Last night, the school board reviewed several options laid out in a recent "site assessment," which was designed to evaluate "development opportunities" for six elementary schools that serve the Towson area. The two additional schools are Cromwell Valley Elementary, a regional magnet school on Providence Road, and Ridge Ruxton, a school for special-education students on Charles Street - both of which draw students from beyond Towson.
If the county executive supports the board's recommendation, a more thorough feasibility study would be needed before construction begins.
The site assessment laid out several options, ranking them by "degree of difficulty/comparative cost," and including advantages and disadvantages of each. But the report makes no recommendation.
The report's overall finding is that "it appears possible to increase capacity at each site through reasonably-sized additions and renovations."
"It also appears possible to create an additional school on the Ridge Ruxton campus, independent of the existing building," the report states.
Design Collective, the firm that conducted the site assessment, was instructed not to consider additions to Ridge Ruxton. Instead, the firm was told to explore only the possibility of construction of a separate building on the nearly 17-acre property.
The idea of building an addition at Ridge Ruxton for regular-education students has long been supported by the county executive. But that proposal has drawn sharp criticism, especially from Ridge Ruxton parents - two of whom have filed federal complaints and are considering a lawsuit. They said they believe that their children, who are "medically fragile," will have their educational rights compromised if they are forced to attend school with regular students.
The site assessment spells out three options for building at the Ridge Ruxton site, including constructing a 21/2-story building on the northwest corner of the property to accommodate 400 to 500 students. This option would not affect the Ridge Ruxton's current students, the report states.
Another option involves constructing a smaller one-story school on the property for up to 150 students and moving the current Ridge Ruxton children to that building. Under this option, school officials would then be able to use the larger, 400-student-capacity Ridge Ruxton for regular students.
gina.davis@baltsun.com
