The Northwest Area Education Advisory Council will host its operating and capital pre-budget public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m. at Owings Mills High School, 124 Tollgate Rd.
The Southwest Area Education Advisory Council’s pre-budget hearing will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 7 p.m. at Woodlawn High School, 1801 Woodlawn Drive.
The public will have an opportunity to comment on the 2016 fiscal year operating budget and the 2017 fiscal year capital budget during this pre-budget public hearing.
Among the priority proposals are for the next fiscal year are funding for:
- renovation and addition for Pikesville High School
- elementary school in the northwest
- 700-seat addition for Catonsville Elementary
- 700-seat replacement school for Westowne Elementary
- 200-seat addition to Westchester Elementary in Catonsville
The Advisory Council provides the school board with community input and advises it about concerns and issues. Contact Mychael Dickerson at 410-887-5908 with questions.
New Elementary School Boundaries
A new northwest area elementary school is being constructed on Lyons Mill Road Owings Mills to relieve overcrowding at schools in the area, particularly New Town Elementary School and Woodholme Elementary School. The 700-seat school is slated to open in August 2015.
Which students will attend the new school? The committee of parents, school representatives and community members charged with considering where to draw attendance boundary lines will have its third meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at New Town High School, 4931 New Town Blvd. in Owings Mills, to examine data and options to help relieve enrollment pressures in the area. If you’re not a committee member, you can observe the process, but won’t be able to actively participate.
Name the School
The new northwest corridor elementary school to be built in Owings Mills doesn’t have a name as yet. Baltimore County Public Schools is accepting ideas until 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24.
After the nomination period concludes, two top choices will be submitted to the school superintendent Dallas Dance for review and compliance with policy, and then to the school board.
The school board may name a school after:
- A community, subdivision or street on which the school is located
- The geographic location of the school
- A significant and distinguishable landmark, which can assist in locating the general area of the school
- A deceased, prominent person who has made an outstanding contribution of service to Baltimore County, the State of Maryland or to the United States.
For inspiration, consider this historical perspective. The school is being built in the Ballard Green subdivision and sits on land once owned by the Ballard family and near the family’s Plinlimmon Farm, an early 19th century log farmhouse. Plinlimmon, one of the oldest farmsteads in Owings Mills, was located on a 100-acre tract of land listed in 1744 as “Caroline Forest.” Submit your idea to [email protected].