Parents and teachers urge FCPS to demand air, noise and safety protections as data center rises beside Carroll Manor Elementary

A standing-room crowd at Carroll Manor Elementary pressed the Frederick County Public Schools Board of Education on the health and safety risks posed by a hyperscale data center campus under construction nearby, calling for permanent air-monitoring stations, noise mitigation and an eventual upgrade or replacement of the aging school.

Elnora Little, reading a letter from state Sen. Karen Lewis Young, said the school is “located 1,900 feet away from the edge of the data center campus where over 360 diesel generators and storage tanks of diesel fuel will be located,” and urged the district to demand professional, regulatory-grade monitoring rather than consumer-grade sensors. Little’s reading cited Virginia Department of Environmental Quality projects that colocate reference-grade monitors with regulatory stations as a model.

The concerns drew support from Delegate April Miller, who urged the board to “fight for the kids” and asked that the incoming state study on data centers include school impacts; she said the results of a veto-override study are expected in October and could inform the board’s September discussion. Senator Bill Bolt told attendees the forum should be a problem-solving session and encouraged residents to propose concrete mitigation ideas.

Teachers, parents and health professionals described a range of specific risks. Dr. Mary Kesselring, a special-education researcher, warned that “the sounds and…pressure of sounds affect the human body, especially developing children,” and urged mitigation for autistic students and others with sensory vulnerabilities. A kindergarten teacher, Caitlin, said particulates “fall on the recess equipment” and into classrooms, amplifying indoor exposure and stressing that staff health affects district staffing and budgets.

Several parents cited diesel exhaust and generator testing schedules as urgent problems. Sean Schillinger, a parent and Adamstown resident, called placing backup diesel generators roughly 900 feet from the school “a direct failure of our duty to protect children,” and urged the board to press county officials to halt the expansion. Speakers repeatedly asked why county tax revenues from existing data centers — one speaker said Frederick County had collected approximately $70 million — had not funded local protections such as enhanced ventilation, permanent monitoring and noise abatement.

Speakers also proposed specific, enforceable measures: a community fund tied to construction phases, independent environmental audits, a public transparency dashboard, and a local Good Neighbor Advisory Committee to convene developers, school leaders and officials quarterly. Charlotte McGee, a parent, asked the board to help establish that committee and to insist on regular meetings with the Catalyst campus developers and operators.

The board did not take formal action at the session; members said the gathering was a listening forum and that substantive motions require a regular business meeting. Board member Jamie Brennan said she had placed an agenda item for the board’s regular session on Sept. 9 to allow formal motion, staff presentations and potential votes on hiring independent experts and recommending mitigation steps. The board chair said staff will compile the comments gathered and present mitigation options at that September meeting.

The session included requests for specific monitoring technology and emergency planning: speakers asked for regulatory-grade, fence-line monitors (as used in a Broad Run High School monitoring project cited in the senator’s letter), independent verification of air-quality data, noise mitigation and written emergency-response plans for large diesel-fuel storage. Multiple speakers called for a temporary moratorium or a study period until those protections are in place.

What happens next: the board has committed to forwarding tonight’s comments to staff and to a staff presentation scheduled for Sept. 9. Community organizers and parents said they will attend that meeting and press the board to recommend enforceable mitigation measures to county government and the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Sources: Public comments and prepared statements delivered to the Frederick County Public Schools Board of Education during the Carroll Manor Elementary listening session; a letter read by Elnora Little from state Sen. Karen Lewis Young.