For the first time in almost two decades, Baltimore County educators say they may have to close some elementary schools because of dwindling enrollment, perhaps shutting them down as early as fall 2000.

While schools in the western, northeastern and northwestern areas of the county are bursting with students, enrollment has been steadily dropping in such southeast areas as Dundalk and Edgemere.

"We have enrollment declines in the southeast area, and there are some schools that we may need to consider closing," said schools Superintendent Anthony G. Marchione. "We will begin the process of looking at closing schools next fall when we get the new [enrollment] numbers" in October.

The prospect is expected to anger parents and prompt tumultuous public hearings, as in the late 1970s and early 1980s when 23 county schools were closed.

Considering whether to close schools becomes more urgent as the school system faces huge bills in the next few years to repair and modernize its buildings. School officials must decide whether a few million dollars could be saved by consolidating underused schools.

"We don't want to put a new roof on a school and then close it," said Ann Glazer, the county's southeast area superintendent.

For now, school officials emphasize, no specific schools are under consideration -- but officials are already nervous.

"It's bad enough when you have a boundary change," Marchione said. "People have an attachment to their neighborhood schools, and it's not a pleasant thing to talk about closing them."

Last week, Marchione told the school board that he has asked his staff to update the guidelines and criteria for deciding whether to close schools that have low enrollment.

The policy -- which was last updated in the late 1970s -- involves a two-year process with many public hearings. But Marchione said he wants the staff to find a way to streamline the procedure to one year, and he hopes to bring proposed guideline changes to next month's school board meeting.

The superintendent said he hopes that the board will approve a new policy by the end of this school year, allowing officials to begin considering shutting down schools. The earliest any schools might be closed would be the 2000-2001 school year.

"There is nothing planned for this year, just the potential in the future," Marchione said.

The county's enrollment figures indicate that the southeast is the area where elementary schools and, perhaps, middle schools, might most likely be closed.

"We have not had any discussions about closing any specific schools," Glazer said. "But if you look at enrollment, my area would be the one to look at."

For example, four elementary schools near one another in the Dundalk area -- Battle Grove, Bear Creek, Charlesmont and Sandy Plains -- are almost 30 percent below their capacities this year. They are projected to be only two-thirds full by 2001.

Glazer said parents and communities would be included when the school system begins considering school closures.

It is extremely unlikely that any high schools would be targeted for possible closure. High schools in southeastern Baltimore County are projected to remain close to full.

Even 20 years ago, when the county closed 23 schools, educators refused to consider closing under-enrolled high schools because they feared the political pressure and anger from alumni.

Marchione's call for updating the policy caught school board members by surprise.

"That was dropped on us," said board member H. J. "Jack" Barnhart, chairman of the board's building committee. "But it makes sense that we're going to have to look at this issue.

"I think we're going to have to take a long look at the southeast and the future development plans in the area and determine whether we think we can close any schools," said Barnhart, who lives in Middle River.

If the school board decides to close schools, it will need to make its decisions fairly soon. Starting this summer, the school system will begin spending $213 million fixing its 101 elementary schools, and a similar amount is likely to be needed in the next few years to fix its 60 middle and high schools.

While school officials say they won't close schools simply because expensive repairs are needed, they don't want to spend money on repairs for buildings that might be closed because of low enrollment.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, almost two dozen schools were closed as the school system's enrollment shrank from 134,000 to about 72,000 -- a result of the graduation of baby boomers. A handful of the schools have since been reopened as enrollment climbed back to 106,300 students.

The closings were marked by long, angry public hearings with parents upset that their neighborhood schools were being threatened.

Retired schools Superintendent Robert Y. Dubel described the time as "horrendous -- the hardest time we faced."

"If we were running factories, we would have been fired for not closing them sooner because of the efficiencies," Dubel said. "But there was the human element and attachments people have to their schools. That made it so much more difficult.

"We encourage parents and communities to become involved in their schools and take pride in them. Then, when we talk about closing the schools; we're going to run into those emotions."

Pub Date: 3/29/99