Phase three of Bennett MS project moves forward, plans for West Salisbury Elem. on hold
It’s official – the old Bennett Middle School will be demolished and replaced with athletic fields for James M. Bennett High School.
The demolition is set for two to three months after the students’ last day of school in mid-June.
“We’ve strategized to put the fields as close as possible to Bennett High School,” says Dr. John Frederickson, superintendent of Wicomico County Public Schools. “We’re delighted.”
On Tuesday, Wicomico County Council voted against County Executive Bob Culver’s proposal that would keep part of the old building for county office space or other uses.
“I was trying to kill two birds with one stone if you would, by finding a place for them, still coming through with the fields, and making it a win-win for everybody,” says Culver. “I’m willing to go on from that, they’ll be other projects, we just have to make them all as cost effective and beneficial.”
Those other projects include West Salisbury Elementary School.
On Monday,, local clergy members in the greater Salisbury area with a group “Watchmen with One Voice” toured the school to see the current conditions. At Tuesday’s county council meeting, the group, along with a number of supporters, voiced their opinions about the run-down facilities getting in the way of education.
“There is no amount of money you can save that warrants our children to have to learn under the conditions that they’re learning under, that the teachers are teaching under,” says Pastor Louis Watson, leader of the group. “We have children learning in closets.”
Culver requested $2.2 million to be set aside for renovations, and council approved the recommendation. However, council said today there have been no decisions about what exactly it will be spent on and when. Culver says the money for a new school is not there, and getting the project back on the Capital Improvement Plan won’t happen anytime soon either.
“It could be two years, it could be five years off, we don’t know yet.”
While Frederickson does feel that the replacement school is necessary, he says he is looking forward to discussing the project with county council. The Board of Education is also exploring options for new offices, which include East Salisbury Elementary and/or Wicomico Middle School if they redistrict the students elsewhere. They also plan to apply for state funding for West Salisbury Elementary School, which would be their second attempt.
State funding or not, Pastor Watson and the other community leaders say they will not give up that fight.
“We hope that you will revisit, that you will recommit, and that you will reconsider what those children have to go through as it relates to their learning.”
