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Schools ready to plan elementary building on Hayden property
State must still review land site
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
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The St. Mary's County school board advanced last week a laundry list of building improvement projects, including a new gym floor for Chopticon High School, a security vestibule at the front entrance of Park Hall Elementary School and moving forward with plans for a new elementary school on the newly acquired Hayden property in Leonardtown.
The school system has searched for years for a new school site, and late last year the county commissioners approved purchase of a farm on Route 245 that could meet that need.
"We've been working collaboratively to look for this site," said Kim Howe, the school system's coordinating supervisor of capital planning and construction. "We would have the project today if we had a site we could claim."
The state Board of Public Works denied the school board planning approval for the elementary school last fall because it had not secured a site.
The school site still must be reviewed and approved by the Maryland State Clearinghouse for Intergovernmental Assistance prior to being eligible for planning approval.
State planning agencies said they would prefer future school sites have joint usages, such as combined with a public park, game fields, emergency services or libraries.
The Hayden may provide the opportunity for a true "community school," according to school officials, where students can walk from neighboring residential communities and, potentially, to and from a new local library and park area that could fill out the rest of the Hayden property.
"At this point we have not dedicated a specific amount of acreage," Howe said. In the next couple of weeks the county commissioners will work with the school board to divvy up the 180-acre property, but the county is committed to two school sites, she said.
More specific site plans for the new elementary school will be brought to the school board at its March 25 meeting.
The board of education anticipates it needs sites for three new elementary schools, one middle and one high school over the next decade. This property will likely serve a new elementary and middle school, Clements said.
The school board also awarded the contract to replace the gymnasium floor at Chopticon High School to contactor Master Care Flooring, which came in with a lowest approved bid at $141,923.
The total cost required for project, which is similar to the recent gym floor replacement at Great Mills High School, will be almost $182,000.
Six bidders submitted bids ranging from $370,500 to $517,083 for the Park Hall Elementary security vestibule. Low-bidder Dennis Anderson Construction won the contract; the total money required for the project is estimated at $408,000.
What they're doing
Status of school construction projects Chopticon High School gymnasium floor Contract awarded; construction starts in March and will finish in July for $181,674 Leonardtown Middle School limited renovation Schematic design completed; construction starts in July 2010 and will finish in July 2012 for $17.5 million Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary chiller replacement Contract awarded; construction starts in April and will finish in August for $220,000 Oakville Elementary HVAC replacement Design and development completed; construction starts in June and will finish in May 2010 for $1.4 million Park Hall Elementary security vestibule Contract awarded; construction starts in April and will finish in October for $408,300 Chesapeake Public Charter School expansion Construction documents completed; construction starts in April and will finish in July
