Work on Crestwood Middle School addition to start in summer

Jillian Atelsek, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·2 min read

Nov. 30—Crews are expected to start work this summer on an $11 million addition that will boost capacity at Crestwood Middle School in Frederick.

The school's current capacity is 850 students, and it's 83% full right now, officials said.

But the district hopes that adding more seats to Crestwood, then redrawing the attendance boundaries for middle schools around the city of Frederick, will help address overcrowding at nearby Monocacy Middle School.

Crestwood is on Foxcroft Drive in Ballenger Creek. The building was originally constructed in 2004. The district categorized it as being in good condition in its 2022 Educational Facilities Master Plan.

The planned addition will boost capacity by more than 300 students, Frederick County Public Schools said. The project is set to include 13 new classrooms, two science labs, administrative offices and more.

The school's common spaces — including the gym, cafeteria and gymnasium — were designed with a future addition in mind and won't require any changes.

The building is set to grow by about 22,000 square feet, according to project plans presented at a Frederick County Board of Education work session last week.

Once construction is complete — which officials hope will be by June 2024 — the district plans to redistrict some Monocacy Middle students into the Crestwood attendance area.

Monocacy Middle, which FCPS listed as being in poor condition on its 2022 EFMP, was operating at 99% capacity as of Sept. 30.

Design for the Crestwood Middle addition began in July and will continue through next month.

The district plans to award a construction contract in March and start construction in June.

The project is being entirely funded by the county, rather than the state, which often contributes to school construction projects.

The budget for the addition is listed in the Educational Facilities Master Plan as $11.8 million.

Earlier this year, County Executive Jan Gardner said the entire project would be funded by housing developers — who sometimes must pay to support school construction to accommodate population increases in a given area — rather than with taxpayer dollars.

Crestwood Middle students come from Lincoln, Ballenger Creek, Orchard Grove or Tuscarora elementary schools, and go on to attend either Frederick or Tuscarora high schools.

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