With Phase I of the Columbia School Modernizations an all around success, lets not waste any time in getting Phase II underway. Like Phase I, Phase II will be a mixture of partial and complete rebuilds depending on the condition of the School and if there any recent additions built. There may also be new Pools and Neighborhoods built as the existing ones may be sacrificed to make way for new construction. Something new for Phase II will be the complete relocation of two Elementary Schools ie not being built on their current sites. So without further adieu, here's Phase II. 
We'll start the 2014-2015 School Year at the Clarksville Elementary Holding School. In Phase I, Clarksville was large enough to hold two Schools at once, this year time not so much. In Phase I, it was Elementary Schools, this time it's Middle Schools.
The first School in Phase II will be Harpers Choice Middle. Site constraints had to be considered when modernization Harpers Choice with the School being "land locked" for lack of a better term. My solution? Demolish the "Old Cedar Lane School" to make run. I only did a partial demolition here.
The new Harpers Choice be more compact with two maybe three stories. A new thing to introduce to Howard County Middle Schools will be Auxiliary Gyms, and the new Harpers Choice will have one.
Part of the new construction will be a new Science Wing, Main Gym, Media Center, Computer Labs, Front Office Suite, Fine Arts Wing, and Multi Purpose Room. Capacity will be set at 662, a number Harpers Choice has reached in the past and will likely do so again as its feeder Elementary Schools are experiencing major growth.
Across town at the Cradlerock Holding School, the facility will hold three East Columbia Schools in the 2014-2015 School Year. Oakland Mills Middle and Jeffers Hill Elementary will be completely rebuilt while Phelps Luck will have its 1998 addition spared.
Although enrollment at Oakland Mills Middle is low currently, the numbers show growth in the coming years. Coupled with redistricting from overcrowded Schools in the Northeast and Southeast, Oakland Mills could soon see a growth rate of up to 50%. Built in 1972, Oakland Mills Middle is not easy on the eyes. It will be more of an eye sore when the massive Oakland Mills Redevelopment effort goes into effect and nothing were to be done with the School.
Modernization of Oakland Mills Middle will include a complete tear down and rebuild. The new School like Harpers Choice will contain an Auxiliary Gym, a Science Lab Wing, and a Fine Arts Wing.
These are all things that the current Oakland Mills lacks. Capacity will be set at an ambitious 662. Feeder Elementary School Growth suggests that this won't be wasted space.
Also at the Cradlerock holding School during the 2014-2015 School Year will be Jeffers Hill Elementary. Like Oakland Mills Middle a lot of the housing nearby will be redeveloped as part of the Long Reach Redevelopment Plan. This will skew enrollment projections which remain stubbornly low. I think new housing will produce higher numbers as well as redistricting from Waterloo and possibly Talbott Springs to Jeffers Hill.
Also with a new building, existing residents may be more likely to send their kids to their Public School rather than a private School. I think Jeffers Hill residents have avoided their Neighborhood School because of the County's disinvestment in the area.
So that's why in addition to the brand new School, there will be a brand new Neighborhood Center and Pool as well. Figuring all this in, I have set the Capacity for the Jeffers Hill at an ambitious 528. Currently Jeffers Hill doesn't serve PreK in its District, I think the addition of PreK will relieve crowding at Talbott Springs where Jeffers Hills sends its PreK Students.
Also with a new building, existing residents may be more likely to send their kids to their Public School rather than a private School. I think Jeffers Hill residents have avoided their Neighborhood School because of the County's disinvestment in the area.
So that's why in addition to the brand new School, there will be a brand new Neighborhood Center and Pool as well. Figuring all this in, I have set the Capacity for the Jeffers Hill at an ambitious 528. Currently Jeffers Hill doesn't serve PreK in its District, I think the addition of PreK will relieve crowding at Talbott Springs where Jeffers Hills sends its PreK Students.
The last School at Cradlerock for the 2014-2015 School Year will be Phelps Luck Elementary. Enrollment here has sky rocketed from just under 500 in 2005 to the current 671. Projections don't see enrollment droppping in th next deacde so a larger Phelps Luck is very much in order.
Unlike most Schools in East Columbia, Phelps Luck got a little attention from the County, it received additions in 1989 and 1998 that will be spared. The addition from 1998 will be renovated into a Kindergarten wing while the 1989 addition will be demolished with the rest of the School.
Everything else will be new construction. Parking lot and bus lane expansions will require a new Neighborhood Center and Pool. Capacity for the new Phelps Luck will be set at 728 almost 200 seats larger than the current School. With crowding the way it is here I think 728 is a very realistic capacity.At the old Elkridge Elementary, Students from the accient Guilford Elementary will be housed here for the 2014-2015 School Year.
