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Seven hundred students attending five Upper Marlboro-area elementary schools are expected to move to the new Barack Obama Elementary School when it opens next fall, Prince George's County Public Schools officials announced to parents at a recent boundary meeting.

During the Dec. 3 meeting held at Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School in Upper Marlboro, school officials also introduced Pearl Harmon, the former principal of Berkshire Elementary School in District Heights, as the new school's principal. Berkshire Elementary closed in the spring as part of the countywide school consolidation plan.

While many parents said they were excited to send their children to the state-of-the-art facility, others requested they be left out of the new boundaries, arguing it would unfairly increase the amount of time it takes their children to get to school.

Daryl Bullock, who lives in the Tivoli community in Upper Marlboro, told officials that transferring his 5-year-old son — who is now in kindergarten at Perrywood Elementary School — to the new school would nearly quadruple his travel time in the morning.

"I'm sure this is going to be a lovely school, but we're looking at eight miles and 15 minutes for our commute," Bullock told Harmon and other officials. Perrywood Elementary, he added, sits about two miles from his house.

The Board of Education expects to finalize boundaries for Barack Obama Elementary by January, according to Johndel Jones-Brown, director of pupil accounting and boundaries. The school is set to open in time for the 2010-2011 school year.

Jones-Brown told parents the school system plans to move 140 students from Perrywood Elementary, 263 students from Patuxent Elementary School, 170 students from Melwood Elementary School, 107 students from Marlton Elementary School and between 18 and 20 students from Arrowhead Elementary School.

Parents of students at those five schools received a notice in late November about the possible switch next fall.

Harmon, who has been on the road this fall recruiting teachers at university job fairs, pitched her own record in leading Berkshire Elementary to meet Adequate Yearly Progress — a state Department of Education standard for reading and math achievement — as well as the school's environmentally friendly design.

The school also will feature space for an outdoor garden, television production studio and classrooms equipped with "smart boards" — an electronic, interactive whiteboard — in place of traditional chalkboards.

Parents also expressed concerns about teacher quality and the uncertainty of how the school would perform in the first few years. Harmon said after the meeting that one of her top priorities is making sure teachers have access to leadership training and other professional development opportunities.

Tamika Bass, who lives in The Greens and the Oaks community in Upper Marlboro, said she hoped her 8-year-old daughter, who is now a third-grader at Patuxent Elementary, would attend Barack Obama Elementary next year, but said she has doubts about teacher quality.

"That was one of my concerns — where they were going to recruit faculty from," she said. "It's the establishment factor."

One of the most popular questions, though, was whether President Barack Obama would attend any school events. Harmon confirmed that the Board of Education has extended an invitation to the president's office, but have yet to hear back.

E-mail Zoe Tillman at ztillman@gazette.net.