Grades added to Beltsville schools

Although reconfiguration plan approved, implementation will take another year

The other plan would have kept school formats the same, but would have redrawn boundaries to send some students to the new Vansville school, scheduled to open in August.

Work to transform MLK’s pods into walled classrooms will likely begin in early 2009 and be completed before the start of the 2009 school year, said schools spokeswoman Tanzi West.

Scheduling for upgrades at Beltsville Elementary is being developed, but major work will likely occur well before the first day of classes in 2009, she said.

The boundary changes outlined in Option Z will take effect in August. The plan alters boundaries for middle schools, including Buck Lodge, Greenbelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Martin Luther King middle schools. It also alters boundaries for nine elementary schools: Bond Mill, Calverton, Deerfield Run, Greenbelt, James H. Harrison, Laurel, Montpelier, Oaklands and Scotchtown Hills.

School board member Heather Illiff (Dist. 2) asked for the amendment. Martin Luther King was originally slated to convert pods during the 2009-2010 school year in the proposed county budget.

Martin Luther King PTA president Kristen Ruiz said at the April 7 public hearing that the PTA supported Option Z if the school’s pods were upgraded. She said she was pleased with the outcome, which will upgrade the pods.

‘‘None of the plans are perfect and I think that they did the best they could,” she said. ‘‘I wish the process had been quicker.”

Bond Mill parent Mark Brackett said although he was relieved to find out the plan was delayed so that his fifth-grade daughter will be at Bond Mill for another year, he was still disappointed with the decision.

‘‘Clearly at the public hearings, the majority clearly said they were not in favor of this pre-K through eight configuration,” he said. ‘‘It seems like the public hearings are a joke or a waste of time because they went ahead and voted for what they wanted to do anyway.”

At the April 7 public hearing, 50 percent of people who filled out a survey said they were in favor of Option B, while 29 percent favored Option Z.

During the board’s April 10 work session, schools Superintendent John Deasy said that the survey was not a scientific one and did not necessarily reflect the sentiments of the entire community.

Beltsville Elementary parent Jeremy Roberts said he was pleased with the outcome, which he said would give time to properly implement the pilot program. He said he likes the pre-K through eighth-grade model.

‘‘I think there are a lot of positive things that happen in [Beltsville Elementary] and extending that for another two years would just continue that,” he said, referring to the academic caliber, teaching staff and community.

Roberts, who is also the PTA president, said that fellow parents were not properly informed of the pre-K through eighth model.

‘‘I’m glad there’s a delay. I hope [the school system] can use that time to do a better job of communicating,” he said.

E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.