A sixth grader tells her dad about one of the unusual features of her school, “When it rains, the water runs down the steps.”

“The steps outside, right?” he questions.

“No, inside the building.”

True story–the school was North East Middle School and the year was 2007.

Seven years later, the roofing project is still on the Cecil County Public Schools deferred maintenance list due to lack of funding. In fact, in the CCPS budget request for FY 15 renovations at North East Middle School where included on a list of Major Additions and Renovations. CCPS proposed project planning to begin in FY 2017 and completion in FY 2020. The Cecil County Council and Executive have now pushed the start of that project to FY 2019 with completion in FY 2022. Let’s pause for a minute to do the math…planning in FY 2019…it’s 2014…that’s five years before planning can even begin!

Cecil County School Buildings in Need of Repair

This isn’t the only school in the CCPS system that needs roof maintenance. In an earlier post, I talked about the roofing issues at Conowingo Elementary. Other schools on the deferred maintenance list are Rising Sun Middle and Elementary, Thomson Estates Elementary, and North East High. This year’s renovation project at Perryville Elementary will address the roofing needs at that building and roofs at Gilpin Manor Elementary and Chesapeake City Elementary would be included in major renovation projects for those schools. Those projects are now deferred until 2017 and 2019 respectively

No More Lip Service about Supporting Education

Our elected officials seem to congratulate themselves on their support of education yet our public schools have to beg each year for the funding necessary to operate the school system.

And, despite the brilliant suggestions for fundraising that I’ve heard in public forums, no amount of walkathons, flea markets, spaghetti dinners, or booster clubs can raise the kind of money necessary to run a public school system.

Contact our Cecil County Council and Executive and let them know you support adequate funding of education in Cecil County.

Just copy these email addresses and paste them into an email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Updated email addresses 3/16/15