Information was posted on social media yesterday about an upcoming meeting relating to High School 14 and it caught my interest. Here is the information that was shared:

Good afternoon,

Thank you for continuing your advocacy for Elkridge and the construction of High School 14. As you know, the County has completed the Environmental Study at Timbers at Troy and Troy Park. We would like to schedule a meeting with County personnel to provide an overview and discuss our findings. We are proposing the following dates and hope that everyone will be able to join in this important community conversation.

January 15, 2020: 2pm, 3pm or 4pm January 16, 2020: 11:30am or 12pm



Please RSVP and confirm your availability for all dates and times. You can also complete the online Doodle poll here: https://doodle.com/poll/x8mgbxafnymq6ag9

Thank you.

Kim

Kimberly Pruim

Director

Constituent Services and Community Partnerships

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This got my attention because it was not shared on social media from the County Government or the County Executive accounts and many people online did not know much or anything about this upcoming meeting. I reached out to folks in County Government to get additional details and this is the response I received:

Thank you for your email and the opportunity to clarify. The email was sent to community advocates with whom the Administration has had an ongoing dialogue with regarding High School 14. It follows the completion of the Environmental Study of both the Timbers of Troy and Troy Park. In the spirit of continued collaboration on this important issue, the Administration was seeking to open back up lines of communication with these advocates for an internal meeting. Following the internal meeting, County Executive Ball will make these documents available to the public, as promised, and a public meeting will be scheduled. Warm regards, Kim

Kimberly Pruim

Director

Constituent Services and Community Partnerships

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So this is a closed meeting to certain community advocates for HS#14.

I will be very interested to see what the Environmental Study of both the Timbers of Troy and Troy Park have in the documents. I am glad to see that “County Executive Ball will make these documents available to the public, as promised, and a public meeting will be scheduled”.

I like the idea of “open back up lines of communication with these advocates”…that seems like a good thing. I look forward to open communications with the entire county on this future project.

If you look at the Howard County Public School System proposed Capital Budget…High School #14 is listed as unfunded though the 2021 – 2030 Long-Range Master Plan:

Unless a magic amount of money shows up or the list above is reprioritized, I do not see HS#14 happening this decade. Let that sink in for a moment.

I am also wondering this morning (I did not ask in my email yesterday)…has our Board of Education members seen the the Environmental Study of both the Timbers of Troy and Troy Park? Seems like something they should have if these things are completed. Maybe that is just me.

Stay tuned…as more information is released to the public I will be sure to document it here on the blog.

Scott E