Thursday, November 29, 2012
Arcola and Forest Knolls are among 12 schools included in a study slated to begin in January.
Montgomery County Public Schools will attempt to explore ways to address overcrowding problems in a new study of 12 elementary schools in the Downcounty Consortium. Arcola Elementary School and Forest Knolls Elementary School in Wheaton are two of four schools with the "most severe" space shortages, according to a report from MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr to the Board of Education. Arcola introduced portable classrooms for the 2012-2013 school year, angering the neighborhood's residents and the parents of students when the portables arrived to the school's front lawn over the summer. Starr's memo shows the gap between capacity and projected enrollment at Arcola: Arcola Elementary School opened in August 2007 with a capacity of 434 …
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Parents and residents say that Montgomery County Public Schools should have done more to communicate to the community that the portables were coming, and should have given them more of a say in determining the portables' location.
The day after a meeting between community members and Montgomery County Public Schools about the school system's plans to install three new portable classrooms in front of Arcola Elementary School, four portables showed up in the school's front parking lot. Parents and residents adamantly expressed their opposition to the portables at the Monday night meeting, but MCPS representatives insisted that the portables are necessary to accommodate overcrowding at Arcola Elementary School, and that it is too late to explore alternatives before the start of school in August. Follow Wheaton Patch on Facebook and Twitter.
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Arcola Elementary School
1820 Franwall Ave, Wheaton, MD
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
More than 60 people expressed their frustration to representatives from Montgomery County Public Schools at a community meeting Monday night.
Bernie Greene first discovered the strange chalk lines on the grass outside Arcola Elementary School on June 15. When he asked the janitor about them, he learned that portable classrooms were being placed in front of Arcola. It took Greene two weeks to marshal the rest of the neighborhood and determine what exactly was going on. After a long string of emails, Montgomery County Public Schools agreed to set up a community meeting. More than 60 parents and residents came to Arcola Elementary School Monday night to talk about the three portables coming to the Wheaton school’s front lawn in August, an issue that has become a lightning rod for the community’s anger over poor communication from MCPS and its fearful concern that overcrowding will …
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Arcola Elementary School
1820 Franwall Ave, Wheaton, MD
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Monday, July 16, 2012
Community members will meet with the school's principal Monday night to discuss the portables.
The planned installation of portable classrooms in front of Arcola Elementary School has struck a nerve in the Sligo Headwaters community. Concerned community members say the portables are indicative of the larger problem of elementary school overcrowding and the broken communication lines between Montgomery County Public Schools and the community. Principal Eric Wilson and representatives from MCPS are scheduled to meet with community members at 7 p.m. Monday in the school's all-purpose room to discuss the portables. See photos of the preparation for portables at Arcola Elementary School.
Avocado
10:07 am on Thursday, November 29, 2012
How could their predictions of the number of students be so wrong?? When were the pre-building predictions made? I think there needs to be an investigation of that to make sure those who made the predictions were doing their job and not just guessing randomly! It would have been cheaper to build the schools the right size to begin with! more ›