A few years from now, Gabrielle Ellerbee will be old enough to walk to New Town Elementary School, Baltimore County's latest school construction project.

Yesterday, however, the 6-week-old slept under the shade of her denim stroller, oblivious to politicians and developers attending a groundbreaking at the school site on New Town Boulevard in Owings Mills New Town.

"We just bought a house here in November and we wanted a good school for our children," said Cindy Ellerbee, 32, Gabrielle's mother. "Most of us moved in thinking that there'd be a school nearby."

That's been the plan for years.

Owings Mills New Town community leaders hatched the idea about 15 years ago, said Terry M. Rubenstein, who lobbied county officials to build the school.

The school will help relieve overcrowding at nearby Deer Park Elementary, where students attend some classes in trailers and eat their lunches on a staggered schedule.

The school, which is scheduled to open in December 2000, is expected to cost $12.5 million. It will include 25 regular classrooms, two special education classrooms, four kindergarten classrooms and a pre-kindergarten classroom. Each room will be equipped with five computer stations -- four for students and one for the teacher. A 750-seat auditorium will be formed by combining the cafeteria and gymnasium.

Pub Date: 8/07/99