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DENTON – During a packed agenda Tuesday morning, Sept. 23, 2025, the Caroline County Commissioners gathered information about school district construction expenses and the cut in funding for Early Head Start, introduced legislation and proclaimed September “No Matter What...You Matter Suicide Prevention Month.”
Explaining the need for awareness and reaching out to neighbors and students were For All Seasons Inc. Board Member Melissa Kelly and Allison Jones, For All Seasons Center for Learning associate director.
According to the proclamation, in Caroline County “the reality is urgent: 26.5% of middle school students and 22.1% of high school students report having seriously considered suicide, a concerning reminder that this crisis is present in the lives of our own children and neighbors.”
To recognize the need for awareness, Commission President Travis Breeding, Vice President Larry Porter and Commissioner Frank Bartz “urge all Caroline County citizens to recognize suicide as a significant public health risk and declare suicide prevention and mental health support a priority and support the development and availability of accessible behavioral health services for all residents, so that no one is left without hope or help.”
They also “urge every resident to take action and check in on the people around them, because even a simple conversation can save a life.”
FY2027 CIP presented
Caroline County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Derek Simmons and Director of Operations William Mengel, along with consultant Dr. David Lever of Educational Facilities Planning LLC, presented the fiscal year 2027 capital improvement plan (CIP) and asked for a letter of support from the Commissioners, which they approved. The Board of Education had approved the CIP Sept. 2.
In addition to the new Lockerman Middle School build were a list of projects, including proposed renovations of both high schools’ wastewater treatment plants. Both plants are 57 years old, having been constructed in 1968. Mengel said he is hoping the North Caroline High School renovation can be combined with the Lockerman Middle School (LMS) construction approved for the high school campus.
The estimated costs are nearly $1.3 million in state funding and nearly $40,000 in local funding each for the NCHS renovation and Colonel Richardson High School’s wastewater treatment plant.
A new roof is budgeted for Denton Elementary School. Although it was included in last year’s CIP, Mengel said, “We've tried pushing this off as long as we could, and we kind of came to the decision late this summer that we need to get a new roof on that building.” The new roof is slated to cost $5 million, but the county’s share would be about $150,000.
The Lockerman Middle School project is in its second year of a 5-year “marathon,” Simmons said. The school board has completed required first steps with the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC), Mengel reported, and the board is “entering into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Maryland Stadium Authority … (to) “provide beneficial guidance support” with CCPS for the LMS build. “I'm really excited about that opportunity to partner with them,” Mengel said.
Lever said the Stadium Authority is “extremely good about this, knowing ways to carry out a project to meet budget requirements ... on time, on budget.”
However, while the school board has “reasons for confidence, … there are also a lot of uncertainties,” Lever said, particularly the direction of the national economy and the “response to tariffs.” Other economic pressures, both past and present, create a “wild, wild West” fiscal environment, he said.
The goal is to complete construction of LMS by June 2029 with occupancy in August 2029 for the start of the school year, or FY2030. The total high dollar amount is estimated at between $100 million and $105 million, Mengel said, emphasizing that the estimate is the high end of projections. “We will be working hard to negotiate those costs down,” he said.
Breaking it down by year, he said the FY2027 CIP request for “architectural and engineering design is about $6.8 million, with a local share of $1,432,000. Starting in 2028, the school board will begin asking for larger amounts as construction begins. Future costs are speculative, but Mengel projected estimated going forward. For FY2028, the total is an estimated $41.1 million with the state share at $33 million and the local share $8.1 million.
For FY2029, additional construction funding is estimated at $51.4 million, with the state’s share 435.9 million and the local share $15.5 million. The final construction and transition funding for FY2030 is estimated at about $1.5 million. Altogether the state-county funding split is about 75/25, Lever said.
“One of the things we’re committed to, obviously, will be working with the IAC to make our point that we should receive a higher state share with some of our funding allocations,” Simmons said. “We understand the position the county’s in.”
Breeding said his “major request would be that we keep the design as practical as possible.”
“I’m not asking for a brick rectangle with a flat roof, but … we’re a practical community, and let’s build a practical facility for our students – easily added to and maintained – because I do believe we’re going to experience some population growth,” Breeding said, adding, “Don’t build a Taj Mahal, please.”
