Although the long-sought-after replacement of the aging Havre de Grace High School and Havre de Grace Middle School has stalled because the new Harford County executive won't provide local financial support, one member of the Harford County Board of Education isn't giving up, and he asked Havre de Grace city officials for their support Tuesday.
"There's a lot I could say, but I'll tell you this: the fight for Havre de Grace High School is not over," Thomas Fitzpatrick, who lives in Havre de Grace and represents the area on the school board, told the mayor and members of the City Council.
County Executive Barry Glassman announced in mid-January that he would defer any funds for "large new capital projects," such as the proposed Havre de Grace Middle/High School replacement project – which has an estimated price tag of $86.7 million – during the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
"My hope is that my administration's efforts to streamline government and promote economic development will allow the county to put worthy projects back on track as soon as possible," he stated at the time.
A number of supporters of the school replacement project, who have been pushing school, county and state leaders to fund the project to give students and up-to-date and safer facility, have expressed their disappointment with Glassman's decision, although Fitzpatrick has said he was not surprised, considering Glassman had been talking while on the campaign trail last year about his concerns over the county's debt load and the need to curtail capital spending.
The county executive, a graduate of Havre de Grace High, has said he supports the project, but cannot provide funds during the upcoming fiscal year.
"Where we are right now is, essentially, on hold," Fitzpatrick said Tuesday. "When I came on the board [in 2012], there was no support for Havre de Grace High School at all."
School board members approved during August of 2014 educational specifications for the combined middle and high school, which is being designed for 1,300 students, plus space to expand to serve up to 1,600 students.
School officials hoped to obtain state and county construction funding during the upcoming fiscal year and then start construction. The plan was to finish construction in time for the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year.
Glassman's announcement, however, delayed the design process.
Fitzpatrick told city officials he wants to push design "as close to bid documents as possible."
"It is my objective to make sure that, when we do get the county support that we'll need, then we'll be able to go to bid almost immediately," he explained.
Fitzpatrick was appointed to the school board in 2012, and he was elected to the Councilmanic District F seat in 2014.
Six of the nine seats on the board will be filled by people elected last year, the first year so many seats have been contested in an election. The remaining three will be filled by appointees of the governor, and the full board will be seated July 1.
Fitzpatrick said the "first order of business" for the new board will be the school system's capital project priority list.
"It will be incumbent on me to make sure that Havre de Grace stays on top of that list," he said.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Robin Shane, a member of the Havre de Grace Planning Commission, asked how members of the community could show their support.
Fitzpatrick said people had shown "Warrior pride" in the past by advocating through email and in person, and they must be "on the phone, on the computer and in the room in order to advocate for this school."
City resident Michael Hitchings, whom Fitzpatrick defeated in the District F race, noted during public comments that construction costs for major facilities such as the proposed school are projected to increase by 3.5 percent each year, and the cost will only go up for each year the project is delayed.
"Suddenly, in three years you've added $10 million to the cost of this program," said Hitchings, who also sits on the city's Board of Appeals and is a former member of the Planning Commission. He is also a project and program manager for the Department of the Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Mayor Wayne Dougherty and council members expressed their support to Fitzpatrick.
Councilman Dave Glenn, who has been a vocal advocate for the school replacement, said advocates should "continue to tell that story" of the needs of the students, and convince top state officials to "help carry that forward and say, 'Its time to give the kids at Havre de Grace the same opportunities for education as other kids in the state of Maryland.'"