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Parents of students at Sligo Creek Elementary School in Silver Spring have successfully lobbied the county Board of Education to consider new enrollment boundaries that would prevent larger class sizes at the school, as the board also considers recommendations from the school system superintendent.

The Montgomery County Board of Education will hold public meetings today and Thursday to discuss the redistricting of several elementary schools in Silver Spring and Takoma Park. The BOE will vote on the new boundaries Nov. 19.

Students living in the City of Takoma Park but attending Sligo Creek elementary would be reassigned to Takoma Park and Piney Branch elementary schools to alleviate overcrowding at Sligo Creek, under recommendations from Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast announced last month.

Under Weast's recommendation, many of the students that would be attending Takoma Park elementary are currently third-graders, said Chris Lage, a parent of two students at Sligo Creek elementary. That would leave just 25 fourth-graders for next year, which is not enough for two classes. Weast's recommendation was made with updated enrollment numbers for this year, but those projections say there would be between 33 and 35 students per grade level, which is enough for two classes.

Sligo Creek is 126 students over its capacity of 526 students this year, according to preliminary statistics from Montgomery County Public Schools. Under Weast's recommendation, enrollment would decrease by more than 100 students. Those students would also attend Piney Branch, a third- through fifth-grade school.

Weast's boundaries would place enrollment at Takoma Park and Piney Branch elementary schools at about 90 percent of capacity, which is 562 and 588 students, respectively.

Oakland Terrace parents

fight overcrowding

Parents at Oakland Terrace Elementary School in Silver Spring are also lobbying the Board of Education for solutions to overcrowding at their school, which is one of the most overcrowded elementary school in the county.

According to statistics from the school's PTA, this year there are 797 students attending Oakland Terrace, up about 50 from last year. The school's capacity is 451 students, according to Montgomery County Public Schools' Capital Improvements Program. The school has 11 kindergarten classes and 10 first-grade classes.

Relief will come in 2012 at the earliest, with the reopening of the former McKenney Hills Elementary School, which hasn't been used as an elementary school for years.

Currently, there are 11 portable classrooms on the Oakland Terrace grounds at 2720 Plyers Mill Road. Three more portable classrooms may be needed in 2011 and the only way to make room would be to raze an additional playground for kindergartners.

The McKenney Hills building is planned to reopen in 2012 for students from Oakland Terrace and Woodlin Elementary School.

When a school hits 92 students over its capacity, which Oakland Terrace reached in 2007, MCPS begins to examine solutions through a feasibility study. School capacity is determined by average class size, with the standard size for regular elementary school classes set at 23 students per teacher.

There are projects at Harmony Hills, Montgomery Knolls, Rock View and Brookhaven elementary schools, all of which require funding before McKenney Hills Elementary can reopen.

Public hearings before the Montgomery County Board of Education regarding the boundary study of Sligo Creek, Takoma Park, Piney Branch and East Silver Spring elementary schools will be held 7 p.m. today and Thursday at the Carver Educational Services Center at 850 Hungerford Drive in Rockville. The hearings will also be broadcasted on the Web at www.montgomery

schoolsmd.org/boe.