SMITH ISLAND, Md. -- Ewell School on Smith Island will be closing for the upcoming school year. With zero students enrolled, Somerset County Public Schools will recommend the Somerset County Board of Education to hand the building back over to the county.
"There are some students on the island but they're home schooled and that's a choice our parents have," said John Gaddis, SCPS Superintendent. "With no enrollment and no projected enrollment, it comes down to 'alright, what can we do with the community but there is also a business side of this we have to look at'."
All the information was presented to neighbors on the island on Wednesday night. At 6:00 p.m. multiple staff members from Somerset County Public Schools spoke to a crowd of about 40 Smith Island locals.
SCPS staff presented their plan and opened up the floor for questions. Possibly the most important piece of information given was the building will not be torn down and there are plans to use it in the future.
The Ewell School has been open since 1961. But after six decades, enrollment has dwindled to zero. It's why Gaddis said they will move forward with their recommendation to the Board of Education to classify the building as excess.
In the meantime, a laundry list of repairs, as Gaddis called it, needs to be taken care of. A new boiler was just installed and repairs to the roof are expected to be finished by the end of the summer.
"We're going to send crews over to clean it up, clean it out, as I said leave equipment and then I will have conversations with the county commissioners," said Gaddis.
Those conversations will include a lot of questions that still need to be answered. The plan is to keep the school in good condition, to be used as a community center, but also in case it ever needs to be opened back up.
"The promise of being able to reopen the school is probably really important to everybody," said Alicia Blackwell, who lives in Ewell.
Blackwell said there are families on the island with kids who will be school age in a few years.
"There are multiple people who have babies and toddlers, preschoolers, who will be probably in the next three years be coming into the age where they would utilize the school," said Blackwell. "So hopefully like they said we can take it year by year and get it opened back up."
Given the schools sentimental value, some on the island asked for more than a promise.
"My concern is once it goes to the county that there will be in writing a guarantee of time before they elect to sell it or do something else with it," said Dory Matarazzo, another Ewell neighbor.
The move to close the school made sense financially as well. Staring down a total cost of $445,000 to keep the school up and running, Gaddis said from a business standpoint, this was the right call.
"It's around $440, $450,000 that we will save by not having the school in session in this building," said Gaddis. "So it's substantial for the school system and that's money that we don't have to go to the state for or go to the county for."
Classrooms and furniture will remain in place, and again, the school reopening if enrollment increases is still very much on the table.
"People love the school, so keep the school open, somehow," said Matarazzo.
The recommendation will go to the Board of Education on Tuesday, June 20th for a vote. After that, there will be a 30 day period for public comment.
Gaddis said the school system and county commissioners are committed to keeping the building up and running.