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The County Council has pledged to designate a school site somewhere within the White Flint Sector Plan, departing from the Planning Board's decision not to set aside a site.

The question of whether a school would be in the White Flint Sector Plan, which is planning large-scale development around the White Flint Metro Station over the next 30 years, has been a source of controversy as parents outside the sector feared overcrowding of nearby schools. The Planning Board had recommended use of a former school site, Rocking Horse Elementary School, just outside the sector boundaries in Randolph Hills, a proposal that generated fears of redistricting the Walter Johnson Cluster.

At a Town Hall meeting at Tilden Middle School on Nov. 18, the council made clear its intention to find a school site to designate within the plan boundaries and is sorting out the financing and logistical details of doing so.

"There's a firm commitment by everyone on the council that there be a school site reserved in the sector plan," said Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenburg (D-At Large) of North Bethesda.

The school board has endorsed a site for a school near White Flint Park behind the White Flint Mall. However, that site has been opposed in the past by an advisory group that gave feedback to the Planning Board about the Sector Plan because it would mean loss of that park space, which currently serves as a buffer between Garrett Park Estates and the bustle of the White Flint Mall.

The Planning Board suggested the Rocking Horse site as an alternative. That site is used as Montgomery County Public Schools offices, and has nearly 18 acres in close proximity to the sector plan boundaries. The Randolph Hills Community lobbied for the site to be recommended, arguing that Viers Mill Elementary in Silver Spring, where many Randolph Hills children attend school, is badly overcrowded and in need of relief.

Dan Hoffman, vice president of the Randolph Civic Association, said he is optimistic even though the County Council is departing from the Rocking Horse site as the selection for the sector. He said Randolph Hills supports a school site in the Walter Johnson Cluster but would like to see Rocking Horse reopened as well.

"At this point we see a school site within the sector and the future of opening a school at Rocking Horse as kind of parallel activities," said Hoffman, who added the Walter Johnson Cluster may not need the new school for 15 years. "In the short term we're still pushing to have Rocking Horse reopened."

Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac promised his constituents in Randolph Hills that he is aware of their school problems. "Our commitment to them is that we are going to take care of your community too," he said.

Hoffman said "we appreciate the sentiment," but pointed out that ultimately it is MCPS that signs off on a school site.

"It's hard for the council to even make that promise because they don't have any direct influence over school sites or the Board of Education or MCPS," Hoffman said.