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Months after William B. Gibbs Jr. Elementary School opened its doors to more than 600 students, the new school will hold a dedication ceremony.

The dedication ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday in the schools gymnasium, at 12615 Royal Crown Drive in Germantown, said Kate Harrison, spokeswoman for Montgomery County Public Schools. Harrison said the school's PTA and staff are hosting the milestone celebration.

"This is our 200th school," she said. "Other schools in the system are being modernized, but this is our latest school building."

Gibbs was built to relieve overcrowding in the Clarksburg cluster. The school board unanimously approved in November a six-year, $1.49 billion construction plan to build one more elementary school and a middle school in the Clarksburg cluster.

School board President Patricia B. O'Neil and School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast will speak at the dedication, Harrison said.

William B. Gibbs Jr. was a county teacher who fought for black educators to have the same pay as their white counterparts.

In 1936, Gibbs asked the school board to adopt a salary schedule without regard to race. After the board denied the request, Gibbs filed a lawsuit against then-Superintendent Edwin W. Broome to get equal pay for black teachers.

After the school board's rebuttal was denied by Circuit Court judges, Broome negotiated an out-of-court settlement that resulted in the county's black teachers getting a pay raise the following year. By 1938, black and white teachers were on the same salary scale.

Some of Gibbs' former students and colleagues will attend to share their memories of him with his namesake school community, according to school Principal Kimberly Bosnic.

Others in attendance will include school board member Judith R. Docca (Dist. 1) of Montgomery Village, who supported naming the school for Gibbs, former Washington, D.C. schools superintendent Paul Vance and state Delegate Brian Feldman (Dist. 15), Bosnic said.

For more information about the dedication, call the school at 301-353-0800.