The Carroll Board of Education will hold public meetings this week on preliminary redistricting plans for the new Piney Ridge Elementary School, scheduled to open in Eldersburg in September.

The meetingswill be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Carrolltowne Elementary School and at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Eldersburg Elementary School.

Redrawing boundary lines in the elementary attendance area of southeastern Carroll, school officials said, is necessary to alleviate overcrowding and balance enrollment between Piney Ridge and the other schools -- Carrolltowne, Freedom and Eldersburg elementaries.

A staff redistricting recommendation will be made to the board at its April 10 meeting. The board will hold a final public meeting on the proposal at 7:30 p.m. May 1 at Liberty High School.

In redistricting, officials said the close geographical locations of the schools allowed them to redistrict students only to Piney Ridge. Students will not be transferred to other elementaries.

Vernon F. Smith Jr., director of school support services, said school officials hoped to realign the middle and high school feeder systems under the redistricting options but weren't able to do so.

"We were sensitive to it," Smith said. "But unless we redistrict middle and high schools, we would not be able to do it."

Currently, some Eldersburg Elementary pupils step outside the middle schools that feed into Liberty High School to attend Mount Airy Middle School.

School officials hope to open Piney Ridge below its 600 student capacity.