Aging School Getting $288M Facelift In Baltimore County

TOWSON, MD — Towson High School recently broke ground on a renovation and addition that will bring the 76-year-old school into the 21st century.

The $288 million project will improve the historic portions of the school, which opened in 1949. It will also add a new, five-story classroom addition.

Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Myriam Rogers kicked off the build with a Thursday ceremony alongside elected officials.

"Watching the discussions and deliberations over the years, I've been especially proud of the community and how much it cares about its schools and the students here," Rogers said, according to WBAL-TV, adding that "A new and more focused emphasis on academic achievement, civic pride and student and community excitement. It's that promise we celebrate today."

The construction, slated for completion in 2030, will increase the school's capacity from 1,260 seats to 1,739. The square footage will rise from 205,313 to 343,568.

"This community has for years rallied around our schools in big ways and small to ensure that the students and staff walking through the doors of Towson High School have the same teaching and learning opportunities as their peers across the county," Towson High Principal Kimberly Culbertson said, according to WMAR.

The addition will have outdoor learning spaces and courtyards. There will also be instructional space for classrooms, special education services, career and technical education programs and the school's law and public policy magnet program.

"Being an already award-winning school, it’s just going to make us better and greater when we finally get the full renovation done," said Kerry Ford Morancy, co-president of the school's Parent Teacher Student Association, according to The Baltimore Sun.

The Sun said Morancy added that "They’ve done an amazing job of … protecting the students currently from the construction. They’re not even aware that the construction is happening. It’s not interrupting education."

Kim Beard, the other PTSA co-president, also lauded the efforts.

"It's a long time coming," Beard said, according to WMAR. "The school has done an amazing job raising academic excellence. And they've done that through really difficult times, really difficult working and learning conditions."

Restoration of playing fields and athletic amenities is scheduled to wrap up by August 2031.

WBAL reported that Dulaney and Lansdowne high schools are also getting upgrades.

"We know there has been decades of disinvestment and underinvestment in our schools, our parks and recs facilities and our libraries," U.S. Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-District 2) said, according to WBAL. "So, we made a commitment, we engaged the community, we engaged parents and the county council and general assembly to find a way possible."