Construction Of New Severna Park High School Nears Completion

August 22 marks the first day of school for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, but for the freshmen who step through the doors of Severna Park High School on that Monday morning, the date might be a little bit more significant.

That’s because this year’s first day of school will be the last first day at the old Severna Park High. Construction on the new SPHS is nearing completion and is on schedule to conclude in December, making fall 2016 the final semester in a building where generations of students have matriculated over the course of the past 60 years.

“It’s always interesting when you’re a part of history, and I think that’s what we are here,” said Principal Patrick Bathras. “I think the students and faculty appreciate that we’re part of history here in this old building, and we’re going to be a part of history when we move into the new building.”

According to Bathras, the construction of the new school has been free of any major hindrance since the beginning, and all signs point to it continuing that way until construction finishes in the late fall.

The difficult part, he explained, will likely be the transition from one building to another. “I think the most stressful part of all this is going to be this move,” he said. “To move a comprehensive high school of 1,800 students and 150 staff is a huge undertaking. We have a lot of equipment and a lot of technology that has to go from this school to the new school.”

The months of August through early December will proceed as normal for the students, teachers and administrators in the current school. After winter break, classes will resume in the new building. Such a plan means that over the course of a few days during the break, all the furniture and equipment from the old building will need to be boxed up and moved across campus to the new school, where teachers will have to set up their classes and be ready to go when students return.

“Then I have to train the staff in the new building, in the facility itself,” Bathras said. “Here’s where everything’s located, these are the emergency plans, all of those things to get the faculty acquainted with the building … It’s going to be quite the undertaking.”

Despite the undeniable stress of moving everything from one 350,000-square-foot building and setting it up in another, the benefits are well worth the effort. Bathras has taken regular tours of the new school and is thrilled to see how it is coming along. “I think when [other people] see it, they’ll be blown about the size, the space, the feel of the building,” he said. “It’s really going to enhance this awesome, academic, great student culture that we have here at the school.”

Much of the exterior structure is completed, and now crews have turned their attention to the interior. According to Erik Schuster, project manager for AACPS, the building is split into six sections. “The north section is pretty much complete, which means you walk into a classroom and it pretty much looks like a classroom except for the furniture. The floors are done, it’s painted, the marker boards are up, the casework is up,” he detailed. “But then there’s the east section, the west section, the south section, the gym section, and the auditorium and music section.”

Shuster expressed confidence that the project will continue on its schedule, noting that his crew has completed all the rough-in work, which would normally be when issues might arise. “Everybody has been in every place of the building doing a rough-in, and that’s typically when you have a problem,” he said, giving as an example, “‘These pipes won’t fit under these beams.’ But we’re past that. We’re at the dash to the finish line now … It’s been a relatively smooth project.”

But one big problem that has come with the new school has been the disturbance the construction caused for residential neighborhoods nearby, particularly those living right up alongside the school property line.

“If you [live on my street], it hasn’t been a benefit; if you live farther away, you have a nice new school,” said Linda Curry, who serves as chairperson of the construction committee for the Severna Forest Homeowners Association.

Curry, who, in her words, “got tired of the house shaking and went around and talked to the neighbors,” has served as a liaison between AACPS and her neighbors. “There are some that have been impacted more than others,” Curry said of people in her neighborhood.

The three major provisions Severna Forest residents asked were that construction would not begin before 7:00am, that a privacy fence would be erected and that trees would be replanted in the buffer zone, because, as Curry put it, “Having a three-story school in your backyard is not the best view.”

According to Schuster, the new school had to be built where it was if the current school was to remain intact and in operation. “It’s close up to the side of the property because that’s where it could fit,” he said.

This fall, an 8-foot fence will be erected on the property line to give nearby residents privacy and security. The 25-foot buffer between the school and the fence will then be planted with trees, and although they won’t be big when planted, Schuster said, “in 10 or 15 years, they’ll grow up and there will be more buffer than there is now.”

Curry also said she appreciates the monthly emails she receives from Schuster to communicate what’s happening with the construction. “It doesn’t change our situation – we still have noise, dust, all that comes with a construction zone – but having them communicate with us and include us in what’s going on, it makes it easier to deal with it,” she said. “You know what’s coming and you know when it’s going to end.”

Once the new school is completed, the fence installed, the trees planted, the furniture moved and the students and teachers settled in, demolition of the old building will begin, making room for the new athletic fields and parking lots.

But residents shouldn’t expect to see the old building imploded or taken down with a wrecking ball. Bathras indicated that many of the materials within the old school are recyclable and will be salvaged for other AACPS facilities. Once the school is taken apart from the inside, crews will begin taking apart the exterior of the building.

Then it will be another long road of construction. “The anticipation date of the completion of new fields and new parking lots is early April 2018,” Bathras said. “If all goes well, the class of 2018 will have their spring sports on campus here.”

The interior of the under-construction school is still closed to everyone except a select few, but Bathras is eager to celebrate the grand opening with a ribbon cutting and a tour once late fall rolls around. Community members will be invited to tour the new building to see the halls where Severna Park’s educational legacy will continue. “This is going to be so different and new and modern and much more appropriately matched for the students we have in the community in terms of its academic excellence, so I’m looking forward to it,” Bathras said. “I think when the public and parents and students see it, they’ll see the price tag on it is well worth it.”