Elementary School

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.

Bowing to community pressure, the Baltimore County school board has overruled its staff in setting the boundaries for Lutherville Elementary School, which will reopen in September.Fifty-six students from the Hunt Ridge development, just south of Timonium Road, will stay at Pinewood Elementary School instead of being transferred to the renovated Lutherville school in the 1700 block of York Road.Dozens of parents unhappy with the proposed transfer lobbied the school board heavily to reverse the decision.

A community-built playground will not go on the grounds of Edgewater Elementary School, a victory for the organization behind the project and the school community that objected to the location.The school board sided with its staff yesterday in denying permission to put the project at the school.The South County Jaycees had a tentative agreement with the Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks to build the wooden playground at Edgewater Park, next to the school. Opponents wanted the $60,000 structure on school grounds and available to the public.

Vandals left their mark on Patuxent Valley Middle School during the holiday weekend, covering the building with blue and yellow spray paint.The graffiti -- including obscene remarks, references to marijuana and racial slurs -- was discovered at the Jessup school about 3:30 p.m. Christmas Eve, police said.More than two dozen markings were found on some windows and most of the exterior brick walls.The vandals included a holiday message in their graffiti, writing: "Deck the school with lots of spray paint, fa la la la la la la."

The Howard County Board of Appeals voted last night to approve a proposal for a Jewish elementary school in Columbia's Sebring neighborhood despite the protests of the local civic association and a Planning Board member who lives next door.In a 3-1 vote, with one member absent, the board approved the zoning exception sought by the Lubavitch Center for Jewish Education but placed 13 conditions on its approval.Visible from U.S. 29 at Broken Land Parkway, the center's sign in the shape of a menorah has become something of a county landmark.

Somewhere in the Saudi Arabian desert, Air Force Sgt. John Davis is living in a tent with six other men. The students at Grange Elementary School in Dundalk want him to know that the community where he grew up has not forgotten him.That's why the reply he sent to the students in response to letters they had written to him and his fellow airmen is prominently displayed in the Grange school hallway."

Every morning and afternoon, Patty Baker puts her 2-year-old toddler in a stroller and walks her other three children almost a mile to Emmorton Elementary School.It's a routine they will continue during hot Indian summer days and rain squalls, and in snow and ice.Mrs. Baker doesn't feel comfortable letting her children, who are 6, 7 and 10, go the distance by themselves. They are not safe, she said, because of a lack of sidewalks in her Valley View neighborhood, increased traffic in the area, wooded areas, and curves and hills.

The solution to crowding is construction of another Abingdon elementary school -- not playing musical chairs with children attending other area elementaries, parents said last night at a Harford County hearing on school redistricting."

It's hard to believe that Christmas 1990 is upon us. Riding through the neighborhoods the other day, we noticed that many people have already begun to set up outdoor decorations.Keep informed of your community organizations' activities for the holidays right here!*Belle Grove Elementary School News: Although Christmas is right around the corner, the Spring Bazaar Committee is hard at work planning for the 1991 event. There will be lots of fun and games for all ages, including a karate demonstration.

The school board is talking about it. Parents are talking about it. Even the County Council is talking about it.They are discussing the number of packed classrooms in the Harford County school system.According to recent enrollment figures, 21 of 31 county elementary schools have at least one -- and some as many as 15 -- classrooms above capacity."We're trying to build a solid [educational] foundation in the early years. It's difficult with 28 and 29 children in a classroom," school board member George D. Lisby said recently.