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A new school could be built in the Germantown area to help relieve overcrowding at Great Seneca Creek and Spark M. Matsunaga elementary schools.
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendant Jerry D. Weast recommended last month that the school system conduct a capacity study to look into building a new elementary school in the Northwest cluster to accommodate students from Great Seneca Creek and Matsunaga or rebuild Germantown Elementary School with a capacity of 740 students to accommodate children from Matsunaga and building an addition at Great Seneca Creek.
If the Board of Education approves the capacity study, any additions or new schools would be included in a future budget.
PTA representatives at Germantown and Matsunaga said parents are still deciding how they feel about the recommendation. The PTA president from Great Seneca Creek did not return calls for comment.
"I don't think our community is aware of it yet," Matsunaga PTA President Holly Zook said. "I'm not sure I have an opinion on it yet. Our school functions great as a large school, but new schools are good too."
Matsunaga Principal Judy Brubaker and Germantown Principal Amy Bryant said that regardless of what decision is made, the schools will continue to provide a quality education for their students.
"We've always been a large building but for us that's old news, we've been that way for a long time," said Brubaker, who said she knows most students by name. "...To say it's a thousand kids, it's a madhouse, that's not how it works. We work well as a large school."
Great Seneca Creek and Matsunaga are expected to exceed capacity by four or more classrooms in the next six years, according to Weast's recommended fiscal 2011 capital budget and 2011-16 Capital Improvements Program.
"We're soliciting feedback from parents to present options to go to the cluster coordinator," Germantown Elementary PTA President Kimmi Photinakis said, adding that some parents are concerned about their children going to a larger school. "So far the feedback has been against [rebuilding Germantown Elementary], and one of the reasons is this is a historic school. We're celebrating our 75th anniversary this year."
Matsunaga, built in 2001, has capacity for 660 students and 950 are enrolled, according to MCPS's Web site. Great Seneca Creek, built in 2006, has capacity for 649 students and 741 are enrolled. Germantown Elementary, built in 1935 and renovated in 1978, has capacity for 361 students and 292 are enrolled.
Matsunaga is the largest elementary school in the county and the sixth largest in the state, according to enrollment data on the Maryland State Department of Education's Web site. The largest elementary school in the state is Easton Elementary in Talbot County with 1,121 students.
Weast also recommends classroom additions that would be completed in August 2013 are recommended at Waters Landing Elementary, which is expected to exceed capacity by four or more classrooms in the next six years, and at Darnestown Elementary.