BERLIN, Md. -- Worcester County Commissioners recently approved a $60,000 design study for a new Buckingham Elementary School. While it will be awhile before construction crews break ground, this is the next step for a building better suited to the amount of students and staff at BES.
The current school, simply put, has run out of room. An outdoor basketball court is now an overflow parking lot with storage containers on it. Classrooms are closely grouped together without actual walls or doors.
Jez King, an educational assistant at BES, said due to the lack of space, the school is creating makeshift classrooms, like a math resource room in the middle of the library.
"We also created a space for our reading resource teacher, who has this space," said King. "But because of lack of space we had to create space in our media center, which has reduced the size of our media center by about a third."
It's why the schools principal, Dr. Christina Welch, is looking forward to a new one.
"The new school will provide us opportunity for meeting spaces as well as available spaces for classroom opportunities, like a real music class that isn't housed on the stage," said Welch.
While both King and Welch said these issues have not impeded their ability to educate students, they are looking forward to a lack of space being an afterthought.
We spoke with Becker Morgan Group, who is designing the new school. So far, their preliminary designs show a two-story building, closer to the front of the property where the current elementary school is.
The bus loop and drop-off car lanes have also been separated to ease congestion, and there is a safety lane running from S. Main Street to West Street to provide a safe way to school for kids who walk or bike.
Emily Purdum, an architect for Becker Morgan and the project manager, said the estimated construction cost is around $73 million. That number goes down to $55 million if the state provides a maximum allocation of $18 million. The county would provide the rest of the funding.
Educational specification and design planning are what's next for this design process.
"We'll go meet with all of the staff members again and really narrow down in a classroom or office space what exactly goes there," said Purdum.
After that, a conceptual planning committee made up of BES staff, county commissioners, Becker Morgan's design team, construction managers and people from the town of Berlin will voice their input. Purdum said it's key to get as many opinions as possible.
Purdum said they are required by the state to come up with an addition and renovation plan and a proposed new building plan. Ultimately, the decision was to move forward with the design for a new building.
It was the cheaper option of the two, and Purdum said it will allow for smoother construction without disrupting learning. There will also be a 75-foot buffer zone between the current school and new school once construction starts for safety.
"They'll remain in the existing school during the entire time of construction," said Purdum. "Towards the end over the last summer of construction, we'll be able to demo that existing school."
The plan would then be for students to move into the new school in the fall of the next school year.
Purdum said this fall design plans will be submitted to state and county officials for review. At this time, construction is slated to begin in 2026.