Back to drawing board for new school

Parents reject boundary proposals for elementary school in Germantown’s Milestone neighborhood

Parents who are part of the advisory committee, which includes representatives of the three elementary schools — Clarksburg, Cedar Grove and Little Bennett — that will be affected, think the school system failed in meeting their suggestions.

Chris McDermott, the PTA president of Little Bennett, told school officials at the meeting that the five options presented would fracture the community, increase travel time and cause traffic problems.

‘‘No option meets even more than half of the criteria,” she said. ‘‘That is a failing grade. We are asking for another set of options.”

Clarksburg elementary No. 8 is expected to open in August 2009. The school will sit on 10 acres of land on Royal Crown Drive in Germantown’s Milestone community. More than 740 students from Germantown, Clarksburg and Damascus will attend the school, which will cost $22 million to build, school officials have reported.

Bruce Crispell, the director of long-range planning for Montgomery County Public Schools, said he heard the parents’ concerns about transportation issues and splitting up some of the developments, meaning that students from the same community could attend different schools.

‘‘I thought it was a good meeting,” Crispell said. ‘‘The community members did a good job of expressing the pros and cons of the options.”

Under the first boundary option, Cedar Grove Elementary students living in Milestone, western Greenridge Estates, south of Father Hurley Boulevard, and east of Route 27 south of Clarksburg Village Phase II would be assigned to the new school.

Clarksburg Elementary students in Hurley Ridge, Tapestry, Greenridge Estates and Summerfield Crossing would also be assigned to the new school.

Little Bennett Elementary students in Park Ridge, Clarksburg Village, Arora Hills phases I and II and part of Clarksburg Village Phase II would then go to Cedar Grove.

The second option is similar to the first except houses north of Burnt Hill Road up to the county line and east of Little Bennett Regional Park would go to Cedar Grove, as would students living in Fountain View.

Under the third option, the new school’s students would live in the Highlands of Clarksburg, Timber Creek Estates, Clarksbrook Estates, part of Clarksburg Village Phase II and Arora Hills phases I and II. Students living in southern Milestone, south of Father Hurley Boulevard, Greenridge Estates and Cabin Branch would go to Cedar Grove Elementary.

The fourth option is also similar to the first option, except part of Clarksburg Village Phase II would go to the new school and western Greenridge Estates and Cabin Branch would go to Cedar Grove Elementary.

The fifth option would send students living in Cabin Branch, Eastside, Meadows at Hurley Ridge and houses south of West Old Baltimore Road west of Interstate 270 to the new school. Students living in Cabin Branch would go to Cedar Grove Elementary.

Clarksburg Elementary School advisory committee members said that parents from their school community prefer the first two options. They also want to make sure all of the students living in Hurley Ridge go to the same school, even though none of the five options keeps the development intact.

Cedar Grove representatives said none of the options is great, but the first two options are the best. However, they said the first option causes too much of a shift in the racial demographics of the schools and the second option does not put enough students in Cedar Grove.

‘‘I’m looking forward to the next round of options,” Donna Pfeiffer, the parent co-coordinator of the Clarksburg Cluster, said after Thursday’s meeting. ‘‘That sums it up.”

The parents in the Little Bennett community said they are concerned with each option. They do not think the first option is acceptable because of bus safety issues and a lack of racial balance in the schools. They are disappointed with the second option, saying it does not account for projected growth, is not sensitive to keeping the rural community together and would cause traffic problems.

The third option causes concerns for Little Bennett parents because it creates two islands, does not keep all of the schools within their capacities, and fractures the school community.

They disapprove of the fourth option, they said, because it also creates islands, traffic concerns and overpopulates the new school. Little Bennett parents said the fifth option is the worst because it doubles the travel distance for some parents, creates an island and does not minimize split articulation.

‘‘It is good input for us to develop a second round, which is the whole purpose of tonight,” Crispell said after the meeting. ‘‘I think we have got some direction in terms of that. Hopefully, we can find a few things we might have missed.”

The county school system will present its second round of boundary options on Monday.

The boundary study will be submitted to the school system in June. The school board will establish boundaries for Clarksburg elementary No. 8 in March 2009.