HHS/HdG Middle School Contracts Get Green Light

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — It may have seemed like the dotting of an "i" or the crossing of a "t" when the Harford County Board of Education signed off on the contracts this week for the new Havre de Grace Middle/High School. Board member Thomas Fitzpatrick ensured that it was no such thing.

"I've been waiting a long time to make this motion," Fitzpatrick said as he called for approval of the project management, architectural engineering and bid documents related to the new school project.

Since becoming a school board member in 2012, Fitzpatrick said that he heard in coffee shops and diners the familiar refrain that Havre de Grace was never going to get a new school.

As he reviewed the history of the project, he explained that it did seem that way at times, and were it not for the perseverance of those involved, the new school may have stalled.

"It was not a straight course," Fitzpatrick said.

First, there was discussion about moving the school to Chapel Road, followed by a decision to combine the middle and high school into a complex like Patterson Mill to satisfy the state's concerns about the capacity and enrollment projections.

"The state funded it," he said, "but of course the county wasn't ready at that point so we had to wait a couple more years."

Next, he said, the administration in Annapolis determined that "building schools was too expensive," and "they actually considered some very scary proposals," such as building with drywall, he said.

The staff in Harford County "did the yeoman's job of making sure that didn't happen," Fitzpatrick added.

Havre de Grace made an argument that the state should fund the project on the basis of it being a community school, he said.

The staff and the community were able to convince the state board of public works and school construction officials to create the first project in the state to be funded in the category as a "community school," according to Fitzpatrick.

Once Fitzpatrick made the motion at the Dec. 4 school board meeting to accept the documents, the contracts were all approved unanimously.

The replacement school is expected to be a 42-month construction project funded by the state and county in the amount of $105,206,000.

• HdG Middle/High School Brings State, Local Leaders Together In Havre de Grace
• HdG School Replacement Project on Hold: Glassman
• Maryland Comptroller Visits Havre de Grace High School
• Sneak Peek at New Havre de Grace Middle/High School
• Harford County School Board Approves Plan for HdG Middle/High School
• State Provides Funding for HdG Middle/High School Project

Rendering by Grimm + Parker courtesy of Harford County Public Schools.