ROCK HALL — The first meeting of the new year for the Kent County Board of Education opened with the annual board reorganization.
In voting by the five-member board on Jan. 13, Trish McGee was selected president and John Queen was selected vice president. The term is one year.
Queen and Laura McKenzie, who were elected in November, were attending their first meeting.
After welcoming the new members, Superintendent Mary McComas gave an update on the construction of a new Kent County Middle School in Chestertown.
Kent County Public Schools is currently in the design phase of the middle school project, McComas said, noting that funding already has been allocated for this phase. The Maryland Stadium Authority will serve as the project director while Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates will be the architect.
McComas said she is meeting with the architect every other week to go through the preliminary design process, but once plans are drawn there will be a chance for community input at public meetings.
The design process is projected to be complete by December 2025.
McComas reported that she met with the District 36 delegation to discuss introducing legislation during this year’s General Assembly session to request more funds for the construction phase of the project.
Kent is considered a 50-50 split jurisdiction, meaning the state will pay for half of all new school construction but the county is responsible for the other half.
“Because of the modest (size) of our student population we are going to the state to petition for more funds,” McComas said.
If the state approves the additional funding, McComas said they could be breaking ground for a new KCMS in the 2026-2027 school year.
McGee asked that McComas keep board members informed of when they could go to Annapolis and speak in favor of the legislation.
McComas said she would, and added that she would let the public know what they could do to voice their support for the project.
Trish McGee is the owner and publisher of The Evening Enterprise. She did not contribute to this report.