Elementary School

The Baltimore County school system is looking at The Ruxton Center, a special education school on North Charles Street, as another solution to its space problems.A plan is circulating to return the center to its former elementary school status -- perhaps a magnet -- in September 1996 and to move the special education program. That might be to Ruxton's other half, nearby Ridge School on Joppa Road, if it can accommodate the 70 students at Ruxton. No changes will be made for the 1995-96 school year.

Elmer Wolfe Elementary School will have a spring fling from 10 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. Saturday at the school, 115-119 N. Main St., Union Bridge.The event will start with a Maryland Day program. Students in third through fifth grades will read poems and perform skits, and the school chorus and instrumental band will provide music.School officials will make a video of the Maryland Day program to send to the governor. County Commissioners W. Benjamin Brown and Donald I. Dell, school board members Ann Ballard and Carolyn Scott, and Assistant Superintendent Gary Dunkleberger also are expected to attend.

A few years from now, Gabrielle Ellerbee will be old enough to walk to New Town Elementary School, Baltimore County's latest school construction project.Yesterday, however, the 6-week-old slept under the shade of her denim stroller, oblivious to politicians and developers attending a groundbreaking at the school site on New Town Boulevard in Owings Mills New Town."We just bought a house here in November and we wanted a good school for our children," said Cindy Ellerbee, 32, Gabrielle's mother.

The Harford school system has put plans for a new elementary school in Riverside on the fast track and wants to have the building built in record time.In the past it has taken at least 14 months to build an elementary school but school officials, including county school Superintendent Ray R. Keech, have vowed to build, furnish and open the 59,000-square-foot school in time for September 1993.Construction of the 600-pupil school, at Church Creek Road and Riverside Parkway in Belcamp, was delayed a few months ago pending a third test for chemical contaminants at the site.

A long-standing problem about what to do with the old Cockeysville Elementary School has been solved with plans by a private group to turn it into a $9.4 million senior center and apartment complex for the elderly.The school, in the 10500 block of York Road, was built in 1926 and closed in June 1981.Baltimore County officials have been trying to sell the building or find a use for it for years.County Executive Roger B. Hayden announced last week that the school had been sold for $1 to Cockeysville Elementary School Limited Partnership.

SPRING IS practically upon us, in spite of the change of weather, and that means activities that welcome the season at northwest schools, churches and fire halls.Volunteers at Taneytown Elementary School have been preparing for the second annual Family Fun Fair, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the school on Kings Drive.Children can participate in games and crafts, food will be served throughout the day, and the sale of items ranging from used bicycles and skateboards to new safety helmets will mean bargains for parents and benefits for the school.

Students at Prospect Mill Elementary probably don't even know what the state Interagency Committee for School Construction does.But the IAC staff has taken a step that should improve the learning environment at the school within a few years.The IAC staff has recommended the approval of $3.4 million for construction of one elementary school in Harford County and approval ofthe planning of a second school.The recommended new school wouldbe a 600-student building located on Route 543; the school the IAC staff recommended that planning start on would be located in the Belcamp-Riverside area.

Problems with mold and gnats at Maree Garnett Farring Elementary School are being addressed, and an environmental study will be conducted there, said Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, the city's health commissioner. Parents who kept their children out of the school in the Brooklyn section of the city last week because they said the mold had given the pupils headaches and caused fatigue welcomed the move. "We've recommended an environmental study of the school within the next 10 days," Beilenson said.

CERTAIN BIRTHDAYS are recognized as milestones. A 40th birthday is one, and students, staff and administration at Freedom Elementary School are kicking off a yearlong celebration of their school's anniversary.The school was dedicated during the third week of October 1955 and the PTA anniversary planning committee has scheduled events to commemorate the school's opening.Yesterday, students received a slice of birthday cake from one of several large sheet cakes baked for the occasion. The children enjoyed the school-shaped cake created by Teresa Burdinski.

Anne Arundel County's largest elementary school houses 116 pupils more than it was built to hold and exceeds what the county projected for this school year by a full classroom. The Greater Crofton Council - which spearheaded a campaign for a new Crofton library - now wants a new school to relieve the crowding at Crofton Elementary."[The school is] crying for help," said Torrey Jacobsen, vice president of the council, whose daughter will start at Crofton Elementary in the fall. The county's long-term budget contains nothing for a new elementary school in Crofton.