After being blasted for being “not friendly,” Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Jackie Haas said Friday that she was confused by recent statements made by frustrated Aberdeen High School parents who are demanding the administration deal with an overcrowded school.
A meeting at the Aberdeen Senior Center quickly turned ugly as parents bashed an absent Haas and School Board over a lack of communication.
“We?re not being informed. We?re not being kept in the loop,” said Fred Silva about the effect of overcrowding at the school. Parents claim the school is at 119 percent capacity, or about 1,400 students.
“No one has ever sat down with me and discussed what the issues are,” Haas said. She and the Board of Education members were unable to attend due to a planning session.
“We feel we?re dealing with a person that is not friendly to us,” said AHS parent Jerry Lacey. This perception, he said, was based on unsuccessful attempts to organize a meeting on overcrowding at AHS.
“The first priority is to get Jackie Haas and a board member here and have them tell you why you can?t use the north building,” said Aberdeen City Council President Ron Kupferman.
“We have to work on this from both sides … but we have to come up with a plan. Until somebody sits down [with Haas and the board] and has a frank discussion, I guess that?s why I am confused [about] what the issues are,” Haas said. She said her secretary has made several attempts to reach out to the AHS parents, but no phone calls had been returned.
Alternatives
» Use the old north building of AHS ? now a teacher training and an alternative education facility ? or obtain portable classrooms until a purposed 13 classroom addition can be built.
» Move special education students into the new Harford County Public Schools administration building in Bel Air, allowing AHS to recoup the north building space, and then place the school system administration in portable classrooms.
