Harford?s school board plans a $5.7 million addition to Aberdeen High School, but the school will be overcrowded again within a year or two, critics say.
“The addition that will be planned and completed has no hope of solving overcrowding at Aberdeen High School,” said County Councilman Richard Slutzky, who represents Aberdeen.
Aberdeen High has a capacity for 1,360 students, and 1,589 were enrolled at the beginning of the past school year.
Overcrowding could be eliminated at the school, built less than four years ago for $43 million, by allowing it to use the neighboring Center for Educational Opportunities building, Slutzky said.
Aberdeen parents have repeatedly called for theboard to let the high school use the CEO building to relieve overcrowding.
But the school board has refused, saying it doesn?t want to uproot programs in the building, which the county uses for alternative education and employee training.
Slutzky said housing projects being built will bring in at least 80 more students at Aberdeen. The influx of students as a result of the military?s Base Realignment and Closure initiative is expected to worsen overcrowding.
The school board plans to build another school and move students from John Archer School there. It could then move operations at the CEO building to John Archer and allow Aberdeen to use the CEO building, Slutzky said.
But the board?s initial plan would have Harford Technical High School use the John Archer building when students change locations.
Slutzky laid out his plan in a letter to school board President Tom Fidler, County Executive David Craig and Aberdeen Mayor Fred Simmons.
“This is a central location in the county,” Slutzky said. “It would be a perfect setting for the alternative education program.”
Fidler said he recognizes the coming overcrowding. “We have to do something… because our own projections tell us it?s going to be out of capacity in the next year or two,” he said of the school.
