By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Buckingham Elementary School replacement project continues to move forward, as this week, the Worcester County Board of Education approved the schematic design for the new facility. Upon the board’s unanimous yes vote, the plans will be presented to the County Commissioners next month.

Brad Hastings and Allison Shockley of Becker Morgan Group, the Salisbury-based engineering and architectural firm, presented the design plans to the board of education on Tuesday, May 20. The governing body unanimously approved the blueprints.

The next step in moving the BES project forward is a design presentation to the Worcester County Commissioners on June 17. The hope is that following the commissioner’s review of the outline, the schematic design will be forwarded to the state for their evaluation of the documents. If all remains on track, the new facility is expected to break ground in May 2027 and be completed just in time for fall 2029.

The design presentation included site and floor plans, the building massing and a budget review.

Hastings noted that the new building is expected to have a vehicular entrance off West Street and a bus entrance from Main Street, keeping the two types of traffic away from one another, a requirement in school creation. He added that the new BES’s parking is planned for where the current building now sits.

Coming off West Street, the property has open green space that will be used as playing fields. Both sides of that entryway will maintain pedestrian paths, and a playground area is planned for the facility with easy access from the school.

The design presentation also included floor plans. According to Shockley, the improved Buckingham will be a two-story school. The first floor is estimated at 69,387 square feet, and the second floor will likely be 21,364 square feet, for a total of 90,751 square feet between the two stories.

PreK3, preK4, kindergarten, and first grade are planned for the first floor, while second, third, and fourth grades will be located on the second floor.

Shockley said the administrative and health suites will be placed adjacent to the main entrance to guarantee good visibility of all those coming into the facility. Kindergarten will be located close to the preK3 and preK4 classes, which will sit near the main entrance, and a courtyard. Additionally, the plan includes areas for special education offices, a guidance suite, and an ELL (English Language Learner) suite.

The second floor will include individual teacher resource rooms, shared spaces, and second, third, and fourth-grade classrooms.

The property will include a Judy Center for Early Childhood Learning, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) spaces, a media center, a gym, music classrooms, and a community health clinic.

Shockley added that the primary and bus entrances have secure vestibules to ensure the safety of students, faculty, and staff during school hours.

“The main entry leads to the reception area, so you would have that secure checkpoint before entering the school,” Shockley said.

Furthermore, the main entryway will include a covering under which students, school personnel, and visitors will enter.

The Becker Morgan representatives added that during the schematic design phase, the team considered the school in the context of Berlin’s historic charm. Hastings said they are weighing the use of brick and natural wood elements, but these will be studied further. To guarantee durable school construction, the engineers will prioritize long-term materials requiring minimal maintenance.

All project advocates aim to avoid constant upkeep of a brand-new structure by using supplies and building elements that have a long lifespan.

“As I said in the feasibility discussion, please make sure that all the materials are maintenance-free to the extent possible so we don’t have to replace them in five years,” Board of Education member Jon Andes said. “We need to be able to replace them in 50 years because that’s probably the length of time Buckingham will be in place until someone in the future has a feasibility study done again to replace Buckingham Elementary School.”

The Becker Morgan team outlined the estimated cost of the project. Construction of the new 90,837-square-foot facility will cost around $52 million. Demolition of the current school will cost $550,000, and site development will cost around $8 million, with a $3$ construction contingency, for a total of around $62 million.

The budget also factors in additional project costs, such as relocating the portable classrooms, equipment, furniture, technology, playground costs, and fees for architectural engineering services and construction management. Thus, the total cost of creating a new BES comes to a little over $71 million.

That price tag is aligned with a memorandum of understanding between the local government, the board of education, and the state. Per the agreement, Maryland will provide around $25 million to replace BES, while approximately $46 million will come from Worcester County funding.

After the board of education unanimously approved the schematic design, the next step in the replacement project is to present the same outline to the Worcester County Commissioners in June and, hopefully, after that, send it to the state for review.

In addition to passing the BES plans, the board green-lit the contracting of Becker Morgan Group to handle the Berlin Intermediate School feasibility study.

The old BIS will also be renovated or rebuilt in conjunction with the BES project. The feasibility study will determine whether improvements can be made to the current Berlin facility or if an entirely new structure will need to be constructed. Per the board’s approval, Becker Morgan will handle the preliminary evaluation.