Thursday, November 1, 2012
The Carroll County Board of Education plans to hire a consultant to complete parts of the study.
The Carroll County Board of Education decided to move forward with a comprehensive facilities study, a project that was put on hold earlier this month when Superintendent Steve Guthrie said his staff was not qualified to conduct parts of the study. During the county budget cycle last spring, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners requested that the school system conduct a comprehensive facilities study to "assess the need for and proper utilization of the school facilities across the county over the next 10 years." More recently, that conversation focused on closing schools with County Commissioner Richard Rothschild suggesting that would be necessary to cut costs. At a board of education meeting earlier this month, Guthrie was expected…
Friday, October 19, 2012
School Superintendent Steve Guthrie recently recommended that third party firm be hired to take over the study started by the school system in April.
At least one board of education member has suggested that the school system not hire a third party to conduct a school system facilities study if the goal is to close schools, since she doesn't believe any board of education members want to close schools. During the county budget cycle last spring, the board of commissioners requested that the school system conduct a comprehensive facilities study to "assess the need for and proper utilization of the school facilities across the county over the next 10 years." More recently that conversation focused on closing schools, with Commissioner Richard Rothschild coming out in favor of closing schools in an effort to cut overhead costs. At last week's board of education meeting, where School …
Thursday, October 11, 2012
When it came time to announce options for schools to be closed, Superintendent Steve Guthrie said "I am not going to name any schools tonight."
Based on Superintendent Steve Guthrie's assertion that CCPS personnel do not have the expertise to study closing facilities, the Board of Education stopped the school system’s comprehensive facilities study in its tracks and called for a "repurposing" meeting with the board of Carroll County commissioners. After a cumbersome presentation outlining facility use and options at Wednesday evening's board of education meeting, Guthrie announced that his staff has expertise in educating students, not closing facilities. "I put a rush on this, I wanted to get it done, but when I look at the end product, I’m not comfortable with the selection criteria to make sure we did it the right way," Guthrie said. "There was a better way to go about this …
Isabel DeFeo
11:33 am on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
The study doesn't have to be just about which school to close - it should be about making the entire system efficient and what is the best option with the current projections since we all know that while there is a decline for a few more years, in all likelihood, the population will grow again. And how many times have population projections beyond 5 years been wrong? The facility study should … more ›