New Northern Middle opens in Calvert County

Calvert public schools’ Superintendent Marcus Newsome noted it had been 22 months since his predecessor and other school and community leaders did the traditional moving of dirt with golden shovels. And now the new Northern Middle School has opened for learning.

The project, which was slowed by weather and challenges in obtaining building materials, cost nearly $60 million, which was a combination of state and county funds. The three-story, 109,237-square-foot building, co-located with Northern High on Chaneyville Road in Owings, can accommodate 800 students. With its current enrollment at 715 there’s room for more, although it’s still Calvert County’s most populous middle school.

“It takes every department in the school system to make this happen,” the superintendent said during his monthly report to the Calvert County school board Nov. 5.

In a matter of hours, the new building went from being a storage site for unopened boxes and bare shelves into a new school. Newsome credited school staff, assisted by honor students from Northern High, with the move from the old school to the new building.

“It’s looking amazing,” Ruth Ollie Reist, a Northern High junior and current student member of the board, said of the new facility. Reist was one of several students involved with the moving.

Of the open house held last week for students, parents and other family members, school board member Lisa Grenis noted the excitement as the community got to see the finished product.

“Students were on hand to take families on tour,” Grenis said.

The Northern Middle School project was constructed by Keller CM from the Eastern Shore.

Other construction news

At the Nov. 5 meeting, the school board approved a budget amendment, adding $200,000 in funding from the Maryland Interagency Commission on School Construction’s School Safety Grant program. The funds are to be used for safety enhancements to Calvert High’s parking lot.

According to Christine Jewett, the school system’s chief financial officer, the project “includes the design, supply, installation, aiming, testing and commissioning of a new parking lot lighting system and fixtures serving the stadium entrance and pedestrian access areas. The stadium entrance improvements will improve visibility and security for individuals accessing athletic events and after-hours activities.”

The lighting will be modern light-emitting diode technology.

Board member Joseph Marchio commended staff for obtaining yet another grant to “chip away at the backlog of school maintenance.”

Marchio later asked Charles Davis, supervisor of school construction, when the project would begin and be completed. Davis said the project will start around the time the school’s seniors are exiting prior to graduation, with paving to start in late June and continue into July.

The school board approved a $139,278 contract for the project to Musco Sports for the project.

The board also gave approval to awarding a $534,443 contract to Game Time for the installation and site improvements for a new playground at St. Leonard Elementary School. The contractor will be removing the current playground equipment, replace existing asphalt play areas and install “poured in-place safety surfacing, fencing and drainage improvements.”

Simmons resigns

Kevin Simmons, who served as Northern High principal since August 2023, resigned effective Oct. 27, according to Calvert public schools’ personnel documents.

Simmons, who had served as a school superintendent in Michigan prior to coming to Calvert County, will rejoin his colleague, Andre Townsel, in Hartford, Conn., where Townsel, former Calvert public schools’ superintendent, recently appointed him to an assistant superintendent’s post with the city’s public school system.

Darrell Prioleau was named Northern High’s acting principal late last month.