The final phase of construction at Westminster’s East Middle School will soon be complete, Superintendent Cynthia McCabe told Carroll County Board of Education members Wednesday.
The new school building opened last fall, but completion of the school’s bus loop, originally slated to be finished last year, has been delayed by an obstructive rock mass.
“After a very wet winter and spring, paving has begun for the front bus loop and parking at East Middle,” McCabe said during the school board meeting. “Asphalt trucks have been steadily rolling into the site the past few days, and it’s been great to watch the final aspects of the project come together.”
Board of Education President Marsha Herbert said she thinks the site looks fantastic.
New curbs and gutters and a paving base were installed along Tuc Road and Longwell Avenue, according to the monthly construction report. Final paving of roads will be completed when the bus loop is paved, after a soil cement sub-base is installed for the loop. Fencing and guard rails will also be erected within several weeks.
“The lower fields behind the new school are complete and seeded with grass,” McCabe said. “The front retaining wall is complete, and curbing and sidewalk has been poured as well.”
Last December, the board approved up to $600,000 in additional funds to address the rock removal. CCPS construction supervisor James Marks said on Wednesday that more than $500,000 of those funds were needed.
Blasting was determined to be the most effective method of rock removal, at a cost of $99 per cubic yard of rock, including drilling for rock discovery and onsite rock burial, which was determined to be cheaper than hauling. The rock removal rate was originally twice as high, Marks said in December, before successful negotiations with the construction company handling the project, Dustin Construction, Inc.
A temporary traffic pattern was in place for the school’s inaugural year. Once completed, the project will increase the number of parking spaces from 70 to around 100, Marks said in September. Parking spots at a nearby county government parking lot were used in the interim.
The school board first approved construction of the new campus on Longwell Avenue in December 2019; the project had a $60 million budget at that time. Costs increased to $65.9 million by the time the new building was complete.
The school system began construction on the East Middle School replacement project in November 2021.
The new building features sculpted wall art from the old building treated with an anti-graffiti coating, a stage between the gymnasium and cafeteria that is split to accommodate an audience on either side, an ADA-compliant elevator, and a B.E.S.T. (Behavioral Educational Support Team) special education suite inside the building to better integrate the program previously housed in a structure just outside the school.
The former school building was 120,400 square feet and was constructed in 1936. It served for 35 years as Westminster High School, then nearly 50 years as a middle school, until it was closed a year ago. Additions were built in 1941, 1950 and 1964, and it was last renovated in 1976. It was replaced by a new three-level 126,000 square-foot building that opened for students in September.
East Middle School has a capacity of around 750 students, including 40 students in the Behavioral Educational Support Team program.
