Seven Locks Elementary School will be renovated by 2011 with up to eight new classrooms, according to a compromise plan approved Wednesday by the Montgomery County Council.
The plan also will ensure that overcrowded Bells Mill Elementary School, which is nearby, is rebuilt by 2009 to accommodate more than 600 students. All schools in the Winston Churchill cluster would then be redistricted to relieve overcrowding at Potomac Elementary School and Bells Mill.
Council Member Howard Denis, R-District 1, abandoned his push to rebuild Seven Locks on an advanced schedule on its existing site, and the Board of Education gave up its controversial proposal to rebuild the school on nearby Kendale Road.
“This war is over,” Denis said. “We are judged by our ability to resolve disputes.”
Schools Superintendent Jerry Weast said the compromise would not put any other parts of the county at a disadvantage or delay any other school renovations. “There is some beauty to it.”
Seven Locks, built in 1964 to teach 275 children, now holds fewer than 250 students and does not have a gym.
The replacement project raised controversy as the School Board considered several options, and PTA members accused the board of ignoring parent and community objections.
Harlivleen Gill, PTA president, said the plan looks good, “if the School Board and the superintendent carry it out. We can fully support it if we have the trust.”
