Parents of Broadneck High School students are angrily divided over proposals to educate their children while their school is being renovated, and they are worried that the split could lead school officials to spend the $22 million in construction money elsewhere.
The parents are upset over seven options that include split-sessions days and over the idea of sending sixth-graders and high school students off the peninsula to school.
"I think that the seven options they have on the table are horrendous," said Steve Auer, a Broadneck parent. "Right now, we're pretty much left with a miserable choice. It's kind of like, choose your poison."
Cheryl Gargagliano agrees that the children should stay on the peninsula, but she is more concerned that the construction money could disappear unless the parents present a united front to the school board.
"The rest of the county is screaming, 'They don't need the money. It's a new school. Look at their test scores,' " she said. "If money starts going to west county, we're never going to see any more."
The renovation project involves adding a new wing to make room for ninth-graders, replacing the heating and air conditioning system, and widening doorways and hallways to make the school accessible to the disabled. The work is scheduled to begin in September and take two years to complete.
School officials have offered seven plans for accommodating Broadneck's 1,100 students while the work is going on. Two of the plans would send Broadneck High School students to Severna Park High or Annapolis High on split sessions.
Others would involve putting Magothy River Middle and Severn River Junior students on split sessions while Broadneck School students go to regular sessions in one of those buildings.
"Nobody likes split sessions," said Ken Nichols, an administrative aide who is helping draft the plan. "But a large percentage of the community seems willing to accept split sessions knowing they will have a quality high school in the end."
School officials are convinced that Broadneck parents "do not want their children to leave the peninsula," he said.
"When I chose to live somewhere, I chose to live on the Broadneck peninsula because that's where the great schools were," said Heidi Handelsman, whose three children will be affected by the construction. "In my gut, I would like to keep them all on the peninsula. I just want them to stay close to home."
Mr. Auer has circulated a petition in his Bayberry neighborhood asking the Board of Education to "develop some more creative options" that would not inconvenience parents or students.
He also has proposed building a new West County High School before renovating Broadneck so that Broadneck students could be sent to west county while their school was being renovated.