Update on 3/9/2018: The high school #13 was chosen to be at the Mission Road during 3/8/2018 board meeting.
Last week, the HCPSS board of education has officially rejected two potential sites ( one is near Rockburn Park and the other is near Mission road (with an active quarry there) for consideration of high school 13. With the current situation, the originally conceived to be opened in 2022 High School 13 seems far from settled. It seems that it will take much longer to find a suitable site for this school. Unless we select the site, we will not be able to get the Maryland state funding for this construction.
Considering the huge impact generated by last year (2017) HCPSS school redistricting, the high school #13 is at least a consensus for many county residents and politicians. In reality, the site selection should start much earlier before this crisis.
This is actually not the only issue of high school 13. We are facing a problem of long term planning for high schools. We need an immediate high school 13 to relieve the overcrowding issue in several high schools. We need high school 14 very soon to accommodate our annual student growth ( by 1000 a year at least).
If I am elected as board member this November of 2018, I will keep new school constructions on the board agenda all the time. We need at least focus on the following issues:
- Looking at different school models, for example, expanding existing old schools, building larger schools or smaller schools depending on the land purchase situation.
- Purchase/reserve future school site(land) now with consideration of population growth. If we only purchase land when needed, the land price will be much higher at the time. With a potential site determined earlier, it will also help guide future county development.
I am looking forward to hearing from you as well.
I have been following you since the whole redistricting issue began. My family has a 98 year history in Elkridge. My husband and I, my daughter and son and my granddaughter have all attended Howard High. My granddaughter is currently a Sophomore there. I am an active member of Saving Rockburn Park in perpetuity. I personally believe all parkland in Howard County needs to be saved from any development since we are quickly becoming an urban county, and we need these parks for todays families and future generations. Even New York City values its Central Park. I would like to know your stance on using Parkland in Howard County for the construction of schools, particularly Rockburn Park. I feel this will be a major issue for Elkridge residents as to how they vote in the next election for BOE members and County Council members. I like what I have seen coming from you so far but I would like to know your stance on this matter. Respectfully, Pat Pool
Patricia, thanks for your feedback. I do not support using Rockburn park to build HS 13.
Several people in our neighborhood are now asking for the reasons Mission Road location was taken out of consideration. We are working to compile information and figure out why. Thanks for all you do!
thanks, Becky.
As a long time Elkridge resident, we and others fought against using rockburn parkland for the high school since it is the only park land left in our end of the county and is highly used by youth sports, bikers, etc. We do need a high school in our end of the county but not at the expense of park land. I agree that county school sites always need to be on the agenda and the purchasing of land for future school use prior to it being desperately needed. There has been to much allowable building in the county so now we are left with the land for school dilemma.
You have been on top of all of the school issues, including the recent redistricting. I have been following you since then and want to thank you for all the communication you have been providing. You would be an excellent addition to the school board.
For your information, A few years ago, Elkridge and Savage wanted the site of Troy Hill Park to be the High School site. We were told that they could not do a land swap and the land had to be used as a park. All because the people living on the West side of Rt 29 wanted a tennis facility, which couldn’t be built either. So the kids lost AND the rich folks lost….but they managed to find some land for that mighty fine tennis facility and it was probably a land swap. Now we have Troy Hill park only a few miles from Rockburn park and recs and parks is doing a heck of a business.
Lisa, thanks a lot for your feedback. I really like this kind of background or historical information.