To alleviate overcrowding in the Central and Northeast areas, the construction of a new high school is needed, according to a Baltimore County school study completed in November 2003.
Yet, the school system has not identified and purchased land for a new high school. Even if a site were found today, a new high school would be four to five years away from opening.
The Perry Hall Improvement Association has filed a Public Information Act request to obtain information from the school system regarding the search for land for a new high school.
One stumbling block has been the school system?s minimum acreage restriction for building a new school, which are greater than many surrounding counties, said County Council Member Vincent Guardina. Current guidelines are a minimum of 20 acres to build an elementary school, 40 acres for a middle school and 65 acres for a high school.
The Northeast Education Advisory Council and Perry Hall Improvement Association began publicly seeking that those minimum standards be lowered in a letter last week to Schools Superintendent Joe Hairston.
The Advisory Council will make a presentation at the Tuesday school board meeting, requesting an immediate land use study that re-examines the current guidelines.
Northeast Education Advisory Council Secretary Kent Smith said only one of the Northeast?s 31 schools are at or within 2 acres of their school level?s guidelines, Seven Oaks Elementary School with 25 acres, according to land records provided by the Maryland Public School Construction Web site.
Guardina said he also wrote Hairston last week encouraging the school system to lower its acreage standards.
One reason larger acreage standards have been set is so school sites can serve as park areas for families, but that may not be a possibility any longer in that part of the county.
In Northeast and Central areas, commercial and residential sprawl is expected to continue with the completion of White Marsh Boulevard and the influx of families associated with the military?s base realignment, said David Marks, president of the Perry Hall association.
