Garrett County schools staff recommend moving Accident students to Northern Middle campus; proposal raises community questions about facilities and timing

Superintendent Dr. McCartney presented a discussion draft to the Garrett County Board of Education proposing two staged moves: to send eighth-grade students to Northern Garrett High School for the 2025–26 school year and to relocate Accident Elementary into the Northern Middle School campus in fiscal 2026–27 to create a Pre-K–7 school, with the aim of consolidating facilities and expanding programs.

Why it matters: The superintendent said the consolidation would save operating money and local capital dollars while preserving and strengthening “community school” programs. Staff described educational and programmatic opportunities they say would follow from the move and told the board the plan would allow time to complete building upgrades and to seek state capital support through the Interagency Commission process.

Dr. McCartney told the board she reviewed past studies of facilities and emphasized equity, stewardship of system resources and continuity of programming. Assistant staff described expected educational benefits, including access to more staff for specialized programs now at Accident Elementary (regional ALP and STARS programs) and potential expansion of electives at the high school level.

On finances and capacity, staff described conservative estimates that moving the schools could yield about $450,000 in recurring operating savings (a minimum estimate tied to eliminating roughly five support positions) and about $270,000 in local capital savings associated with avoiding some repairs. Staff said the systemwide operating budget is roughly $5,052,000 and that the $450,000 estimate represents about 1 percent of that budget. Enrollment and capacity figures presented used a September 30 count: overall system capacity is about 68 percent under a state-rated standard; Northern Middle was presented at about 41 percent and Northern High at about 45 percent. A combined site model for Accident-to-Northern would show a new rated capacity that staff said would be approximately 79 percent for grades 6–7 and about 66 percent after moving eighth grade to the high school; those estimates could shift with building modifications.

Staff said the project would seek IAC (Interagency Commission) funding; staff reported prior informal conversations with the IAC and said the district had filed a preplanning request for the project. Staff indicated the IAC funding share would be high (89 percent state, 11 percent county in the district’s examples) but clarified that any work is contingent on receiving the necessary state and local capital allocations.

Board members and members of the public focused on practical implications. Board member Rodney pressed staff to make and keep commitments on road improvements and playgrounds, noting a previous permit for road work filed in 2005 that was not completed. Mr. Waslowski and staff said a refile for permits and site improvements is part of the concept plan and that some site work would be submitted for IAC consideration. Members asked about traffic flow; staff described a planned dedicated lane to assist southbound traffic merging onto MD-219 and said the plan should reduce bus/pickup conflicts.

Community members at public comment urged the board to gather stronger cost and engineering data before deciding. Tara Crawford asked whether bids and firm architectural plans exist to vet the capital estimates; Jason Van Sickle and Jess Brown asked for clearer, concrete examples of how eighth graders would benefit academically from the move and whether central office could be relocated to free space instead of moving Accident. Janet Taylor, a longtime bus contractor, urged caution on traffic and merge-lane safety, noting steep grades and heavy truck traffic on 219.

Staff addressed safety questions: Michael Biddinger, manager of safety and security, reviewed building safety and reunification planning, and staff said they would keep central office presence in the northern end of the county while reconfiguring space over time. Staff also said some administrative moves (for example, moving Bradford program space) are planned to free more instructional space in the middle campus.

The presentation was explicitly a review and discussion item; no final vote was taken. Dr. McCartney told the board she will continue community engagement, proceed with preplanning steps for capital funding, and return to the board with more detailed budgets and timelines if the project moves forward.

Looking ahead: Staff said, if approved to proceed with funding, the move would be staged—eighth graders to Northern High in 2025–26 and the Accident relocation and renovations in 2026–27—so that building work, permitting and procurement could occur before full occupancy.