The Day School Was Closed

 

There wasn’t any school at Oakland Mills High School on Monday. It wasn’t a scheduled holiday. It wasn’t a snow day.

There was a flood. 

On Monday, while other students all over Howard County were learning, playing sports, eating lunch, participating in activities, benefiting from social interaction and cameraderie, working with tutors, playing music, reading in the school library, honing leaderships skills - - for the students at Oakland Mills High School there was nothing. 

Nothing.

Those students already know what it’s like to attend school in a building that is far too hot when it’s hot outside, far too cold when it’s cold outside, with humidity and poor air quality all of which is connected the mold growth that routinely makes students and staff sick. The malfunctioning HVAC system has been slated for major renovations since 2009. 

That’s a really long time to wait for the repairman to come. After a while it begins to look as though no one is coming. 

I wrote this in September of 2023 after the OMHS library was closed to students because of mold infestation:

Mind the Gap: the Opportunity Gap , Village Green/Town² 9/2023

Within this school community teachers are struggling to make the most of unsafe, inadequate conditions. The custodial staff is tasked with ‘making a way out of no way’ and they keep at it, day after day. Parents, students, and teachers have attended meeting after meeting to advocate for their school. They write letters, give testimony.

Every time the board of education is considering school improvements and the superintendent is listing which locations will receive renovations, the Oakland Mills High School community is there. They have done everything you are supposed to do. They have honored the process. They have presented the facts.

No one is coming to help them.

Why not? Why is this acceptable?

Last night I was talking Jonathan Edelson, the President of the Oakland Mills Village Board, to do some research for this post. Something he said kept waking me up last night. I’m going to paraphrase here.

OMHS has a higher than average proportion of students who are already struggling their way up Maslow's hierarchy of needs. 

When they are also too hot, too cold, too sick at school all day, that compounds their other challenges. How is that impacting their ability to learn? Those kids who are right on the margins, what does this do to them? Is this yet another reason that students who are already at risk are slipping through the cracks?  How might OMHS look different statistically with a better learning environment? 

The school system itself said the the OMHs school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 

To allow generations of students to attend school in a building that HCPSS has itself deemed no longer conducive to learning for eight years is a choice. To defer major renovations to a failing HVAC system for fifteen years is a choice. I cannot possibly suggest the intent behind these choices. I can, and will, be blunt about what they tell Oakland Mills High School students:

You are not important. We do not value your education. In the grand scheme of things, you are expendable. 

I think we have a wonderful school system. We have excellent teachers and we provide many and varied opportunities for students at all levels. It’s nice to see news of awards, concerts, sporting events, academic success. It gives us a sense of pride in our community. 

But I would like to suggest that a school system is only as good as its weakest link. If we, as a community, allow this neglect to continue, we have nothing to be proud of. This is shameful. 

Please write and advocate for this school. It doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to be eloquent. Do it today, before you get busy, or forget. If we don’t stand up for these kids, who will?

HCPSS:

boe@hcpss.org

bill_barnes@hcpss.org

HoCo:

cball@howardcountymd.gov councilmail@howardcountymd.gov 

State Delegation:

guy.guzzone@senate.state.md.us

vanessa.atterbeary@house.state.md.us

pam.guzzone@house.state.md.us

jen.terrasa@house.state.md.us