Dulaney High School’s (DHS) only kiln broke last school year. Repairs were stalled, dramatically impacting how DHS handles clay classes this year.

DHS clay teacher Christopher Marsico reported a problem with the kiln in November 2022. Shortly after, Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) kiln specialists diagnosed the issue as a wiring issue. However, the kiln specialists were not able to complete the necessary repairs. The problem was forwarded to electricians, who service the whole building. 

“You had to get an electrician to go through…Building Services has to take it,” Marsico said.

DHS’s art department is not able to conduct the needed repairs. Marsico added other issues arose when the situation was referred to the electricians, such as a lack of funding within BCPS. 

The kiln is the only way to cook clay for all DHS art classes. This year, all the clay classes worked on projects using alternative materials instead.

“We’ve been using like paper mache, plaster and over-baked clay, which are things I normally wouldn’t order because [normally] we’d just use regular clay,” Marsico said. 

Marsico expressed his dissatisfaction with how BCPS handled the situation.

“It’s so unfortunate for the students that signed up for the clay class but can’t even use the material they signed up to use,” Marsico said. 

Additionally, DHS clay students were negatively impacted. Sophomore Rachel Bowers commented on how this affects enjoying the class.

“It’s upsetting not being able to make clay sculptures in this class,” Bowers said.

Marsico recently noted the situation is slowly improving. 

“It looks like–the kiln is still not fixed, but it might get repaired. Things have moved forward,” Marsico said. 

Whether clay will return to normal activities next fall is uncertain. Marsico indicated there was no timeline given for the anticipated repairs, but they are expected.

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