CAMBRIDGE – Dorchester County Public Schools, jointly with the Board of Education, has decided to temporarily pause its review of facilities, which began in March. This means that the three community meetings, previously announced for the week of May 8, will not take place. The plan is to continue the review during August.

“The reasons we embarked on this review, putting the district on sound financial footing for the implementation of the Maryland Blueprint for Education, have not gone away,” Superintendent Dave Bromwell said in a prepared statement. “However, as the review progressed, it became clear that important decisions would need to be made, with possibilities including new school construction, consolidation, renovation or school closure. We wanted to ensure we had a full School Board who had time to digest all the information and consider all alternatives.”

At present, the District 5 School Board seat is vacant due to the recent resignation of Laura Layton, but it is expected that the County Council will announce her successor by June.

Mr. Bromwell said, “Concerns were made in several public sessions that transparency is a necessity to the community.” He went on to say that it is the intention of Dorchester County Public Schools to, within the next few weeks, post information from all open meetings and proposals, along with their financial implications, on the DCPS website for public view.

The community will be encouraged to make comments and suggestions, the statement said, with this public input being compiled to assist the superintendent and Board of Education members with the next steps when the project resumes.