Schools plan prompts protest

CRISFIELD -- A proposal to consolidate Somerset County's two high schools is expected to draw hundreds of protesters to a special Board of Education meeting tonight after opponents of the plan got the word out on Facebook during the weekend.
A new group called Occupy Crisfield High had gained more than 500 followers as of Monday, and many of them said they planned to attend the meeting, said Billie Jo Chandler, who started the movement.
"We got a lot of response from Washington High, too," she said.
Chandler, a Crisfield business owner who has a son at Somerset Intermediate School, said she was asked to help rally parents after none spoke at last week's Board of Education meeting.
She turned to Facebook as a way to get the word out quickly.
"It's certainly a groundswell," said attorney John Phoebus, who became one of the first members of the new group and then got others to join.
Phoebus said school consolidation wasn't even one of the options offered by the state in a mandatory restructuring plan for Crisfield High School after it failed to meet its Adequate Yearly Progress -- or AYP -- targets set by the federal government for four years in a row.
"Not one of them includes merging the two high schools," he said.
The options included replacing all or most of the staff, contracting with a private management firm or reopening Crisfield High as a charter school, which are all listed in the state's Alternative Governance for School Improvement Proposal.
Board of Education Chairman Warner Sumpter said high school consolidation also falls under the same category and Maryland Department of Education officials are aware of the county's proposal.
School officials have said they are concerned Washington High in Princess Anne may not meet AYP this year and will be forced to undergo mandatory restructuring as well.
Consolidation of Crisfield and Washington high schools would allow the small school system to pool its resources and staff in one location, Sumpter said.
If a plan is approved, grades 10 through 12 would be moved to the Somerset Intermediate School building in Westover.
At tonight's meeting, the board will hear public comment and also present a restructuring proposal. The board could decide to vote on a plan tonight or it could delay the vote until its Feb. 21 meeting, he said.
A restructuring plan must be submitted to the state by March 14, but board members hope to send it as early as possible, he said.
In the meantime, school officials are preparing for the crowd that's expected tonight by setting up extra chairs and putting speakers in the hallway so the overflow crowd can hear what's being said.
"We're telling people to bring chairs to the meeting," Phoebus said.