it a LEED-certified, green project. It expected to be ready in the fall of 2012.
Another addition, at Stoneleigh Elementary, is in the planning stages. It should also be ready by 2012.
These three actions should take care of the Towson area’s elementary overcrowding. But it’s good to see that the school system is not stopping there.
BCPS recently announced that it would request $50.75 million over the next five years for new school construction and additions along the York Road corridor. This money could possibly address overcrowding at Lutherville, Timonium, Pot Spring and Sparks Elementary. The first portion of that request, in the FY 2011 budget, is expected to be ratified by the school board at its February 9 meeting.
What’s more, since we began our efforts, there’s been a change of leadership in the “Central Area” of the school system. A new area superintendent has taken over and is well aware of the challenges posed by growing enrollments.
The last two years haven’t been without their challenges. But progress is being made. We thank everyone, in every neighborhood, for getting involved and staying involved. Together, Towson Families United will continue to advocate for all the children of the greater Towson area.
Proposed additions to Stoneleigh and Hampton elementary schools, which will alleviate the remaining elementary overcrowding in the Towson area, finally have some dollar signs attached to them.
Baltimore County Public School officials are recommending that the Board of Education approve a state funding request of nearly $14 million for the two projects. The county would be required to match whatever amount the state ultimately approves.
Officials envision renovating Stoneleigh and building a 200-seat addition, and are asking for state funding of $7.118 million. At Hampton, a 300-seat addition is proposed, along with a renovation, and a request for $6.8 million from the state. Both numbers are fluid and subject to reduction at the state or county level.
The funding is part of the school system’s FY 2011 Capital Budget Request, which prioritizes its projects by number. No. 1 on the list is $2.949 million in continued state funding for completion of West Towson Elementary School, set to open in 2010. Hampton is number 6 on the list; Stoneleigh is number 20.
Together, the three school projects are expected to alleviate current overcrowding in Towson elementary schools, and meet the projected need in coming years.
Interestingly, the budget request also includes a chart showing that additional seating will be proposed in the Lutherville and Sparks areas; funding for those projects will be requested in FY 2013 and 2014.
The school system’s request for state funding will be presented at a Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, August 11. The Board will vote on whether to forward the request at its September 8 meeting.
Chalkboards. Projection screens. Sports equipment. These were just some of the purchases approved last night by the Baltimore County Board of Education, for the new West Towson Elementary School.
After four Ruxton residents failed to gain a temporary restraining order last week to stop construction of the school, the school system moved quickly to keep the project on track for its fall 2010 opening.
In total, the school board approved $8 million in contracts for the school, including those for electrical and mechanical work, plumbing, ventilation and — yes — air-conditioning.
Read the Baltimore Sun’s coverage of the story here.
Baltimore County school officials are recommending that the new school being constructed on Charles Street be named “West Towson Elementary School.”
The recommendation will be proposed at a Board of Education meeting this Tuesday. In a written rationale, school Superintendent Joe A. Hairston explains the choice:
The new elementary school will draw its students from the Towson area. Though a different location, the new school would continue a long history and rich legacy of serving the families in greater Towson. If the former Towson elementary school was reopened in the future, it could be renamed Towsontown Elementary School since it is located in the midst of downtown Towson. Until the 1970’s, Towsontown Junior High existed at the site which is now George Washington Carver Center for the Arts and Technology.
The new school is being built primarily to alleviate the dire overcrowding at Rodgers Forge Elementary, the first step in a series of moves to meet the population surge in the Towson area. The early groundwork for the building — including laying of sewer lines — has begun. The published schedule calls for major construction to begin in June, after the medically fragile students at neighboring Ridge Ruxton School are dismissed for summer. Officials say the project remains on track for an August 2010 opening.
Large additions have also been proposed at Stoneleigh and Hampton elementary schools, though school officials have so far been reluctant to explain details of those plans.
Spotted on the site of our new elementary school on Charles Street.
With the news that RFES fourth graders must attend Dumbarton Middle School next year, it’s more important than ever that Towson’s new elementary school open on schedule — in the fall of 2010.
School officials say the project remains on track, and expect a ground-breaking this spring. Still, today’s news is a reminder of just how serious the situation at Rodgers Forge has become.
It is unfortunate that an entire grade of elementary school children must move to a middle school for one year. If school and county officials had done their jobs a few years ago, the situation could have been entirely avoided. But that is history now.
