Groundbreak tentatively set for fall 2010

 
by Bill Gates

This year’s freshman class at the Dundalk High School could be the first to graduate from the new Dundalk High building.
    If not them, then the Class of 2014 will be the one to achieve posterity, Dundalk High principal Tom Shoul-dice told the Greater Dundalk Community Council last week.
    “We’re looking at a groundbreaking in early fall 2010,” Shouldice said at the GDCC’s monthly meeting, held last Thursday at CCBC Dundalk. “Lots of things could happen to move that up.”
    Once started, construction should take about one and a half to two years to complete.
  

 The architectural plans still must be finalized and approved by the Maryland Board of Education before construction can begin, Shouldice said.
    Several aspects are confirmed: the new building will be in the location currently occupied by the “Bowl” athletic field and the Baltimore County bus depot.
    There will be separate Dundalk High and Sollers Point Technical High buildings, connected by an atrium that may contain a media center.
    There also will be a building containing common areas for both schools: the cafeteria, gymnasium and auditorium.
    “It will be a school complex, also connected to CCBC Dundalk,” Shouldice said. “Not physically, but by educational programs. It’s a natural fit.
    “The front entrance of the new school will point toward CCBC. I also wouldn’t mind seeing those fences disappear.”
    The new Dundalk High will be “about” three stories high, Shouldice said.
    “The exact plans have been through about five, six iterations,” he said. “There’s nothing ready to look at yet.”
    The current Dundalk High will be demolished and a new athletic facility will be put in that location to replace the Bowl. Just how extensive an athletic facility it will be has yet to be determined.
    “We don’t want to cut corners, but we’re working with the builders to save enough money to put in a stadium,” Shouldice said. “We’d also like to have lights, and artificial turf would be nice.”
    Early plans for the two new schools included a proposal to house both in the same building.
    But, in response to community feedback, Shouldice said two different schools will be on the property.
    “But, to save money, we need to merge [Dundalk and Sollers Point] just a little bit,” he said. “I think people will be pleased when they see the final result.”
    John Ayres, a member of the Greater Holabird Norwood Community Alliance Partnership Inc. (formerly the Norwood-Holabird Community Association), said his group was concerned about the impact of construction-related traffic on the community.
    There should be no effect, Shouldice said. Construction will be on the far side of the campus, along Delvale Avenue and bordering CCBC Dundalk.
Dundalk stadium fund
    Dundalk High formed a committee five years ago to raise money to build a stadium facility in the Bowl, getting as far as preliminary designs and raising over $250,000.
    That money could be used to help pay for a stadium when the new school is complete, if needed, Shouldice said.
    In response to a question, Dundalk High Athletic Boosters member Bob Berkshire said the fund now has $10,000.
    A $150,000 grant from Baltimore County Recreation and Parks must be reapproved, Berkshire said. And $100,000 pledged by Dundalk High alumnus Leroy Merritt has not yet been received.
    The stadium committee also had to pay $11,000 to an architectural firm for some early work that has now been made obsolete by plans for the new school.

Dundalk achieves AYP
    Dundalk High did not attain federally mandated Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for five consecutive years. That prompted a restructuring of the school faculty and staff and the hiring of 65 new teachers this year.
    Shouldice announced during the GDCC meeting that Dundalk officially passed AYP for the 2008-09 school year.
    The school’s graduation rate, a main cause of failure the previous five years, improved by 4.5 percent.
    The High School Assessment scores in reading/English improved by 10.3 percent, while math scores improved by 10.2 percent.

School, community  issues
    GDCC president Scott Holupka introduced census figures that showed 60 percent of the households in Dundalk had children under the age of 18 in 1970, while that number had fallen to 33 percent by 2000.
    “And I suspect it’s lower now,” Holupka said.
    Ayres suggested the reason for the decline is the loss of job opportunities in Dundalk.
    “People have had to move away from the area, with their families, in order to get jobs,” Ayres said. “Lots of graduates are leaving the community because there are no viable jobs that provide a decent standard of living.”
    The GDCC hosted a reception in August for the 65 new teachers at Dundalk High in order to introduce them to the community.
    The organization may make the reception an annual event, inviting new teachers from all the area schools (elementary, middle and high) to attend.