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Community presses board to restore Oakland Mills and Centennial renovation funding, cites health and safety risks
Summary
Residents and community leaders called on the board to restore capital funding for Oakland Mills and Centennial high school renovations, citing deferred maintenance, visible mold and failing HVAC systems that they say affect learning conditions and health.
Community members pressed the Howard County Board of Education to restore capital funding for Oakland Mills High School and Centennial High School during the Feb. 12 public hearing.
Jonathan Edelson, chair of the Oakland Mills Community Association, said past deferrals and a flawed prioritization formula had left Oakland Mills with decades of unmet renovation needs. "You are using an incomplete and flawed formula that doesn't even account for how long key systemic components have been operating beyond useful life to drive decisions about how to spend hundreds of millions of dollars," he told the board.
Christine Lockwood described visible mold, roof and ventilation failures at Oakland Mills and said occupants had expressed health concerns. "A sick building makes us physically sick," she said, and urged the board to restore the school's capital funding.
Jade Chan and other Centennial area speakers described burst pipes, high facility condition index scores and extreme classroom temperatures (speakers cited rooms in the low 60s to the mid‑80s), urging the board to accelerate renovations rather than delay projects into the 2030s.
Several speakers linked capital priorities to broader equity concerns: Jessica Nichols, an HCPSS teacher and parent, argued the district’s ranking criteria do not adequately account for graduation rates, proficiency or concentrated student need and said Oakland Mills, which serves a higher share of students receiving free and reduced‑price meals, should not be deprioritized.
Speakers asked the board to use newly projected state aid and local revenue increases to restore deferred capital projects. Jonathan Edelson and others offered community support and said they would provide documentation and timelines to help re‑prioritize projects.
The board did not take a funding vote during the hearing; speakers said they plan to continue advocacy with the board and county council as the capital budget advances.
