School board approves design for combined Middletown elementary, middle school

The Frederick County Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously voted to approve the design development documents of a combined Middletown Elementary and Middle School.

As a result of the board's approval, Frederick County Public Schools plans to submit the project documents to the Maryland Interagency Commission on School Construction for its review and approval.

The school would serve students in third through eighth grade, combining elementary and middle school students. The new building is expected to have a state-rated capacity of 523 elementary school students and 839 middle school students.

FCPS plans to have two separate drop-off spots and entrances to the school for elementary and middle school students.

The architect for the project is CannonDesign. The construction manager is Whiting Turner Construction.

Mike Glaros, principal office leader at the Baltimore office of CannonDesign, said at the work session that there should be few traffic issues because of the separate drop-off locations.

Board President Karen Yoho added that there are staggered pickup and drop-off times between the elementary and middle schools.

"We expect that there will be some overlap of parents arriving early or arriving late for one of the drop-offs, but there is adequate capacity within the circulation system to accept that," Glaros said.

Board member Nancy Allen said she walked the property of the planned combined school and saw a natural hedge as a barrier to the school from the outside community, particularly the neighboring residential development.

"It's a pretty intense hedge there, and very mature trees," Allen said. "That's not going to be disturbed, so that will stay in place and you'll have the additional environmental screen there."

Bradley Ahalt, senior project manager of capital programs for FCPS, said the project has conditional site plan approval from the Middletown Planning Commission.

The combined school is designed as a three-story building, with administrative offices and combined services at the core of the school and separate academic wings for elementary and middle school students on either side of the core.

Both academic wings are designed similarly with separate media centers on the second floor, and classrooms and teacher support on the third floor.

The media centers are connected with shared technical staff space, and all connections between elementary and middle school parts of the combined school would be key controlled.

The project is split into two phases: the construction of the new combined school and the demolition of the existing elementary and middle schools.

FCPS anticipates that students and staff members will continue to use the existing elementary and middle schools while the replacement school is constructed.

FCPS expects the construction phase of the new building to be substantially complete by the summer of 2027.

Once the new building is completed, students and staff members would move in.

Demolition would begin on the existing structures in August 2027.

The projected completion date for the entire project, including the demolition, is December 2028.