CUMBERLAND — If Tom Marsh had his way, there would be a law against consolidating schools in Allegany County.

So he drafted one.

Marsh, who’s been a vocal, sometimes strident, critic of the Allegany County Board of Education for more than two decades, is asking local delegates to introduce a bill to the Maryland General Assembly this winter. Called the “Allegany County Neighborhood Public Schools Act of 2010,” it would mandate that public school buildings for grades K-12 remain in eight specified communities, including areas west and east of Wills Creek in Cumberland, where Allegany and Fort Hill high schools now stand. Other communities specified in the bill are Flintstone, Frostburg, Lonaconing, Oldtown, Mount Savage and Westernport.

If approved by the legislature, the bill would be submitted to a referendum of Allegany County voters in November, said Marsh, who gave a brief presentation to the school board during its work session Wednesday evening as a spokesman for Taxpayers Alliance for Fair & Honest Government.

“School consolidation has repeatedly ripped the hearts out of several of Allegany County’s small communities,” said Marsh, of Westernport, who led opposition to the 1986 closing of Bruce High School in his community. The new law would “provide the opportunity for the communities to gain back their community schools that were so ruthlessly taken away, against their will, by the board of education,” he told the board, reading from his Nov. 9 letter to delegates.

Concerns about consolidation have resurfaced as the county grapples with declining enrollment and dilapidating buildings. Currently, the board and a committee of citizens are considering options for Fort Hill and Allegany high schools, the Center for Career & Technical Education, and Washington and Braddock middle schools. School board members took information about Marsh’s proposal Wednesday, but didn’t comment on it and didn’t allow him to speak much beyond the five-minute allowance for constituents.

On Thursday, Marsh made a similar presentation to the Allegany County Board of Commissioners, but his request for the commissioners’ support for legislation to put any school consolidations to referendum was met with silence. Commissioner Dale Lewis said only that the commissioners would “take it under advisement.”

In other business Wednesday, the school board:

• Heard updates on fundraising efforts for Greenway Avenue and Mountain Ridge stadiums. Greenway Avenue’s fund from the $1 surcharge on ticket sales imposed in 1996 has increased by $40,000 to $203,504.23. Mountain Ridge’s surcharge fund was up about $7,000 to $13,052.60, said Randy Bittinger, director of finance.

Fundraising committees for both stadiums have continued working to raise funds through the Allegany County Public Schools Foundation. As of the end of October, $445,974.33 had been raised for Greenway Avenue Stadium; and $573,057.82 had been raised for Mountain Ridge.

• Heard positive reports from two elementary school principals conducting a pilot program for school-entry security systems. West Side and Westernport schools installed security cameras in April because office staff couldn’t visually monitor who comes and goes. Surveys of staff and parents at each school indicate that most like the new systems.

“At first we had a few bugs to work out,” said John Logsdon, principal of West Side. “Change is hard. But throughout the time that we’ve had the system, we’ve seen great buy-in by our people who use our system, our parents, our staff, even the drivers who come in off the street. As a principal, I’m very happy we have it.”

Westernport’s Principal Gary Stein said the new system helped school officials figure out what happened to a 30-foot light post that was found leaning one morning last week. Video footage showed a tractor-trailer running into the pole, Stein said. “The driver hit the pole, took off, then two or three hours later he comes back in a small car to look at the damages again,” he said. “And everything’s on camera.”

Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kharty@times-news.com.