Time to Consolidate, I love that it has come to this because no way should the taxpayers or the state be building a new school so that we have small High Schools in the County. It's not needed and hasn't been for over 10 years.
Cumberland City High
Posted: Wednesday, September 9, 2015 9:15 pm
glarry@times-news.com --- CUMBERLAND ---
The school board sent inquiries to the District 1 delegation, city and county officials that asked for available dates to hold a meeting about the project.
News of Valentine’s refusal to attend the meeting was revealed in a letter to Nicholas Hadley, school board president, sent Wednesday.
A copy of the letter was supplied to the Times-News.
“At this point, convening a meeting for a group of elected officials, some of whom haven’t contributed a dime to the project, is not going to solve anything except to provide a convenient forum to ‘beat up’ on the county commissioners, who by the way, are in no way responsible for designing a project that our community cannot afford,” Valentine wrote.
Valentine called the board's actions a “shame” and said plans for the new school should be reviewed before more funding is sought.
Hadley and school board member Laurie Marchini said the meeting would be a good first step.
“We want to have a meeting among the stakeholders so we can discuss ways to move forward,” said Marchini.
“We want to sit down and lay it all out there,” said Hadley. “We want to talk this out as civilized as possible. We don’t want to hide anything.”
Architects for the new 700-student school estimated the project would cost $42 million.
The board secured $35.2 million in state and local funding so far for the project.
A contractor bid opening was held last week at the board’s central office on Washington Street.
Five contractors submitted bids.
Estimates for the basic high school -- without an auditorium, ball fields and a nine-classroom bay -- averaged $48.5 million.
Bids for adding an auditorium, sports fields and additional classrooms, referred to as “add-ons,” averaged $11.7 million.
The average base bid plus average cost for add-ons brings the total to an estimated cost of $60.2 million.
With just $35.2 million secured, the school board is left with a $25 million funding gap.
Marchini said it's "unfortunate" Valentine doesn't want to participate in proposed talks on the issue.
"Now is not time to be divisive," said Marchini. "We have a (current Allegany school on Sedgwick Street) that is in the worst condition of any school in the state. We need to come to the table to work this out.”
According to Valentine’s letter, the school board repeatedly ignored county offers to help.
He said county engineers (Paul Kahl and Adam Patterson) have been “shut out” of the process for the last eight months.
Marchini and Hadley praised contributions by both engineers over the last two years.
“They were very helpful," said Hadley. "Those (recent) meetings didn’t necessarily involve everyone. I don’t think anyone was trying to be cut out.”
In the letter, Valentine advised the board of education to have county engineers meet with Vince Montana, the school system’s director of facilities, and the architects Grimm and Parker Associates of Calverton, along with available contractors, to discuss “alternatives to the main cost drivers of this project.”
Valentine in April sent two letters to the board to offer assistance in the matter.
The first letter, dated April 9, states:
“Quite honestly, I find it troubling that the design process has continued to advance on this project seemingly ignoring both the county and the board’s financial capabilities. Given enrollment projections, state funding only covers the eligible costs of a facility of 115,400 square feet. However, the design plans reflect a new school that is 25 percent larger at 145,422 square feet, and the total cost of the additional square footage must be funded at the local level."
In his letter to the school board on April 29, Valentine stated:
“Considering our limited resources, I believe it would be far more beneficial for our public works staff and yours to set aside time to discuss the resource sharing offer that the county has made concerning the recreation fields.”
Hadley said the letters were discussed by the board.
“We thought it was follow-up from him," said Hadley. "The letters were not on official county stationary with all three commissioners’ signatures on them.”
Marchini said the current design for the new school considered cost.
“This building is not extravagant by any means," said Marchini. "No one anticipated that costs would go up this much. The dollars for square foot has never been market value."
Valentine remained resolute in a Times-News phone interview Wednesday evening.
“We went through this building (Mountain Ridge High School)," Valentine said. "It came in very high at first and we had to bid it twice. We need to find out why these costs are so far above budget."
Greg Larry is a reporter at Cumberland Times-News. To reach him, call 301-876-5329, emailglarry@times-news.com and follow him on Twitter.
