Md. comptroller visits NDHS

The planning and design stage for a new North Dorchester High School NDHS has been given the green-light by the Dorchester County Council and on Friday, Maryland comptroller Peter Franchot visited the school for the first time.

Comptroller Franchot told 47 ABC, “We need a new school…and that’s the bottom line.” and commented that the school’s “u-shape” design is out-dated and lacks functionality.

“Just from a functionality standpoint, you need a new school but then you plug in the fact that the air conditioning doesn’t work and that it’s not a healthy atmosphere for the faculty or the student.” Said Comptroller Franchot.

He says he was hopeful and inspired by the students he met and admits they deserve to have a school built to the same measure as ones in other counties.

Dorchester County Council President Ricky Travers says his council has committed 1.4 million dollars for both fiscal years 2016 and 2017 to go towards designing the new school. He tells us the state plays a role too.

“The state will pay a percentage.” Said Travers. “They only pay a percentage of bricks and mortar, the building itself. We have to pay all for the fixtures and the furnishing and we have to pay for the design.”

A proposed design for the 44-million dollar school is expected to be presented to the Maryland Board of Public Works in early 2016. Comptroller Franchot is on that board and Travers says inviting leaders like him  to get a first-hand look at the school may better help the chances of the project coming into fruition.

“We have to be absolutely as conservative as we can but it comes a point in time where we have to draw a line in the sand and say, we need to move forward with this project. We cannot keep waiting.” Explained Travers.

Even with the added cost for the design phase, Travers says there was no tax increase for the budget that was approved to start July 1st.