Baltimore County officials had a groundbreaking for the new northeast elementary school located at 7649 Gum Spring Road in Rossville on Wednesday morning.
Kevin Jennings is the first principal at the new school after arriving from Joppaview Elementary School. He was joined at the ceremony along with BCPS Superintendent Darryl L. Williams; County Executive John Olszewski, Jr.; Councilmembers Cathy Bevins and David Marks; BCPS Board of Education Vice Chair Julie Henn and Eight District state delegates Harry Bhandari, Joe Boteler and Carl Jackson.
Olszewski said important it is to provide students and educators with safe and supportive learning environments.
“It was a pleasure to join today’s groundbreaking for the new Northeast Area Elementary School. Truly, the construction of this school has been a long time coming, and I am so proud to see construction begin,” said the County Executive.
This new $53.1 million school will have a planned capacity of 735 seats over more than 108,000 square feet in order to address the educational needs of one of Baltimore County’s fastest growing communities. The schools design is similar to Honeygo Elementary School, which was built in 2018. The new school is designed to meet LEED silver standards. The Gum Spring Road school is scheduled to open for the 2022-2023 school year.
Bhandari posted that he is happy that the new school will help with overcrowding in the region.
My huge thanks to Dr. Williams and his team at BCPS for bringing this together, and of course, spotlight on Mr. Kevin Jennings, who served as a wonderful principal at Joppa View Elementary School and will help build our newest school community from the ground up,” Bhandari wrote. “To Councilwoman Cathy Bevins and Councilman David Marks, we are lucky to have you here as strong advocates for our kids and communities!”
Marks agreed with Bhandari that the new school will help free up some seats at other schools.
“It will alleviate overcrowding in southern Perry Hall, White Marsh, Fullerton and other neighborhoods,” Marks said about the new school.
-photo courtesy of Delegate Harry Bhandari-
Boteler added that this was a team effort to get the school built.
“This is a good example of how partnership between State and County government can work to help alleviate some of the overcrowding in our schools,” Boteler said.
Bevins agreed that it takes strong partnership on all levels from the county, state and school system to build a new school.
“It was such a pleasure to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Northeast Area Elementary School on Gum Spring Road earlier today. I look forward to seeing this project progress, and I know that when it opens for the 2022-23 school year it will be in very good hands with Principal Kevin Jennings at the helm,” Bevins added.
“I’d like to thank County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Councilman David Marks, Superintendent Darryl Williams, the Board of Education, and our colleagues at the state level for their hard work on this desperately needed school.