Today, all we can do is work closely with Principal Susan Deise to make next year a happy and productive one for the fourth graders affected. That, and keep a close eye on the new school construction project. Clearly, any delay of this plan will further disrupt our childrens’ education. And that is not acceptable.
We trust that Mrs. Deise and her excellent faculty, as well as the administrators at Dumbarton, are doing everything they can in a difficult situation. As troublesome as this news is, we know our children continue to be in good hands.
The new Towson elementary school will be built to national, eco-friendly certification standards, Baltimore County officials have announced. The U.S. Green Building Council established the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program as a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.
A state law passed last year requires projects after July 1, 2009 to be built to Silver LEED standards, which means the new school could have been exempt. But Baltimore County School Superintendent Joe A. Hairston and the Board of Education pushed for this certification anyway. County Executive Jim Smith recently said the county would fund the additional costs associated with building the school to these standards. The new replacement building for Carver High School will also be LEED-certified.
“I often say that our greatest accomplishments are the result of partnerships, and today is another example of the County and the school system working together,” Smith said.
By meeting LEED standards, the new elementary school will:
• Lower operating costs
• Reduce waste sent to landfills
• Conserve energy and water
• Be healthier and safer for occupants
• Reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions
• Demonstrate the owner’s commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility
Design Collective, Inc. will present its architectural plans for the new Towson elementary school at a county school board meeting this Tuesday, September 9, at 7:30 p.m. A copy of the firm’s design and rationale has been posted here on the Board of Education website.
The new school will be three levels with a state-rated capacity of 451 students. (Is that number a coincidence?)
“The school is designed as a simple yet sensitive response to the many factors presented by the site,” the architects write. “In order to work well with the existing school and avoid an imposing or institutional feel, the new school is envisioned as a collection of smaller more intimately scaled structures grouped together around an enclosed ‘village square’ to the west and a ‘town hall’ to the east.”
Design Collective seems to have gone to great lengths to create a “sustainable,” green design, both in the building itself and the small footprint it will impose on the surrounding woodland.
The new school continues to be on schedule and slated for a Fall 2010 opening. Despite being called “Towson West” Elementary in the architect’s plans, various other names are still under consideration.
To read the full, detailed architect’s plans, and see more illustrations of the new school, click on the pdf below.
Baltimore Sun columnist Jean Marbella apparently wasn’t buying the attempts by County Executive James T. Smith to spin his failure at Loch Raven High School into something positive for himself. In an explosive column today, Ms. Marbella lays it out for the county executive. We feature her commentary below, in its entirety:
There’s a lot of “disappointment,” some of it “extreme,” in the Baltimore County executive’s office this week. County exec Jim Smith has allowed that he’s also “confused” and finds the situation “frustrating.”
It’s very discreet, even decorous language in the aftermath of a pitched battle that Smith lost - and one that could come back to haunt him in the future when the term-limited county executive makes what everyone expects will be a run for another office.
But then, this has been an odd fight all along.
When was the last time, for example, you saw parents sounding the alarm on overcrowded schools but rejecting Smith’s plan to … expand a school? Or a school board, having received some $16 million for that expansion, turn around and say … uh, never mind, no thanks? Or the state comptroller coming to town to support parents in their fight against Smith, who is said to be considering a run for … state comptroller?
As I said, odd, and it’s not over yet.
This week, the Baltimore County school board reversed itself on the 400-seat expansion of Loch Raven High School, which it had approved four months ago with Smith’s backing. (Or his pressure, as some board members have said.) But as opposition from community members and local legislators mounted, the school board changed its mind, giving a victory to those who feared that expanding Loch Raven would work against their goal of getting an entirely new high school built.
Coming on the heels of a similar victory in May, when the school board voted to build an elementary school in Towson instead of adding to existing schools as Smith initially favored, activists were cheered by their progress.
“It’s not easy to stand up to the county executive,” said David Marks, a Perry Hall resident who has been pushing for new school construction rather than additions to old ones.
Smith has argued that the current overcrowding in some high schools could have been solved by the expansion of Loch Raven, and that projections of future enrollments do not justify an entirely new high school.
Opponents dispute that, saying projections don’t include the influx of new students who will come with BRAC, the Base Realignment and Closure plan that is expected to bring thousands of new residents to the state. Additionally, they argue, making high schools bigger goes against the current thinking among some educators that smaller schools are more successful.
