At an emergency meeting of the Seven Locks PTA last week, some parents worried that the size of the new school, to be built on the county's nearby Kendale Road site, could have a negative impact on the quality of education.

"If I had my choice whether to send my child to a school with 350 [students] and the school was a little outdated versus a brand new 740-person school, there's no way I would choose the 740-person school," said Bea Fuller, who has a child entering kindergarten at Seven Locks next year and is a former high school teacher. "There's just no way I would do it."

Fuller, who has been a high school teacher for 20 years, teaching in schools with student populations from 80 to 1,200 students, said size matters when it comes to relationships of parents and students to teachers and administration.

"[Seven Locks Principal Rebecca T.] Gordon knew my name the second time I came into the school," Fuller said. "She met me the first time, and a week later, she knew who I was, she knew who my children were. I don't want to give that up."

Seven Locks Elementary's enrollment is 263 students with a capacity of 294. The proposed replacement school will have a capacity of 550 to 600 students. The increased capacity will help alleviate overcrowding in other schools like Potomac Elementary. The new school will also have a core capacity that could accommodate up to 740 students in the future. Building for a core capacity of 740 makes it easier and less expensive for the school to add additional classrooms later if needed.

On Friday, the County Council approved the Board of Education's request to change its previous plans for Seven Locks, which involved building an addition onto the existing school and bringing it up to modern design standards. The amended plan will save the county about $3 million and has the added benefit of not displacing Seven Locks students during the construction. The new school is tentatively scheduled to open in September 2007, about three years earlier than the previous plan.

Kendale resident Doug White is also worried about the school's size and potential impact on his neighborhood. White feels the size of the lot -- about 10 acres -- is not enough to accommodate the large school and provide enough parking for school events.

"We know if you build it they will come," White said, "and since they won't have adequate parking on the site, they'll be spilling into our neighborhood."

According to the Board of Education's planning policy, about 12 acres is the usual size for an elementary school, although smaller or larger sites may be necessary depending on the circumstances. Middle school site requires about 20 acres and a high school requires 30 acres.

White, who is treasurer of the Kendale Neighborhood Coalition of about 50 families who live in the area, said most of his neighbors prefer having the school on the land instead of the a new housing development, and he hopes the school is closer to the projected 500-student capacity.

Last week, Montgomery Superintendent Jerry D. Weast told the County Council's Education Committee that the new plan was largely based on community input. The Board of Education made the switch after receiving public comments on the county's plan to open the Kendale site for affordable housing.

"We're not opposed to having a neighborhood sized school in our neighborhood," White said. "We think it would be a great asset...We're totally opposed to a mega-sized regional elementary school. What an oxymoron."

Seven Locks PTA President Chris Rigaux said the PTA is against using either the Kendale site or the Seven Locks land for housing because the parents believe both sites will ultimately be needed for schools.

"We've never accepted the argument that they have to surplus the land to build a new school," Rigaux said. He personally lamented the loss of the existing Seven Locks Elementary school last week.

"It's always a sad day when a local elementary school closes," Rigaux said. "And ours is now slated to be closed in three years."

The good news, Rigaux added, is that the replacement will be built a mile away on Kendale. "We're going to have nice modern facility," Rigaux said. "It's a plus for the community and it's a plus for the children."

Rigaux said he was also reassured by comments from the County Council and Board of Education President Sharon Cox (At large) of Germantown that the PTA would have a voice during the design phase of the project later this year.