New Elementary

School Superintendent Carol S. Parham has approved the most radical idea in a countywide redistricting committee's proposal, building small additions onto overcrowded schools.But she rejected nine other elements that are key to the plan.Dr. Parham is to formally present her recommendations to the school board at its 10 a.m. meeting tomorrow at school headquarters on Riva Road.The eight-member board has until January to decide what, if any, version of a redistricting plan will be made available for public hearings.

After a one-year hiatus, funding and building schools in fast-growing areas of the county have regained top priority billing, Carroll school planners told the Board of Education yesterday. Projects that add classroom space "are again the cornerstone" of the facilities master plan, facilities director Raymond Prokop said. "Last year, we focused on [renovations] because they had been ... neglected as we focused on new projects. But the plan before you turns the focus back on capacity." This year's preliminary plan includes a new elementary school to open in August 2005 in Mount Airy, a new middle school to open August 2007 in South Carroll and a new school for the county's alternative education programs to open in August 2003.

Though most say bigger is not better for school size, the Howard County Board of Education was left with little choice when it voted unanimously to raise the maximum capacity of new elementary schools from 596 seats to 788. "With the increase in population density and the county's zoning, the concept of small, intimate schools is not possible," said Sandra H. French, school board chairwoman. The decision has raised questions from community members who wonder what it will mean for their children's educations.

Parents, teachers and community members packed the Howard County school board chambers last night, confronting the school system about crowding and the need to rush construction of planned elementary and middle schools.The forum was called by the school board to give the public the opportunity to comment on the proposed capital budget for 2001 and capital improvement plan for 2002 to 2006. For fiscal year 2001, Superintendent Michael E. Hickey has requested $51 million in capital funds for construction, renovations and equipment.

Catonsville residents -- by a margin of more than 2-1 -- spoke out last night against a new elementary school planned near the present Catonsville Middle School.Although they conceded the need for more elementary seats, the schools' opponents held firm to their plan to renovate the former middle school on Bloomsbury Avenue and return the present middle school to an elementary.More than 150 people attended the long-sought public hearing before the school board and interim Superintendent Anthony G. Marchione.

Some Abingdon Elementary School students could be attending other, less-crowded elementary schools in that area next school year if a plan for redistricting suggested by the superintendent moves forward.Abingdon Elementary, 3 years old, is more than 200 students over capacity, and seven portable classrooms sit on soccer fields behind the school to house the overflow.If redistricting is approved, students probably will attend William Paca/Old Post Road, Edgewood, Emmorton or William S. James elementary schools, said Donald R. Morrison, spokesman for the school system.

With plans to build Baltimore County's first new high school since the 1970s speedily progressing and a new elementary school under construction, residents of the New Town development in Owings Mills are pushing for a middle school - and they just might get it. "There is a communitywide feeling that there's a need for a middle school," said Del. Robert A. Zirkin, an Owings Mills Democrat who lives in the New Town area and supports plans to build a...

Howard County Executive James N. Robey would increase spending on construction projects by 50 percent in the fiscal year beginning in July but would delay an eagerly anticipated new high school and one new elementary school in a $148.5 million capital budget proposed yesterday. With no surplus cash and only $4.4 million in state school construction money promised for next year, Robey said he cannot keep up with the county's needs without help, and he is not willing to borrow $100 million to fill the gap. Three years ago, cash from surplus and state funding amounted to nearly $50 million.

Baltimore County school officials yesterday proposed transferring almost 600 elementary and middle school students over the next two years to relieve crowding, in the system's first widespread redistricting in several years.The proposed boundary line changes, which would affect eight schools, came as school officials formally released new long-term plans to handle student enrollment growth and the system's aging buildings.The plans -- which come after last week's announcement of new enrollment forecasts through 2007 -- include a new, 592-seat elementary school in Woodlawn and a larger-than-expected new elementary in Owings Mills.

New Howard County school enrollment charts set for County Council introduction tomorrow will clear the way for 675 planned new homes delayed by growth-control laws - most in the western county, where a new elementary school is due to open in 2007. County officials expect to open the new school before those homes are all built. But the annual adjustment again points up the delicate balance between development and its ramifications in this fast-growing, prosperous suburb. Builders complain that the regulations ignore crowding caused by sales of existing homes, while parents fret that opening areas to growth will produce more classroom crowding.