After a first year plagued by disruption and the lowest test scores in the county, teachers at Runnymede Elementary School are asking the school board not to deal them another blow.
At the board's meeting last night, administrators presented a plan to redraw district lines between Taneytown and Runnymede elementary schools. Taneytown Elementary is scheduled to open after extensive renovations in September.
The proposal would shift an estimated 146 children, and therefore several teachers, from Runnymede to Taneytown. It also would reduce Runnymede's enrollment to below the general guideline for having an assistant principal.
"I don't think people understand the disruption it would cause," said Runnymede teacher Carolyn Michael. She and fellow teacher Sharon Lanzi spoke for about two dozen of the faculty members who attended and even more who signed an alternative proposal.
Their alternative involves allowing the school to keep its teachers even if the students have to be shifted.
Because of development in the area, the school likely will grow by 100 students by the next year anyway, said the teachers and Jeanne Bowers, president of the Parent-Teacher Organization at Runnymede.
Runnymede, the county's newest school, was supposed to open in September 1993. But rain one year, severe cold the next and a quirk in the waste-water treatment plant conspired to delay the opening until March 1994. In the meantime, students attended class in cramped quarters at Taneytown Elementary.
Ms. Lanzi said teachers have been working to keep the transitions as smooth as possible, and are developing innovative ways to raise student achievement.
Ms. Michael said they are exploring a first hour devoted to language.