School Board Discusses County's First Performing and Visual Arts High School

The school board approved specifications on Tuesday that will chart a course for the county's first performing and visual arts (PVA) high school in Annapolis.

Construction for a 16,825-square-foot addition to will provide new studios for art, dance and recording. The work is being funded by a $5 million state and federal grant. When completed, it will provide additional space for the PVA high school magnet program, which could .

These classes have been taught for years, but they’ve never before had specialized equipment and dedicated rooms quite like these, said Alex Szachnowicz, chief operating officer of the school system.

Later in the meeting, the board approved a $324,000 engineering contract for the work. An estimated $4,500,000 will be needed for construction set to be completed by June 2013.

Currently, there are two PVA middle school magnets at Wiley H. Bates Middle in Annapolis and Brooklyn Park Middle in Glen Burnie. Students in eighth and ninth grades should apply by Dec. 2 for acceptance to the proposed PVA high school program for the 2012-2013 school year.

There will be an information session on the proposed PVA high school program on Oct. 11 at , Room CALT 100, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. (See PDF attached to this article for additional details.)

Though it received board approval Tuesday, the proposal for the construction work was still awaiting approval from the Annapolis Board of Public Works, which meets Wednesday.

New Citizen Advisory Committee

The school board also appointed members of a newly revised Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) on Tuesday. The 29 members will keep the board apprised of issues at area schools and provide input on how local education can be improved.

The 71 applications for CAC membership were whittled down by a screening committee appointed by the school board. It’s that interaction that school board member Amalie Brandenburg took offense to when she voted against the appointments. Her voice was the lone dissenting vote.

“This isn’t the direction I’d like to see the CAC going,” Brandenburg said. “I believe it should be a grassroots effort. It should come from within the community, not appointed by the board.”

Brandenburg’s desire for a grassroots-type of organization were reflected by the former chairman of the CAC, , when she spoke to the board over the summer. At that time, the board was weighing their options in how they would overhaul the CAC.

“The leadership and members of the CAC continue to believe that this is not the way to create the strongest citizens advisory group,” Conti said.

The new CAC will hold its first meeting Oct. 13 at 9 a.m. at the Parham Building in Annapolis, located at 2644 Riva Rd. Meetings are open to the public.