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The county school board is scheduled to vote Thursday night on a construction plan that has drawn passionate testimony from parents, students, and activists.

Superintendent Jerry D. Weast has proposed a six-year, $1.49 billion plan that includes the expansion of nine schools and the construction of two schools in the Clarksburg cluster.

The board must approve the plan before it is sent to County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) to be included in his fiscal 2011 construction plan. Leggett then sends his plan to the County Council, which has final say.

If the plan ultimately is approved, the school system would expand eight elementary schools — Bradley Hills, Darnestown, Georgian Forest, Somerset, Viers Mill, Waters Landing, Westbrook and Wyngate. One high school — Clarksburg — also would be expanded.

Enrollment has increased in the past two years, with much of the growth coming in the elementary schools. The school system has about 2,400 additional students this year, after seeing the schools' population increase by some 1,500 students last year.

In addition to the construction plan, a controversial proposal is on the table to merge Monocacy and Poolesville elementary schools. The move, according to an Oct. 23 memo from Weast, could save the school system $1 million per year.

Construction is an issue throughout the county.

The school system next year is scheduled to plan the modernization of Rock Creek Forest Elementary School. That work would be completed by January 2015, according to school system information.

The Chevy Chase school was designed to hold 372 students but enrolls 501, Amanda Waugh, co-president of the school's PTA, wrote in testimony to the school board. The cafeteria typically is overcrowded, and the school's buses back up traffic almost to East West Highway, she said.

In addition, Waugh wrote, the roof leaks, rooms are either extremely hot or cold, and closets are reconfigured for office space.

"We have waited long enough," Waugh wrote. "Please make sure that the children of Rock Creek Forest get the attention they need."

School board member Laura V. Berthiaume said Tuesday that she is still analyzing Weast's overall construction plan, but is concerned about the plight of Rock Creek because the school is both overcrowded and dilapidated.

The concern, Berthiaume said, is that the school system puts more emphasis on easing overcrowding and not enough on modernizing buildings.

"You've got to ask yourself, how did we get to this state of affairs?" said Berthiaume (Dist. 2) of Rockville. "I think we have a significant part of the population in Third World conditions. Patchwork Band-Aids have been applied to old schools in lieu of new schools being built."

The school system's current construction priorities list modernizations behind health and safety projects and school additions, said Steve Augustino, who serves as co-chair of the Gaithersburg cluster for the Montgomery County Council of PTAs.

For years, parents at Gaithersburg High School have called for a new school to be built. Modernization efforts are expected to be completed by August 2013, according to school system information.

"These modernizations are essentially replacements of entire schools," Augustino wrote to the school board. "They are not optional aspirations; they are critical to ensuring a safe, secure and suitable learning environment for the students affected."

Weast's proposal calls for the replacements of roofs and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at schools throughout the county.

The superintendent proposes that the County Council fund the construction of new schools through bonds.