By Leonardo Rivas
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The Board of Education on Tuesday shared plans to relieve overcrowded Baltimore County elementary schools with an audience of parents who showed mixed emotions about the scheme.
Studies, statistics, enrollment data and other documents were met with skepticism by parents and other residents representing Pleasant Plains Elementary School and Cromwell Valley Elementary Regional Magnet in Towson, Hampton Elementary School in Lutherville-Timonium and Halstead Academy in Parkville.
“Pleasant Plains needs relief,” Board Chairman Kathleen Causey said. “I went and had lunch at 10:30 a.m. but there was no room in the cafeteria, so I sat with the principal in the hallway. It is a very overcrowded school.”
Board members are pushing what is known as Plan B, described as a short-term relief plan in which some students of Pleasant Plains would be moved to either Halstead Academy or Hampton. The goal is to lower the capacity percentage of the schools. Officials said Pleasant Plains is one of the most overcrowded schools, about 135 students over capacity.
Plan B would move 100 students from Pleasant Plains to Hampton, officials said. Pleasant Plains’ student enrollment would change from 680 to 580, 100 students fewer than before and only 35 students over the limit. Hampton’s student enrollment would increase from 579 to 679, 100 students more but only nine students over the limit. Halstead, which has a near capacity total of 515 students, would not be affected.
Many parents and community members challenged Plan B, describing it as an awful idea based on erroneous data and outdated studies and statistics.
“I’m here to discuss the Pleasant Plains Elementary School capacity boundary study. This study is not adequate,” said Melissa Robola, a parent with several students at the school.
Robola used the example of new housing units under construction in the Pleasant Plains District. She said there are 616 new units and officials only estimate 25 students to enroll from families living in those units. Officials are underestimating the number of children who will live in those units, she said. Within three years, Robola said that Plan B would not work, and the schools will, once again, be over capacity.
Redistricting students and having the children ride buses with no seatbelts are unsafe alternatives, said Robola, noting the students would have to ride on highways to the other side of the county to attend school.
“That’s scary as a parent,” Robola said.
County Councilman Wade Kach asked the board to accommodate the overcrowded schools so students do not have to eat in hallways the way Causey did during her visits.
“The gym and cafeteria are the same size but have added more classrooms,” Kach said.
Kach provided his own twist of Plan B, proposing to send several students to Loch Raven Elementary School, a Towson school that was not in the original plan. Baltimore County has 107 elementary schools.
“Tonight, the committee [has] submitted what I believe is the best possible option to provide short term relief for Pleasant Plains,” said Colleen Baldwin, mother of a Pleasant Plains student.
A boundary committee of principals, staff specialists, and community superintendents has been working on the issue. Members said Plan B is the best they could do in such a short time with limited resources. They acknowledged using data from 2018 to create options to fix the capacity issue in just two months after the group was formed.
Board Chairman Causey said a longer-term plan to relieve the overcrowding in schools has been discussed but has not been completed. Plan B should relieve the current overcrowding now and within the next few years.
The topic will be discussed again at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 26, at the Loch Raven High School auditorium. Plan B will be up for a vote at 6:30 p.m. March 10 at the Board’s Greenwood campus.