PRINCE FREDERICK — Calvert High School’s dark parking lot and stadium entrance are in line for all-new LED lighting next summer after the Board of Education on Nov. 5 approved a $1,392,708 contract and accepted a $200,000 state school safety grant to help pay for it.
Both actions still need the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners’ approval. The budget amendment recognizing the grant must be submitted to the commissioners under state law, and staff told the board the lighting contract is likewise contingent on county sign-off.
“If you have ever been to evening events at Calvert High, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” the finance presenter told the board in describing the lot, the stadium entrance and the pedestrian paths between them. The project replaces existing fixtures with LEDs, adds coverage to walkways and stadium access points the school had flagged as a concern, and includes remote monitoring and control.
The money
The $200,000 comes from the Maryland Interagency Commission on School Construction’s School Safety Grant Program, which state law funds at $10 million a year for physical security improvements at public schools. It is non-competitive, allocated among the 24 school systems and administered through the Maryland Center for School Safety. Each expenditure must be checked against the IAC’s eligible-project list and approved by the commission before the grant pays.
The board’s amendment raises the FY2027 School Construction Fund budget by $200,000, from $24,006,581 to $24,206,581. Staff stressed the grant is new revenue, not money shifted from another capital project. The remainder of the $1.39 million contract is to come from the school construction fund.
The contract itself runs through the Keystone Purchasing Network, a cooperative purchasing program that lets the school system use pricing another public agency has already bid, to Musco Sports Lighting LLC. New poles will be installed with conduit inside, so cameras can be mounted later without digging. “We could someday put cameras or whatnot on them,” a board member said after confirming the capacity.
The grant is the second the system’s construction department has reported in as many meetings; board members noted a separate award presented Oct. 1, and this one “came in literally right after.” One member urged staff to “keep them coming” as a way to chip away at the maintenance backlog. The board unanimously approved both the amendment and the contract.
Timeline
Because the lighting requires in-ground work, staff plan to start after seniors graduate in May, when parking frees up and students can be shifted around the Calvert High campus. The board approved a design for replacing the lot’s pavement in October; staff intend to sequence the lighting first and pave at the end of June and in July, with everything finished before the fall 2027 semester. Everything, from poles to fixtures, would be new.
St. Leonard playground
The board also voted 5-0 to buy and install a new playground and site improvements at St. Leonard Elementary School from GameTime through a cooperative contract. Sheldon Taylor, supervisor of finance and procurement, said the existing playground has reached the end of its useful life; the project adds safety surfacing, fencing, site amenities and accessible paths, following a playground safety committee’s finding that several schools lacked accessible sidewalks to their play areas.
Funding is from the approved capital improvement program, not school fundraising. Installation is set for summer 2027, but the order is being placed now to beat a roughly 4% price increase on Jan. 1; the vendor will store the materials on site until then.
The county commissioners’ action on the budget amendment is the next step. The school system closed FY2026 using $6.7 million less in reserves than planned, and its capital program for FY2027 is led by the new Northern Middle School, which opened to staff this month.
