To the members of the HCPSS Board of Education and the County Executive:
this is a formal public complaint regarding your decision to postpone, yet again, the renovation and expansion of Oakland Mills High School (OMHS).
Your decision is not merely an administrative delay; it is an act of systemic and de facto discrimination that jeopardizes the public health of our students and staff. OMHS is being punished because of its demographics: a community of predominantly low-income and minority families.
For 16 years, vital improvements for OMHS have been requested. Each budget cycle, we are given a date that is then pushed back. How can you expect the community to trust you if you are unable to keep your own promises? An unfulfilled budget promise is a lie to the community.
Students, teachers, and staff are breathing air contaminated by mold and faulty HVAC systems. The building is a health hazard. This environment directly impacts the academic performance and emotional well-being of our children.
I have specific questions that I demand be answered publicly:
1. How could the HCPSS Board of Education transfer state funds from the "Built to Learn" program, which Superintendent Barnes had earmarked for the OMHS renovation, to other projects at the last minute?
2. Why wasn't the Oakland Mills community notified that the 2027 deadline was in jeopardy?
3. How do you justify a delay that now, according to the latest reports, pushes the completion of OMHS back to 2036?
A delay to 2036 means that an entire generation of children will spend their entire school life, from kindergarten through 12th grade, in unsafe buildings, while they watch other schools being built and renovated.
The right to health and the right to equality are human rights. Their budget decisions are violating them.
We demand that HCPSS Board of Education stop treating Oakland Mills as a second-class priority. We demand that HCPSS Board of Education review the capital budget immediately and restore funding for the OMHS renovation.
Do the right thing. Justice cannot wait until 2036.