Cumberland City High
Posted: Wednesday, September 9, 2015 9:15 pm
glarry@times-news.com --- CUMBERLAND ---
- Posted on Sep 9, 2015
by Greg Larry
The school board sent inquiries to the District 1 delegation, city and county officials that asked for available dates to hold a meeting about the project.
News of Valentine’s refusal to attend the meeting was revealed in a letter to Nicholas Hadley, school board president, sent Wednesday.
A copy of the letter was supplied to the Times-News.
“At this point, convening a meeting for a group of elected officials, some of whom haven’t contributed a dime to the project, is not going to solve anything except to provide a convenient forum to ‘beat up’ on the county commissioners, who by the way, are in no way responsible for designing a project that our community cannot afford,” Valentine wrote.
Valentine called the board's actions a “shame” and said plans for the new school should be reviewed before more funding is sought.
Hadley and school board member Laurie Marchini said the meeting would be a good first step.
“We want to have a meeting among the stakeholders so we can discuss ways to move forward,” said Marchini.
“We want to sit down and lay it all out there,” said Hadley. “We want to talk this out as civilized as possible. We don’t want to hide anything.”
Architects for the new 700-student school estimated the project would cost $42 million.
The board secured $35.2 million in state and local funding so far for the project.
A contractor bid opening was held last week at the board’s central office on Washington Street.
Five contractors submitted bids.
Estimates for the basic high school -- without an auditorium, ball fields and a nine-classroom bay -- averaged $48.5 million.
Bids for adding an auditorium, sports fields and additional classrooms, referred to as “add-ons,” averaged $11.7 million.
The average base bid plus average cost for add-ons brings the total to an estimated cost of $60.2 million.
With just $35.2 million secured, the school board is left with a $25 million funding gap.
Marchini said it's "unfortunate" Valentine doesn't want to participate in proposed talks on the issue.
"Now is not time to be divisive," said Marchini. "We have a (current Allegany school on Sedgwick Street) that is in the worst condition of any school in the state. We need to come to the table to work this out.”
According to Valentine’s letter, the school board repeatedly ignored county offers to help.
He said county engineers (Paul Kahl and Adam Patterson) have been “shut out” of the process for the last eight months.
Marchini and Hadley praised contributions by both engineers over the last two years.
“They were very helpful," said Hadley. "Those (recent) meetings didn’t necessarily involve everyone. I don’t think anyone was trying to be cut out.”
In the letter, Valentine advised the board of education to have county engineers meet with Vince Montana, the school system’s director of facilities, and the architects Grimm and Parker Associates of Calverton, along with available contractors, to discuss “alternatives to the main cost drivers of this project.”
Valentine in April sent two letters to the board to offer assistance in the matter.
The first letter, dated April 9, states:
“Quite honestly, I find it troubling that the design process has continued to advance on this project seemingly ignoring both the county and the board’s financial capabilities. Given enrollment projections, state funding only covers the eligible costs of a facility of 115,400 square feet. However, the design plans reflect a new school that is 25 percent larger at 145,422 square feet, and the total cost of the additional square footage must be funded at the local level."
In his letter to the school board on April 29, Valentine stated:
“Considering our limited resources, I believe it would be far more beneficial for our public works staff and yours to set aside time to discuss the resource sharing offer that the county has made concerning the recreation fields.”
Hadley said the letters were discussed by the board.
“We thought it was follow-up from him," said Hadley. "The letters were not on official county stationary with all three commissioners’ signatures on them.”
Marchini said the current design for the new school considered cost.
“This building is not extravagant by any means," said Marchini. "No one anticipated that costs would go up this much. The dollars for square foot has never been market value."
Valentine remained resolute in a Times-News phone interview Wednesday evening.
“We went through this building (Mountain Ridge High School)," Valentine said. "It came in very high at first and we had to bid it twice. We need to find out why these costs are so far above budget."
Greg Larry is a reporter at Cumberland Times-News. To reach him, call 301-876-5329, emailglarry@times-news.com and follow him on Twitter.
