As recommended, only Bells Mill and Seven Locks elementary schools are slated for overhauls in the proposed six-year budget for 2005-2010. The county Board of Education will vote on the proposed construction budget Nov. 20, and then send it to the County Council for final approval.

Bells Mill is expected to undergo modernization and get a gym in 2009. During that construction, students will be bussed to Grosvenor Elementary School in Bethesda, which is a holding facility.

Seven Locks is scheduled to receive a 10-room addition in 2006, a gym in 2007, and modernization in 2010.

Seven Locks students will remain on site for the back-to-back addition and gym building projects due to a Montgomery County Public Schools policy to only bus children away from construction when it entails modernization.

When the school begins an estimated 18 months of modernization in 2010, students will be bussed to North Lake Elementary School, also a holding facility, on Bauer Drive in Rockville.

Modernization dates for beyond the budget have been proposed for some Churchill cluster schools, but Wayside and Potomac elementary schools, can only speculate when there will be relief from limited space and portable classrooms.

Wayside has four portable classrooms taking up a portion of its playground and Potomac has nine snaking out the back, making for long trips to the bathrooms located in the main elementary school building.

"Once again we didn't make the list. I want to find out how they allocate," said Julie Dobson, PTA president at Potomac.

Designed to hold 488 children, Potomac today has an enrollment of 596 students. The excess population is housed in its portable classrooms, but nothing has been done to address Potomac's circa-1927 core space, which includes a small cafeteria and bathroom facilities not equipped to handle so many children.

"They tell me I'm to get a new tile floor in the hallways, paint and heating and air conditioning refurbishment; It's under 'other maintenance,'" said Dobson. "But it's been quite some time since any capital was plugged into Potomac Elementary School: 1976. We think we deserve it after all these years."

At schools where the budget does call for construction, there are questions and concerns about how the work will be carried out.

While most of the Churchill cluster schools are waiting years for attention, Seven Locks will undergo a building blitz that ­ if the budget is approved ­ will enable the 253-student school to take in approximately 200 more children reassigned from Potomac Elementary School once the addition is complete.

Janis Sartucci, co-coordinator of the Churchill cluster, said Montgomery County Public Schools administrators believe the barrage of attention at Seven Locks will result in numerous positives for both the cluster and the school system as a whole.

"The administration wants all schools to be at least 500 kids [so] Potomac Elementary is getting its addition at Seven Locks," Sartucci said.

"What you have is a mess. I can't imagine this is the cheapest way to do it. It is the most disruptive," Sartucci said. "I don't think anyone would want three years of construction in a four-year period. [Potomac] kids will move to Seven Locks with construction in progress. Then they'll go to a holding school, then back to Seven Locks, and then onto Cabin John [Middle School], which is also overcrowded."

Joseph Lavorgna, director of planning and capital programming for Montgomery County Public Schools did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Sartucci said that although the plan means Seven Locks will have the desired number of students and enjoy a new building and gym by 2011, it reflects a lack of care for the youngsters who will attend the school in the interim.

"The administration will say, 'So what?' If that's the way we want to treat our children, then you have a fine plan. I want something more creative," Sartucci said.

Chris Rigaux, PTA president at Seven Locks, said his concern about plans for the school is rooted primarily in safety.

Located at the busy intersection of Seven Locks Road and Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda, arrival and dismissal at the school is frequently complicated by traffic accidents.

In recent years, the school has attempted to make entering and exiting its grounds less hazardous. As of last year, drivers leaving Seven Locks are only allowed to turn right onto Seven Locks Road, Rigaux said. Still, traffic continues to be so much of a concern that no children are allowed to walk to Seven Locks, Rigaux said.

"If it's too dangerous for a 250-person school, won't it be again for 450?" Rigaux said. "It's going to be a lot of traffic."