“Save Aberdeen High School” is the rallying cry of signs that are beginning to pop up around Aberdeen.
Why does a new high school that opened its doors in 2004 need saving?
According to a group of concerned Aberdeen High parents, the school has an overcrowding problem with no solution in sight. And with thousands of new residents projected to come into Harford County because of military base realignments that will bring jobs to Aberdeen Proving Ground, local parents and politicians fear the problem will only get worse.
“Two of us are going to meet [privately] with Jackie Haas [Harford County Public Schools superintendent] ? but we want a public meeting,” said Jerry Lacey, whose son attends Aberdeen High. Lacey said the meeting with Haas is scheduled for the first week in June.
The posting of the signs, which Lacey said promote the Web site www.saveahs.org, comes on the heels of ideas that have been suggested in order to solve the overcrowding problem at Aberdeen High.
The main plank of the group?s platform is the use of the old Aberdeen High School north building to ease overcrowding, but since the opening of the new Aberdeen High, the north building has been used to house the county?s alternative education program and teacher training site.
Harford County Council Member Richard Slutzky, R-District E, said a group of developers has come forward with a plan to donate land around the Aberdeen/Havre de Grace area, and that land could be used for an alternative education facility.
“The alternative education program is the fly in the ointment,” Slutzky said. If a new building were constructed for the program, and the school system could find a new location to train teachers, Aberdeen High School could reclaim the 700-seat building, he said.
Haas said last week that she was open to any idea that would best serve the students of Harford County, but as of right now, the best proposal she has heard regarding the use of Aberdeen?s north building would be “as a bridge” while new additions are built.