State denies Early Head Start funding
Charles Huester, executive director of Maryland Rural Development Corporation (MRDC), discussed how MRDC was shut out of over $3.4 million in funding for the Early Head Start program in Caroline and Cecil counties.
Huester, along with MRDC Deputy Director of Early Childhood Education Dr. Abigail McNinch, explained how a breakdown in communication from the federal Office of Head Start led to the situation that resulted in the denial of requested funding for the Early Head Start program.
Huester, who has headed MRDC for about six months and is based in Greensboro, said MRDC applied for fiscal year 2026 funding for the Early Head Start program on Jan. 5, 2025, and eventually learned from the Maryland Family Network, not the federal Office, that the application had been denied for the two Caroline County classrooms in Greensboro and Federalsburg.
Referring to the Office of Head Start, McNinch said, “We were very communicative with them.”
Huester speculated that if MRDC had continued as sub-recipient with the Maryland Family Network, they might have been funded. But perhaps because MRDC applied as a direct recipient, the funding was denied.
Huester said the contract with MFN was $1.3 million in the past, but the increased request was to fund expansion of the program. “How it was explained by MFN is, they will then reach out to you and say, ‘Hey, let's negotiate.’ So they (could) have reached out and said, ‘Hey, we don't have three. We'll give you two.’ That never happened,” he said. MRDC had to notify parents and employees, still with no word from the federal agency.
Also concerned, U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st) sent a letter dated Sept. 2 to the acting director of the federal Office of Head Start, on behalf of Huester. As a result of the application denial for Early Head Start funds for children ages birth to three, MRDC has “potentially lost $3,408,000 in unfunded grants, resulting in 101 unserved families and 26 MRDC personnel being laid off,” Harris’ letter stated.
In Caroline County, 31 families and about 13 employees have been affected. The funding denial doesn’t impact other MRDC programs, such as Head Start, weatherization, housing and circuit riders.
In the meantime, Huester and McNinch are exploring other possible programs, such as “Patty Centers,” formerly the Family Support Center through the Maryland State Department of Education, “that offer free, educational and health-related services to parents and their children ages birth through three.” Patty Centers are located in 14 Maryland counties, according to the MSDE’s Division of Early Childhood.
Calling the situation “ridiculous,” Porter said the Commissioners would “stay on top of” the issue and “get a response.”
Legislation passed, introduced, revised
The Commissioners passed Bill 2025-009, establishing a Caroline County Compensation Review Commission. The legislation will go into effect Nov. 8, and the new commission will report back to the County Commissioners Dec. 15.
County Attorney Stewart Barroll introduced Bill 2025-010, which would modify the composition of the Committee of Agricultural Reconciliation Committee in Chapter 149 (“Right to Farm”) in the County Code. The bill would give the County Commissioners more flexibility appointing committee members. A second reading and public hearing is set for Tuesday, Oct. 7, with a third reading on Oct. 14.
Also introduced was Bill 2025-011, which would create an article with a new section in the County Code for an Agricultural Land Preservation Fund.
Discussed earlier in the month and peeled away from a solar legislation bill still being hammered out, the purpose of the legislation is to create a fund to collect “Compensatory Preservation Contributions to the County when solar energy generating stations and energy storage devices are developed on agricultural land” deemed prime by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or “farmland of statewide importance” by the state of Maryland.
The money in the proposed fund “may only be used for the purchase of development rights on agricultural land in Caroline County through the purchase of agricultural land preservation easements.”
After some discussion, the Commissioners decided to refine the bill further. The second reading is currently scheduled for Oct. 7, with a third reading on Oct. 14.
Finally, the Commissioners held a second workshop about a proposed solar energy bill with Planning and Codes Director Crystal Dadds, who was later joined by Adam Smith of First State Inspection, who was invited to provide expert information on the National Fire Protection Association’s standard for battery energy system fire suppression, NFPA 855.
The meeting agenda and linked documents, including proposed legislation, as well at the livestreamed meeting in its entirety can be viewed at https://carolinecountymd.new.swagit.com/videos/356311
