If you care about public education and the future of our county, please consider showing your support of the new middle school project at a rally Kent County Public Schools is hosting on Tuesday evening. The rally will start at Garnet Elementary (320 Calvert St) at 5pm and participants will march to the County Commissioners office at 6. Signs and t-shirts will be handed out, but please also feel free to bring your own!
As it stands, the Commissioners still need to vote to approve the county’s portion of funding for the building. THIS IS NOT A DONE DEAL. Here is a summary of where things currently stand:
- In October of 2023, after years of studies by the KCPS Facilities Strategic Planning Committee (which included numerous community meetings garnering input), the Kent County Board of Education passed the proposal to build a brand new middle school on the current KCMS property in Chestertown.
- Commissioner Price has worked with County CFO Pat Merritt to find the funds necessary to pay the county’s share without raising taxes.
- Commissioners Fithian and Nickerson have expressed reservations in supporting construction, in part because of a concern for finding ongoing funding for the Maryland Blueprint mandates, which require a higher investment in schools that they feel KC is able to handle. Commissioner Price believes this is a separate argument which is already being taken up with the state by many counties including Kent and should not be used as an argument to stop much-needed work on the Middle School project.
- Commissioner Price believes further lobbying at the state level for a fairer funding formula for both the construction project and Blueprint mandates is still necessary (another thing to rally for in the future!)
- The new middle school will add fifth grade, opening space in the elementary schools for additional programs (including the new 3-year-old preK program being piloted this year at the Presbyterian Church, who generously offered their space because there was no room at Garnet available) (this is exciting because it gives families greater opportunities because they would otherwise have to stay home or pay for childcare)
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Studies have shown that school capital investments improve student outcomes and housing prices, with these investments having larger effects when they are directed toward students facing socioeconomic disadvantage (that’s us!)
- For those arguing that the old Worton Elementary School building should be renovated and create a centralized Worton Campus for Middle and HS, the Strategic Planning Committee found that:
- The WES building requires very expensive upgrades to be suitable for middle schoolers
- Our buildings are so old that the state will not provide funding for renovations, only for new buildings (it is an inefficient use of funds to renovate)
- A large number of middle schoolers are walkers and the cost of bussing them out to Worton would be a higher recurring transportation cost
- A Middle and HS campus would require shared outdoor facilities, and studies have found that in those cases, the middle school students do not get priority and end up having fewer opportunities than if they had their own campus
- Many parents objected to having 5th graders share buses with high schoolers
All of which is to say, please come out and support our students and teachers by joining the KCPS rally for the Middle School on Tuesday. I personally have dedicated a lot of time to supporting kids in underfunded school systems—here in Kent County and across the country. I have seen how showing up for kids and teachers has a profound impact. The current Middle School says to everyone who enters the doors that we don’t care enough about you to fix this. Let’s start showing them we care. I hope to see you on Tuesday.
Robbi Behr
Chestertown
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