Since the Carroll County Board of Education’s controversial vote earlier this month to eliminate the overnight component of Outdoor School, the decision has generated questions from school board candidates and the larger community across social media. What hasn't been as widely discussed is that Hashawha is hosting three overnight camps from other organizations this summer.
The Carroll County 4-H Residential Camp, YMCA Camp Hashawha, and a Carroll County Recreation & Parks program are all scheduled to include overnight stays at Hashawha in Westminster.
These are established programs, and there is no suggestion that they are doing anything improper. But their presence at the same facility raises a question the board has not addressed: if the site's conditions were central to ending Outdoor School overnights, how do other organizations operating there overnight factor into that reasoning?
Westminster Wire reached out to all three organizations with questions about their overnight safety protocols. None responded. Carroll County Public Schools also did not respond to questions about the transparency of the board's decision-making process and the rapid timeline for the change, which allowed little room for public feedback.
What the CCPS board cited
In its formal statement released by email June 11, the Board of Education described a Hashawha property it said cannot meet modern safety standards for students in its care. The site, which sits inside a public park, has no perimeter fencing, no alarm systems, no law enforcement assigned overnight, and cell service that the board described as "non-existent or poor at best."
The board also disclosed a specific incident in which an individual who appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance entered the property at night while students were present, accessed a vehicle, and attempted to enter buildings before a staff member intervened. The individual was later found to have an active arrest warrant.
"If this exact supervision model were proposed today for the first time — 6th graders sleeping overnight in cabins supervised primarily by high school students, on unfenced public property, with a single adult overnight — we would never approve it," the board's statement reads.
Attorney Edmund O'Meally of PK Law, who presented to the board at its June 4 meeting, also cited the Maryland Child Victims Act, which eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims, as a source of significant legal exposure for the school system tied to the overnight program.
Other overnight programs at Hashawha this summer
Carroll County 4-H Residential Camp runs two fully overnight weeks at Hashawha each summer under a rental agreement with the county, serving campers ages 8 to 16. Both weeks this summer are full, with a waitlist being managed by the camp director team. The program is operated by the University of Maryland Extension office and holds accreditation from the American Camp Association, which requires a peer review of staff qualifications, training standards, and emergency management procedures.
YMCA Camp Hashawha operates multiple week-long overnight sessions at the property each summer for campers entering grades 3 through 10. The Y Maryland runs the facility itself. All Y associates are CPR and First Aid certified, according to the program's materials. As of publication, spaces are still available.
Bear Branch Nature Center Wilderness Survival Camp, run by Carroll County Recreation & Parks, includes one overnight for campers ages 10 to 12. Participants camp out on the final night following an owl prowl and a campfire. The program is led by Bear Branch staff.
The distinction CCPS draws
In its June 11 statement, the Board of Education addressed a comparison some parents have made between Outdoor School and other school-sponsored overnight activities, but not between Outdoor School and other camps at Hashawha.
"The difference is that our schools have controlled access, security measures, alarm systems, trained staff, and significantly more adult supervision," the CCPS statement reads. "The Outdoor School site does not provide those same protections during overnight hours."
What remains unexplained is how the same site conditions the board cited in ending Outdoor School overnights are being managed by the other organizations sleeping overnight at Hashawha this summer.
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Photo: via WBAL-TV website