New Elementary

Two turns away from Pulaski Highway's car lots and motels sits a flower farm where the Vincent family once grew dahlias the size of dinner plates. Although the property changed hands long ago, at least eight families in the eastern Baltimore County neighborhood trace their roots to the farm and even recall the scent of chrysanthemums that clung to workers there. Now, they say, the family will receive long-deserved recognition when construction begins on a new elementary school named after the farm.

When it comes to the latest round of school redistricting, Howard County's current school board members make the final decision - but it will be up to those elected Nov. 7 to oversee the process of shifting more than 1,000 pupils among various elementary and middle schools next year. Little wonder that the 10 candidates running for school board are following the process so closely, even though this year's school redistricting is limited to fewer than a dozen schools. Almost every candidate attended a recent "attendance area adjustment" presentation to learn about the system's plan to shift elementary and middle school pupils in preparation for a new elementary school in Ellicott City, to open in August.

After examining maps, county history and numerous suggestions, a committee has recommended naming Howard County's new northeastern elementary school Veterans Elementary School. Co-chairs of the committee presented the name to the Board of Education on Thursday and said it was inspired by the fact that the new school is being built next to the Yingling-Ridley VFW Post 7472 in Ellicott City on land that the post sold to the school system. The committee also received feedback that citizens were eager to honor men and women in the armed forces.

Building an elementary school in White Marsh and renovating several middle schools top the Baltimore County system's construction priorities in the coming fiscal year, according to a preliminary budget discussed at a school board work session last night. Board members discussed allocating money for construction and renovation as well as replacing roofs, windows and boilers at several county schools. On Oct.

As school officials and government leaders from around Maryland make their annual trek to Annapolis today to press for school construction money, a key state committee has added dozens of projects to a list of those slated to receive state funding this year. The Interagency Committee on School Construction is recommending that 162 projects receive money from the approximately $281 million that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has included in his proposed capital budget. Before Ehrlich's announcement two weeks ago on school spending, the committee had issued recommendations that state money go to 108 projects.

After eight months of meetings, hundreds of e-mails and about 50 options, the Howard County Board of Education has passed a series of redistricting measures geared toward the opening next year of a new elementary school in Dayton. "This has been an exhaustive process," said Courtney Watson, the school board chairman. "It is the most difficult aspect of being a board member. You are sitting there and the bell will ring every 30 seconds because the e-mails are coming in." Still, Watson said this year's process was easiest since she joined the board in 2003.

After a last-ditch effort to acquire a small piece of land vital to construction of an elementary school in Ellicott City, the Howard County Board of Education will move forward with condemnation proceedings. The school board last week unanimously approved a resolution that would give Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin authority to pursue this process in court. The proceedings could take more than a year. The school system tried in the past two weeks to reach an agreement with J. Chris Pippen, the developer who owns the 1.3 acres on Montgomery Road.

NEW ORLEANS - The 14 refugees from the city school system's McDonald School No. 42 loitered in the morning heat on the crescent of an onramp of Interstate 10 here yesterday, gulped military meals ready to eat, sat on the asphalt and counted themselves lucky. Over the previous week, they had been buffeted by Hurricane Katrina, cut off by 15-foot-deep floodwaters and held hostage, they said, for 2 1/2 days by a loosely affiliated gang of armed looters. After their escape, they sat stranded on an exposed highway overpass for two nights while convoys of relief vehicles roared indifferently past.

Another round of redrawing school attendance areas has begun in Howard County under a revamped redistricting process that school officials hope will create more stability instead of the anxiety associated with this difficult task. On hand for the first time this year is a feasibility study that outlines a plan for the opening of a new elementary school in Dayton next year and a proposal for setting boundary lines in 2007, when a second elementary school is to open in Ellicott City. The study, which looks at future capital needs and redistricting over a 10-year period, was produced by the school system's Office of Geographical Information Systems.

The Baltimore County school board gave the district administration the go-ahead last night to purchase land for an elementary school to accommodate growth in the White Marsh area. The county already owns almost 20 acres on the Vincent Farm Elementary School site, bounded by Ebenezer Road, Vincent Farm Lane and Bird River Road. About 10 of those acres are suitable for construction, according to school system documents. For the site to be viable for a school, parking lot and athletic fields, district officials say they must buy two adjoining sites, now privately owned, which combined are about 22 acres.