Harford school board members debate rankings of school facility needs during presentation on facilities master plan

The report on Harford County Public Schools building needs is in, and Havre de Grace is out.

Members of the Jacobs Engineering Group project team, who have been hired by the Harford County government to assess all county buildings and facilities and develop a countywide facilities master plan, presented their findings related to school system facilities to the Harford County Board of Education Monday.

Not all board members, however, agreed with the team's findings, especially with the rankings of the facilities that are in the worst shape and should be targeted for extensive renovations or replacement.

The 10 buildings that have the highest overall scores in terms of their needs in descending order are starting at number 1 the John Archer School near Bel Air; Old Post Road Elementary School in Edgewood; the intermediate building at Youth's Benefit Elementary School in Fallston; the primary building at Youth's Benefit; the Homestead building at Homestead/Wakefield Elementary School in Bel Air; the Hickory Annex, which is the school system's headquarters for facilities management; Hickory Elementary School; Prospect Mill Elementary School near Bel Air; Roye-Williams Elementary School near Havre de Grace; and the main building at William Paca-Old Post Road, according to a list included in the summary report for the county.

Board member Tom Fitzpatrick, who represents the Havre de Grace area and has been working with members of the community to push state and county officials to replace the aging Havre de Grace Middle and High School buildings, took issue with the rankings.

"I found it rather odd that three facilities in our school system that are at least 50 years old did not make that list," Fitzpatrick said, citing Havre de Grace Middle, Havre de Grace High and Joppatowne High School.

School officials have been developing architectural plans to create a replacement combined middle and high school for Havre de Grace that would support 1,300 students, but those plans are on hold as Harford County will not provide its share of capital funding for construction.

Harford County Executive Barry Glassman announced shortly after he took office that he wants to curtail capital funds for projects throughout Harford and focus on the county government's "human capital."

Fitzpatrick noted that Havre de Grace Middle was built in 1967, and "it has never received a comprehensive renovation."

"It's hard for me to understand why a building like that is not number one on your list," he said.

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Harford school board members debate rankings of school facility needs during presentation on facilities master plan