Camp Curtin Middle School sign
Educators expressed concerns about an ongoing plan to consolidate Harrisburg middle school students Tuesday night.
Numerous teachers complained of increased behavioral issues and large classroom sizes at Camp Curtin (grades 6 to 8) at a special Harrisburg school board meeting. The district is three years into a plan to consolidate most of its middle school students onto the campus.
While under state receivership in 2023, the district began phasing Rowland Academy, an office building-turned-school located in Allison Hill, out of operation, sending what would have been Rowland students to Camp Curtin, located in Uptown.
According to the Department of Education, Camp Curtin enrolled 815 students for the 2025-2026 school year.
Over the last three years, Rowland has stopped accepting lower grade levels. Its last class of eighth graders graduate to high school at the end of the week. Rowland, according to the Department of Education, had 155 students this year.
Richard Bender, a teacher who supervises in-school suspension and works with children to reflect on poor behavior, said that since his room opened two-and-a-half months ago, he has seen 526 visitors.
“Can you imagine, if my room had been open the entire school year, the number of students—the traffic that I would have had?” Bender said.
The top behaviors students were sent for included class disruption, skipping, physical aggression, fighting, and defiance and disrespect, he said.
Chantal Maddox, teacher at Camp Curtin
Chantal Maddox, a teacher at Camp Curtin, said, in presentations to fifth grade students, they often expressed fear of Camp Curtin based on what they’d heard from older kids.
“Every single child said the same thing, ‘It’s scary over there.’ ‘They fight over there.’ ‘It’s dangerous over there,’” said Maddox. “I had to smile, and I had to say ‘It’s OK, we’re going to ensure that you’re safe.’”
Board Vice President Autumn Anderson clarified that the board was dealing with two interdependent, but related topics Tuesday: developing a plan to fix issues that have arisen at Camp Curtin and deciding whether to close Rowland, which would have no allocated course catalog, students, staff or budget money next year, if open.
“To move forward with doing anything towards Rowland for next school year, we would have to staff that school completely,” said Superintendent Benjamin Henry.
Harrisburg School Board
The meeting was expressly held to hear members of the community speak on the consolidation and closure plans. With the district out of receivership as of last year, board members will vote on June 30 whether to close the Rowland Academy building.
District administrators reminded the public Wednesday that Rowland was originally recommended to be phased out of operation because a facility study estimated that it needed $12 to $14 million of building improvements.
A recent assessment of the building, said Chief Operations Officer John Reedy, clocked closer to $25 million for needed HVAC, windows, paint and generator work.
Meanwhile, the district has put more than $11 million into improving Camp Curtin’s building in the last several years. In anticipation of it becoming the district’s flagship middle school, the 1952 building has undergone HVAC work, gymnasium, auditorium, kitchen and bathroom upgrades. It is also set to undergo a partial roof restoration and convert an enrollment center into several more classrooms this summer.
Superintendent Benjamin Henry
Reedy said that Camp Curtin’s total building capacity is 1,400 but that it would only aim for an 80% capacity of 1,120 students, which would allow the district to have around 25 students per class.
However, teacher Jayme Prokop told the board that, this year, there were 31 students in her homeroom and that she knew of eighth grade classrooms with 36 students in it.
Several Camp Curtin staff members expressed concern that the district was following consolidation plans without checking in with the staff or making decisions without fully understanding the city’s neighborhood dynamics.
Board member Danielle Robinson likewise wondered if bringing children from two sections of the city is unfair to teachers.
“The kids are at war with each other right now. What sense does it make to put all of them in one school?” Robinson said.
Board member Danielle Robinson
Board member Doug Thompson-Leader expressed hope that Camp Curtin’s new principal, Ryan Jones (hired last month after serving at Marshall Math and Science Academy), might be able to establish an environment that helps discourage bad behavior.
Henry said Jones is currently reviewing Camp Curtin’s course catalog. More information on Camp Curtin will be provided at a June 23 board meeting.
In the meantime, Henry said that he took notes on the community’s concerns.
“I’m taking everything down, jotting it down, so we can address it,” he said.
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