Guilford was built in 1954 and has seen its share of renovations and additions. Guilford will be torn down but not rebuilt on the current Oakland Mills Road site.
That site will be traded with the County to expand the their redevelopment of Guilford Gardens doubling the number of affordable housing units at that site. The new "Guilford" Elementary will be on Volmerhausen Road in Kings Contrivance's Huntington Neighborhood.
This site was once considered to be an Elementary School for Hunington before Bollman Bridge was built. Bollman Bridge will be redistricted to cater to the Jessup area while Huntington will cater to students in Huntington and Guilford. Transportation costs may be reduced as the entire Huntington Neighborhood is bused currently and with a new Elementary School, the vast majority will walk.
Huntington Elementary will have a Capcity of 588.
During the Summer Time, Patuxent Valley Middle will undergo Systemic Renovations and Restroom Renovations as it will now be 26 years old. River Hill High will undergo Restroom Renovations.2015-2016
The 2015-2016 School Year will see its share of Modernizations, Rebuilds, and Relocations just like the year before.
Well, no time like the present, here we are at Clarksville Elmentary again. This may be the first time since the Dasher Green/Owen Brown Rebuild that Students will be able to walk to their holding School. Clarksville Middle will be the School modernized this year and its Students will be held at its name sake Elementary.
The Elementary School is located in the Clarksville Middle District next to River Hill High. Clarksville Middle was built in 1979 and received an addition in 2004. The 2004 addition will be spared and original building will be demolished. The 2004 addition will be renovated to match the new construction and will have a lot more windows than it currently does.
The new Clarksville Middle will have a capacity of 662 just like its predecessor but it will be larger featuring an Auxiliary Gym, Science Lab Wing, and Fine Arts Wing, all things the current Clarksville Middle lacks. Also part of the new construction will be a new Main Gym, Media Center, Computer Labs, Cafeteria, and Front Office Suite.
Meanwhile across Route 29 at Cradlerock, the Population of Wilde Lake Middle will be housed here during the 2015-2016 School Year.
Now we come to another Alma Mater of mine; Wilde Lake Middle. It makes sense since last post I revealed I went to Running Brook Elementary. Two interesting things happened during my tenure at Wilde Lake Middle (1995-1998). Wilde Lake Middle underwent a Systemic Renovation over the summers and next door we watched Wilde Lake High fall to the ground and rise again. As we watched the rebuilding of Wilde Lake High (which I went on to attend) we all felt short changed because our School wasn't getting a new Building and our renovation caused for further crowding over the years. Wilde Lake Middle has a capacity of 506 which is about what the enrollment was back then. However, when I entered as a naive 6th grader the School was a relic in a failed Education Concept known as "Open Classrooms." The systemic renovation that ended in 1998 changed the floor plan of the School but no addition was built. What it did was it added more classrooms with smaller capacities which in turn resulted in narrow hallways. With half the Student Population (myself included) ready to fight at the drop of a hat, these tight quartersmade for a violent three years.
There are plans in the works for an addition at Wilde Lake Middle but that's too little too late. Wilde Lake Middle will be the sole Middle School for all the new housing in Town Center with projected enrollments soaring way past 600 and approaching 700 by 2020. It's time every last outdated brick of the current Wilde Lake Middle fall to the ground. I wouldn't shed a single tear.
The new Wilde Lake Middle, in addition to its current features being larger, taller, and wider it will now have an Auxiliary Gym, a Science Lab Wing, and a Fine Arts Wing. The capacity of 662 will show a large Cafeteria, a newly equipped Media Center, a Computer Lab that's the size of the current Media Center, a State of the Art Tech Ed Room with a full supply of lumber all year round, and a new Home-EC Kitchen with working appliances.At the old Elkridge Elementary, another aged over populated School will be replaced.
Atholton Elementary, built in 1961 will have a fate similar to Guilford or should I say Huntington. Atholton's Seneca Drive location will be traded with Parks and Rec to expand Atholton Park and in return the School System will get the site once was considered for a Dickinson Elementary.
Dickinson Elementary will be a reality after all! Why? Because it of the long term transportation savings. Dickinson which will walk to its new Elementary School is denser with a larger Population (that's currently bused to Guilford but redistricting will take care of that.) than McGills Common and Allview Estates that currently walk to Atholton Elementary.
Atholton Elementary only has a capacity of 387. In the 2006-2007 it had 418 Students but now that number has spiked to 480 with a consistent rise in enrollment for the coming years. The new Dickinson Elementary will have a capacity of 554.Over the summer of 2016, Mayfield Woods Middle will undergo systemic renovations and rest room renovations.
Well that concludes Phase II of modernizing every School in Columbia. Stay tuned for Phase III, The Final Phase!
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