Published: November 17, 2009 11:06 pm      

School system cancels NorthBay excursion

State funding cuts cited as main reason

CUMBERLAND — Allegany County sixth-graders will pitch tents a little closer to home this spring when they set out on their annual environmental education excursion.

School administrators have canceled plans for a week-long camping trip to NorthBay Adventure Center, a 350-acre outdoor learning center in Cecil County that local students have attended in previous years.

State funding cuts are the main reason, said Karen Bundy, director of secondary education for Allegany County public schools. Allegany youngsters, who signed up on a first-come, first-served basis, have made several trips there since the center opened in 2005.

“The first year we went it didn’t cost us anything to send our kids,” Bundy said, adding that in the past, funds from the Maryland State Department of Education and the Chesapeake Bay Trust covered expenses.

“Then it went to $50 a child. Then last year it was $250 a child. That’s a quantum leap.”

In May, 433 students, staff and parents from Braddock, Washington, Westmar and Mount Savage middle schools attended NorthBay, a $33 million center that is an adolescent’s paradise. Located on the Chesapeake Bay on Elk Neck Peninsula, it has an art studio, bird platforms, a zip-line tower, a weather station, outdoor and indoor climbing walls and live feed aquariums.

Besides cost, this year’s trip was canceled because the May dates administrators wanted to reserve weren’t available, Bundy said. Only January or February dates were available, which aren’t conducive to the sorts of activities NorthBay offers.

Instead, students will participate in a two-day, nonresidential outdoor school experience at Rocky Gap State Park, Bundy said.

Though it’s not as elaborate as NorthBay and doesn’t allow for overnight stays, the Rocky Gap program meets the state’s requirements for environmental learning. And it keeps the playing field level for Allegany County students, many of whose families couldn’t afford the NorthBay trip.

“We don’t want to just do it for the upper echelon of kids,” Bundy said. “We have such a disparity with economic conditions in our school system. It’s kind of unfair to send only those who can afford it.”

Like the rest of the state, Allegany County public schools have faced serious budget cuts as state government struggles to get back in the black. Additional cuts are expected to be announced by the governor today.

Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kharty@times-news.com.