PTA Still Pushing For Expansion Of Wood Acres Elementary

A feasibility study to determine whether additional space can be added on to recently wrapped up, and if members of the school's Parent Teacher Association get their wish, the overcrowded school could see an addition.

Expanding the school would mean another round of major construction at Wood Acres in the last 10 years. The PTA says it’s needed, while some nearby residents fear the mess that will come along with it.

Does need to be expanded? Currently, both Wood Acres and nearby are assessing their needs to handle the student population. Eventually, county officials will decide whether Wood Acres should expand, or whether Bannockburn should expand, or whether students will continue to have to use portable classrooms. There are five portables in use at Wood Acres, even though the school building was last expanded in 2002. The school is built to handle about 550 students, and according to school officials, the student population at Wood Acres has been floating around the 730 mark the last couple of years.

The PTA has made its opinions known. “Every space is crunched,” said Wood Acres PTA President Jane Snyder. “Teachers and staff development people are using spaces that are not designed even as offices, but as storage,” she said. “They’re just crunched in every aspect of the instructional day.”

There are now three design options to go along with the capacity study at Wood Acres. The more favored option calls for an addition to be built against an existing retaining wall in the back of the property. That retaining wall helps protect a grassy knoll belonging to the Woodacres Park. The addition would house enough space for about eight classrooms and other staff support space. A new space for music instruction is also included in some of the options. The favored design option, Option 1, also allows for some open space between the addition and the existing school building, creating a courtyard effect. Initial designs also call for the addition to be projected more toward private residences adjacent to the school property, which doesn’t sit particularly well with some home owners.

Lise Vita, who lives adjacent to Wood Acres, says she remembers the last time the school expanded nine years ago. “It was a mess. We used to not be able to see the school because of all of the trees. Suddenly, I look out my front windows and there’s a school,” she said.

Vita said she is concerned for the park land, and recalled the last round o construction. The big trucks did not clean up after themselves at the end of the day. We ended up with broken windshields and flat tires.”

She also questioned the need for an addition. “They’re not building that many houses. It’s not that it’s a neighborhood that is always going to have children,” said Vita. The demographics of the area don’t exactly fit traditional molds. The fact remains, however, that the school district in which Wood Acres sits is one of the highest performing and top rated in the country.

It’s not as if Montgomery County is going to plow ahead with a project to expand Wood Acres Elementary School anytime soon. It's still early in the planning process. In the meantime, students will continue to rely on those portable classrooms, and some of the residents will continue to worry about the possibility of more disruption in the years to come. Jim Lystad, a long time area resident, attended the final meeting of the feasibility study group last week. “There are bound to be issues like that,” he said. “Progress sometimes requires occasional dirty work and you live through it and you get a better product for the future.”

The PTA planning group hopes to advocate for an addition before the Board of Education this fall.  All three design options for a potential addition will soon be posted on the Wood Acres PTA website.