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County APF report: Mount Harmony Elementary over capacity at 106.5%
Summary
Calvert County's Nov. 1 Adequate Public Facilities report shows Mount Harmony Elementary operating at 106.5% of rated capacity; staff explained capacity calculations and commissioners discussed enrollment trends and potential facility repurposing.
Tay Harris, Long Range Planner with the Department of Planning and Zoning, presented Calvert County’s Adequate Public Facilities (APF) report for schools at the Nov. 20 meeting, explaining the county code methodology used to calculate school capacity and reporting current enrollment figures.
“And that school is Mount Harmony Elementary at a 106.5,” Harris said, identifying the only school exceeding 100% of the county’s APF-rated capacity in the report. Harris explained the code’s capacity calculations (pre‑K counted at 20 students per classroom, kindergarten at 22, grades 1–5 at 23, and special‑education stations at 10) and noted that school adequacy reports are issued April 1 and Nov. 1 each year. The code limits delays of final subdivision approvals due solely to school capacity to six years from preliminary approval.
Commissioners discussed longer-term trends: one participant with a K–12 background warned declining elementary enrollment could mean future school closures and higher property taxes, and other commissioners noted empty seats in middle schools and the potential to repurpose underused facilities as the population ages. Staff said comments would be relayed to Calvert County Public Schools.
During public comment, Theresa Roman of Lusby asked why Attachment 1 and Attachment 5 omit numeric enrollment data for Appeal Elementary and the Patuxent Appeal campus, noting the tables display only a notation that the campuses are combined; she asked staff to supply separate numbers going forward.
