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Oxon Hill Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Jamea Hunter, 26, said the overnight trip she took in 1996 as a fifth-grader to the William S. Schmidt Outdoor Education Center inspired her career choice.

Watching her students roam the center's grounds Feb. 16, Hunter said she is "enraged" about a proposal to close Schmidt — a Brandywine facility owned and operated by the Prince George's County public schools system — as part of countywide school budget cuts.

"When the children come to school, they're being constantly pressured with standardized testing," she said. "Schmidt is that time to step out of the classroom and make sense of the world around them."

The fiscal 2012 budget proposed by Superintendant William R. Hite Jr. includes cuts totaling $155 million. Closing the 450-acre Schmidt center, which employs eight full-time employees, would save an estimated $687,000 annually, according to Hite's proposal.

The county Board of Education is expected to vote on the budget Feb. 24. Board members will consider the recommended cuts at a budget work session scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday in the Sasscer Administration Building in Upper Marlboro. The work session is open to the public.

The Schmidt center opened in 1971 and serves about 9,000 students each year, according to environmental education program specialist Alan Hoffman. All fifth-grade public school classes are invited for a free, overnight trip to what is commonly referred to as "Camp Schmidt," and the center also hosts outdoor programs for other student groups.

Hunter is among a growing group of teachers, parents, environmentalists and public school system alumni who have mobilized in recent weeks to keep the center open by writing letters and speaking at public hearings.

Bowie resident Rachael Dickey set up a Facebook group called "Save Camp Schmidt" that had more than 80 members as of Friday.

Hoffman, who has worked at the center for 11 years, said he is grateful for the show of support, but has struggled about how to react. He is upset the center could close, but also feels solidarity with educators in other programs that could be saved by closing Schmidt.

"We're torn about getting up and screaming too loud because we know we want the libraries ... we want the small classrooms," he said. "How do you pick and choose?"

School board Vice Chairwoman Donna Hathaway Beck (Dist. 9), whose south county district includes Brandywine, said she is opposed to closing the center and is brainstorming cost-cutting alternatives to present during Saturday's work session.

"A lot of our students are living in circumstances where they're not going to go camping, and they're not going to have the experience of learning hands-on about the environment and nature," she said, noting that her children went to Camp Schmidt when they were in the fifth grade. "It's just got to be saved."

Hathaway Beck said she has received about 50 letters and e-mails from parents, teachers, alumni and other individuals and groups opposed to closing the center.

Oxon Hill Elementary fifth-grader Aimy Hernandez, 10, of Oxon Hill said Feb. 16 that Camp Schmidt was her first time camping. After a day of participating in trust-building exercises and observing insects as part of a program on stream ecology, among other activities, Aimy and her classmates were preparing for a campfire that evening.

"It's been really great. My parents work very late, so I don't get to go outside very much," she said. A self-described "book worm," Aimy has read about bugs and other environmental topics, but said that "to come out here, it's different than what you imagine."

ztillman@gazette.net