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Caroline County Public Schools facilitated the first of two community meetings on the siting and construction of a new Lockerman Middle School on May 8. The Caroline County Board of Education has approved moving forward with the new siting and construction of Lockerman Middle School.
This meeting was the first of two “listening sessions” held with the purpose of getting community feedback on the three proposed directions of the Lockerman Project: renovating the existing school, building a new school on the same campus as North Caroline High School in Ridgely, or building on property on Double Hills Road behind the Caroline County Sheriff's Office in Denton.
The group of approximately 30 stakeholders that included parents of current middle school students, Lockerman alumni, and community members, received information on the background of the project, issues with the current building and site, and high-level specifications on two potential sites in the county. The project to renovate the existing building or rebuilding the middle school began in 2024.
Lockerman Middle School originated as an all-Black high school and has gone through several iterations to becoming the current middle school that serves the central and northern areas of Caroline County. The oldest part of the building that exists today was erected in 1963, but educational activities have taken place on the site since the 1930s. Having undergone a series of additions and renovations in the decades since, the project’s Director of Operations Bill Mengel said, “For many years the building has done well, but when it was initially designed, it was not designed for the amount of traffic, the amount of students, the amount of staffing that we have, or the curriculum that’s being taught.”
One of the major topics addressed by parents and presenters alike was the student drop-off and pick-up situation. Renee Dodd, a parent of a Lockerman student, said, “it is chaos in the morning with drop off.” While Robyn Toth, Project Principal with TCA Architects, praised the Lockerman staff for their handling of the traffic, she agreed that the situation is potentially dangerous. She said that “the goal will be with the new site to alleviate that congestion.”
It was noted by several community members that moving the facility to either of the other sites, would shift a considerable population of students who walk to school to “100% car or bus riders.”
Lockerman Schools Association representative Janet Fountain asked, “how many additional buses” it would take to provide transportation to the children who are currently able to walk to Lockerman. Dr. Simmons replied that number is currently unknown as “we haven’t gotten to that point yet” in the feasibility study.
Lockerman Middle PTA president, Keyana Hill noted that where the school is now is accessible to many children who live in town and can walk to after-school programs and extracurriculars, which would be impossible if it were relocated to the other two potential sites out of town. For the Double Hills Road site as it is so close to Route 404, residents questioned how beach traffic patterns in the warmer months would impact the efficiency of the bus schedules, noting that the “seasonal traffic” typically begins in March.
The project is in the “ed specs” stage, described by Toth as developing a “recipe book for the architect” to build a new and improved school building. “It’s going to tell us how many rooms, what they should be next to… if they need certain requirements, like if it needs to be a quiet space or a loud space. Music wants to be near your auditorium, things like that.”
Community member Dan Towers, cast doubt on the science behind building a larger school, saying, “the data shows that smaller schools are more effective” for students’ educational achievement. Dr. Simmons responded that the funding dictated moving forward with another middle school. “We just don’t have the funding to maintain and pull that. Our class sizes in Caroline are smaller than most of the state average for class sizes,” Dr. Simmons explained. Towers pressed that he believes there should be two middle schools in (central and northern) Caroline County, one for fifth and sixth grades and the other for seventh and eighth, to keep class sizes down.
Parallel to the “ed specs” is a feasibility study to weigh the pros and cons of each of the three building sites. Civil Engineer Kevin Shearon of DMS and Associates in Centreville walked attendees through each of the three options, explaining logistics like traffic flow, road width, whether the site involved environmental concerns like watersheds or flood plains, and topography.
Keeping the school on its current site raised spatial concerns due to its limited amount of acreage and inability to expand. If built near NCHS, the new Lockerman school would be placed near the rear of the practice athletic fields, possibly contending with existing solar panels and the Caroline Career and Technology Center agricultural program’s barn and pasture. If it is decided to place the school on the Double Hills Road property, a new Road has been proposed by the county to circumvent the Sheriff’s Office, but road width and passing zones in the area would have to be reconfigured.
Caroline County NAACP Vice President Vanice Myers raised concerns about the impact on water and sewer rates for those living in town if a larger school were to be built, as well as the increased likelihood of bullying of middle schoolers by high schoolers if they were to share a school campus. Some pointed out advantages to having the middle and high schoolers close together, such as the opportunity to share the NCHS auditorium, pool resources to get better amenities like stadium bathrooms, and have older siblings drive their younger siblings to school.
Longtime NCHS employee Tyrone Holmes expressed concerns that North Caroline is “bursting at the seams.” Dr. Simmons explained that in order to qualify for state funding, a school building cannot have undergone a renovation in 40 years, meaning NCHS would not be eligible until 2041. Holmes also pointed out the limited amount of existing parking at NCHS.
Dr. Simmons stated throughout the meeting that Caroline County Commissioners have said that the current Lockerman Middle School building will not be demolished, although it is yet to be known what exactly the space will be used for. Community members and Lockerman Alumni Association members echoed sentiments from community member Sarah Dahl of possibly using the school building as a YMCA or Boys and Girls Club if it is decided to build a new middle school somewhere else.
There were some opinions shared at the meeting about how to best honor and preserve the history of Lockerman, with Pam Gates sharing that Lockerman Middle School is on “sacred ground.” “Lockerman has a heritage that most schools don’t have… we don’t want to lose that.” Gates is the daughter of the last Lockerman High School Principal, Mr. Frances Gates.
Caroline County Board of Education President Michele Wayman suggested incorporating a wall of artifacts from the school’s history and the original wildcat artwork from the gymnasium floor, if a copy can be found, in the new school, wherever it may be.
Superintendent Dr. Derek Simmons said he is “hopeful” that the first shovels can hit the dirt in fiscal year 2028, which would mean beginning construction as early as July of 2027. The project would then be “at least a two-year build”, with an anticipated opening date for students being August of 2030. He shared that this would be contingent on the Caroline County Board of Education submitting all the necessary plans and documentation to the state by the Fall of 2025, or else the window of opportunity would close until next Fall, delaying the project by a year.
But it is ultimately all up to state funding. In Dr. Simmons’ words, “that’s if everything goes right, that means the state comes through with their money, because this project is largely going to be funded by the state.”
He went on to say that the timeline by which the Lockerman Project is completed is dependent on when Caroline County Public Schools receives state funds to move forward. Dr. David Lever of Educational Facilities Planning LLC said that the project is anticipated to cost $86 million – a bill that Caroline County “does not have the funding to support” on its own. As far as the state of Maryland’s burden versus the county’s, Dr. Simmons said, “if it were to be funded today, it would be 94% state funded, 6% county funded.”
Another “listening session” is scheduled for June 2, 6:00 pm at Lockerman Middle School, where community feedback on this $86 million decision will be further discussed. The meeting is open to the public.
The decision on where to place the school is going to be made “this summer” by the Caroline County Board of Education. They plan to take all community feedback into consideration, which the speakers stressed at the meeting. A written survey was passed out and Dr. Simmons noted that community members can also submit comments and concerns via email.
