Former Harford County Executive David Craig was true to his school until the end of his term; he's asking his successor to be the same.
On his final day in office after almost nine and a half years, Craig sent a letter to incoming County Executive Barry Glassman urging him to continue with the replacement of Havre de Grace High and Middle schools with a single building and suggesting a way in which the cost could be spread out to minimize the impact on county finances and maximize the prospect for securing needed state funding.
"I hope that we continue to be true 'Beach Boys' and 'Be True to Your School,'" the letter concluded, a reference to a popular record from the mid-1960s when Craig was in school that became something of an anthem for high school life and sports.
Craig is an alumnus of Havre de Grace High, as is Glassman, but while Craig pushed through the replacement school project with considerable effort during his last three years in office, he left his successor with the task of coming up with the tens of millions of dollars needed to build it. School officials estimate the cost at $86.9 million, of which at least $50 million will be needed from the county.
In the months leading to his election as county executive and in the first 10 days of his administration, Glassman has treaded gingerly on how he will treat the Havre de Grace project. He has said on numerous occasions the cost will be a big nut to crack and with the county owing more than $600 million in general obligation bond debt, funding the HHS project is problematic.
"Mr. Glassman has been saying all along the county is under fiscal pressure, and that is going to make it difficult to take on large projects, no matter how worthy," Glassman's spokesperson, Cindy Mumby, said Monday when asked for the county executive's reaction to Craig's letter. She noted a detailed budget review is under way.
Craig, a retired high school teacher and assistant principal, goes to great lengths in the letter to defend the need for the new school, leaning on both his experience as an educator and historian, even quoting 1874 local newspaper articles that said next to a qualified teacher, "a suitable school house is the most essential condition of success."
"The structure has to be safe; Havre de Grace students are the only ones in the county who have to cross two different public streets to reach another class or athletic field," wrote Craig, who furnished a copy of the letter to the editor of The Aegis and The Record. "The structure has to be secure; old buildings such as HHS do not provide it. And, it has to have the modern technology, which old buildings do not have."
Craig also wrote that, in addition to the Havre de Grace schools project, he believes the county needs to move forward for upgrades and renovations to William Paca-Old Post Road Elementary, John Archer School and Joppatowne High, the county's second oldest high school after Havre de Grace.