Several Havre de Grace community representatives, who stated their case to the Harford County Council last week, asked members of the Harford County Board of Education Monday to continue their support for a replacement for the aging Havre de Grace Middle and High schools.
"It was you, after hearing our story, who put together the supporting documentation that was so impressive it garnered the support of the [state]," Havre de Grace City Councilman Dave Glenn told Superintendent Barbara Canavan and school board members.
Glenn, along with representatives of the group Havre de Grace Warrior Proud, spoke during the public comment portion of the board meeting about what they described as an urgent need to replace the middle and high schools for the safety and security of students, faculty and staff.
Havre de Grace Warrior Proud is a community group, which has a Facebook page with the same name and is made up of parents and local leaders from Havre de Grace, as well as the surrounding communities in Darlington and Churchville that are part of the attendance areas for the middle and high schools. The page was set up about two weeks ago, and it already has 580 likes.
"Our community of Havre de Grace may be small, but we contribute to the county," parent Jo-Anne Toepfer told the school board.
Toepfer's daughter, Kayleigh, who attends Havre de Grace Middle School, told board members her school needs to be replaced because of maintenance issues such as mouse droppings in her science classroom, breakdowns in the heating system, bad smells from unknown sources and leaking toilets that leave bathroom floors wet and slippery.
Kayleigh also said the school's computers either run very slowly, or they do not work.
"These conditions distract me from learning, because it's hard to learn when you are cold, or when you are worried about why the classroom smells or where the mouse went," she said.
'Criteria has to be flawed'
Havre de Grace Warrior Proud held its first meeting April 1 after local media reported that the replacement project did not get a top rating among school facilities needing to be replaced, according to the Jacobs Engineering Group's assessment of government facilities across Harford County.
Toepfer said she sent an email to other concerned parents, and later a Facebook invite to a meeting, after she read about the Jacobs study findings that were presented to the school board in March.
Jacobs had been hired by the county to develop a countywide facilities master plan and assess and rank all facilities operated by local government agencies, including the schools.
"Safety and security is something we cannot compromise, so why are they equally weighted?" Glenn asked, citing the multiple factors Jacobs staffers used when creating a priority score for each facility.
Glenn suggested that "the scoring criteria has to be flawed," and he said he is not convinced "the study provides the necessary details to make an informed decision."
Harford County Executive Barry Glassman has already shelved the Havre de Grace replacement as he looks to save money on capital projects, even though it has received top billing on the school system's list of capital projects, behind the long-desired replacement of Youth's Benefit Elementary School in Fallston.
Construction on the Youth's Benefit project kicked off in 2014.
Replacing Havre de Grace Middle School, which was built in 1967, and Havre de Grace High School, which was built in the 1950s, has been a top priority for Harford County Public Schools and the school board, and school system leaders won financial backing from the state last year.
"The board has not changed its position regarding our capital priority list at this point," school board member Tom Fitzpatrick said Monday.
Board member Alysson Krchnavy, who attended a Warrior Proud meeting with Fitzpatrick, also offered her encouragement.
Krchnavy said she was "incredibly proud" of the community effort because it was the result of six area parent-teacher associations coming together.
"It is a marathon, ladies and gentlemen," Krchnavy said. "You can't forget that, and I appreciate the fact that you're here in the audience tonight, and I know there's people that will be looking and listening as we move forward."