In any event, the school board’s decision to reject the proposal to expand Loch Raven doesn’t end the dispute. With neither the expansion nor a commitment to build a new high school, overcrowding remains - at Loch Raven, Perry Hall, Towson and other schools.
With Smith adamant that a new high school isn’t warranted, Marks said parents are basically going to be “running the clock” and looking toward working with whomever comes next - the county executive has only two more years in office because of term limits. “Most immediately,” Marks said, “we’ll be talking to folks running for county executive.”
There’s no guarantee that Smith’s successor will be someone who favors new construction. But the overcrowding issue has obviously ignited quite a storm. Parents say the county can’t continue renovating and expanding aging schools, and needs to commit to building new ones.
The cost of new schools is always cited, and, to be sure, the expense of building new schools is undeniable - although renovating and adding on to old ones are no bargain, either. Advocates say the county needs to address these funding issues and consider things such as impact fees that other counties levy on developers, which would go toward school construction.
With some schools straining at the seams - those “451″ signs that advocates have placed in windows refers to the total number of students over capacity at Rodgers Forge, Hampton, Stoneleigh and Riderwood elementary schools - the county is past due on addressing the problem. Good schools - and that means ones that aren’t so crowded that students are spilling out into portables - are vital to any area that wants to attract families and job-producing businesses.
Yes, schools are expensive to build, until you consider the cost of not building them.
Towson Families United has launched a new online store filled with all sorts of “451″ merchandise.
Click here to enter the store.
Choose from t-shirts, stickers, buttons, magnets and more. It’s a great way to tell the world you support TFU’s goal of opening a new elementary school in Towson.
Towson Families United makes no money on the sale of merchandise. We kept prices at “cost” to get more of this merchandise on the streets. So think about buying sticker or button packs and distributing them to your friends and neighbors. And the shirts will definitely make great Mother’s Day gifts!
It might appear, on the surface, that tacking additions onto schools is a reasonable solution to an overcrowding crisis.
Certainly that’s been the argument of the county executive and his team. After all, they argue, it costs less to build an addition than to build a school. And it also costs less to operate an addition. Rather than hire new administrators, faculty and staff for a new school, the county can simply demand more of the people already stretched to their limit at an existing school.
But what is the cost, to our children and our community, of not opening whole new schools when the numbers clearly dictate them?
Our children are forced to eat shorter lunches, often way too early in the day, because the cafeteria can’t handle the influx of students.
They can’t schedule all the gym classes they used to, either. So their physical activity is cut back.
And nobody’s made the hallways wider.
As Board of Education member Meg O’Hare noted at an April 8 board meeting:
“Clearly we don’t want to warehouse our children…We’ve seen what additions do. We’ve been sold 600 seat additions by politicians going back several county executives, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I do not think an addition to any elementary school is a good idea.”
But depriving communities of schools impacts more than children. Neighborhood schools are gathering places for sports, community meetings and other events. They are the soul of any community. Like a scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” you don’t know what you have until it’s taken from you. And that is precisely what happened to Towson in the early 1980s when the county closed Towson Elementary and Ruxton Elementary.
Ask anyone who lived here then; Towson Elementary in particular was a focal point of our area. That’s why residents formed picket lines back then and fought so hard against closing it.
An article from the February 3, 1979 Baltimore Sun features a quote from Norman D. Anderson, a member of the “Save Our Schools Committee,” a Towson group that formed when the closings were proposed. Neighborhood schools, Mr. Anderson said, “are the focus of community life and the community identity.”
But that is history now.
Today we have a county executive who has staked his reputation upon community renaissance. It is a noble goal. But a goal without funding remains a goal forever.
The county executive points out that economic times are tough right now. He implores us to understand this. And we certainly do.
But his argument would be made stronger had he been building school after school during good economic times. This was not the case. His record of building schools, particularly when compared to other county executives, is abysmal. Today a huge number of our school buildings are more than 50 years old — and showing it. Tacking on additions to these schools is foolhardy and short-sighted. But time and again, the county executive has sought the cheapest solution possible, ignoring the recommendations of the school system, expert consultants, and those in the community who have to live with the consequences of his actions.
We do not wish to endlessly argue with the county executive. And the school system itself should bear a good amount of blame for letting the Towson area become so overcrowded before doing something about it. But the buck has stopped with James T. Smith, Jr.
And unfortunately, he won’t let go of it.
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