Overlea High School was built to hold about 1,100 students. Today it has roughly 1,600 packed into its halls, with some kids attending classes in trailers set up behind the building. Now a group of Republican candidates running for Baltimore County office say they have a fix: reopen the shuttered Golden Ring Middle School as a technology-focused magnet campus.
A Vacant Building Meets an Overcrowded School
The proposal, detailed by WMAR 2 News Baltimore, calls for renovating the old Golden Ring Middle School building into a magnet school for tech students. The building opened in 1930 and was closed in 2023 after the school board determined it was in poor condition, according to the station's reporting. Glen Geelhaar, the Republican nominee for delegate, described the vacant structure as an opportunity to address the overcrowding at Overlea High School.
Under the plan, the new magnet program wouldn't just serve Overlea students. Students from Perry Hall High School and Parkville High School would also be able to apply, per the same report. Tim Fazenbaker, the Republican nominee for county council, framed the idea around workforce needs, saying the region needs “a pipeline of students that are going to be ready to hit the workforce in just the next couple of years.”
Candidates Point to Parent Support and Jobs Pipeline
Yahu Blackwell, the Republican nominee for the state senate, said parents across District 8 support the magnet school concept and want trades education to return to the community. The station's report also noted that candidates pointed to the Anduril announcement at Sparrows Point as evidence that the magnet school is needed, though details of that connection weren't elaborated on in the coverage.
The idea of repurposing Golden Ring isn't coming only from candidates on the campaign trail. Public commenters have pressed the Baltimore County Board of Education to convert the vacant site into a magnet or trade school, framing it as an alternative to redrawing attendance boundaries, according to a report from CitizenPortal.ai. Separately, Blackwell and Geelhaar have talked up vocational and trades education more broadly as part of a workforce-development push, a stance the East County Times says “resonates deeply with the needs of the public,” per East County Times.
Overcrowding Is More Than 140 Percent Over Capacity
The scale of the overcrowding at Overlea has been documented beyond the trailers. WMAR 2 News has reported that the school is at roughly 145 percent of capacity, or about 45 percent over capacity, a crunch that has pushed students into those temporary classrooms behind the main building. That reporting also noted that any eventual boundary changes would aim to spread students across Overlea, Loch Raven and Parkville high schools rather than concentrate them at one site.
That redistricting effort is already underway through official channels, separate from the candidates' magnet school pitch. Baltimore County Public Schools launched a comprehensive boundary study this fall aimed at reducing overcrowding at Overlea High School, according to Nottingham MD. The Overlea High School Capacity Relief Boundary Study Committee is tasked with evaluating enrollment patterns and proposing new boundary options for Overlea, Loch Raven and Parkville high schools, per the outlet's more recent coverage.
Public Meetings Already Underway
The committee held its first meeting Wednesday night, running from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Nottingham Middle School in Rosedale, Nottingham MD reported. All of the committee's meetings are open to the public for observation and are livestreamed online, the outlet noted, giving families multiple ways to weigh in as the process moves forward.
If the committee's recommendations are approved by the Baltimore County Board of Education, any resulting boundary changes would take effect at the start of the 2027-2028 school year, according to Nottingham MD's reporting. Whether that process intersects with the Republican candidates' magnet school proposal, or whether Golden Ring factors into the board's eventual decision, remains to be seen as both tracks continue in parallel.
