Public school educator Anna Puma left her teaching job in Montgomery County, frustrated that her ideas for innovative, student-based programs met with bureaucracy and red tape. Last year, she was named head of school at St. John's Episcopal Parish Day School in Ellicott City - a year ahead of its opening.

"What I like is really being able to look at your community and implement programs that you know they need without having to deal with the bureaucracy of public school," Puma said.

The parochial school is planning to expand from a preschool to a full elementary facility in the next several years.

Less than a mile away, across U.S. 40, another Ellicott City church is expanding its school. Church of the Resurrection is adding a second floor to its school, allowing it to double elementary and middle school enrollment by 2007.

"Our parents are looking for an education that is religion-based," said Sister Joan Elias, principal of Resurrection St. Paul's Catholic School. That sensibility, she said, "really permeates our program. That's what's so important to our parents."

Monsignor James McGovern of Church of the Resurrection said parents expect the school to provide religious values and "people want the social value of the parish school. It's supported by the whole parish community. ... That's kind of affirming for a young family."

Despite local public schools with a reputation for excellence and a tuition of up to $6,000 a year at Resurrection, Elias has a waiting list for every grade. With the expanded building, she hopes to accommodate those who have been turned away and still reduce class sizes.

Both parochial schools emphasize that the new facilities are part of the overall church community. "It gives the parish so much more room to do the things they have to do," Elias said, such as offer religious education classes on site for 1,000 parish children.

Puma agreed. "We really see the entire project here [at St. John's] as church and school." The Episcopal church began discussing an elementary school

several years ago and made the plan official in 1999. "The community felt strongly about having a head of school on campus" before the school opening, Puma said. She has been involved with every aspect of planning, from curriculum to building design and staffing.

St. John's allocated $7.8 million for renovation of the existing preschool and the addition of an elementary school. Connected to both buildings by an interior main entrance is a new multipurpose structure that houses a large gymnasium and space for events.

Begun in November, St. John's construction is nearing completion and will be dedicated Dec. 8, when a time capsule will be placed in the cornerstone.

Sharon Runge of Catonsville has two daughters at St. John's, one in preschool and one in kindergarten. She said she and her husband would have opted for public school if St. John's had not expanded its program.

Full-day kindergarten and first grade were added to the existing preschool and kindergarten program this school year. St. John's will add a grade each year, with the fifth-grade class bringing enrollment to 240 pupils by fall 2006.

Runge said her kindergartner has dedicated science, music and art classes - all in new classrooms. "It's just really exciting to see that on the kindergarten level," she said.

Resurrection's $4.3 million expansion also has added a multipurpose building connected to the school and church. It houses a high school regulation gym, parish library, classrooms and multipurpose rooms. On Sunday, Auxiliary Bishop Francis Malooly of the Archdiocese of Baltimore blessed the completed space.

Resurrection is working to raise an additional $3 million to complete a second floor to the school building, allowing it to go from its current enrollment of 367 to a capacity of 540.

Puma said that being able to teach values is what attracts parents to parochial education. "This is not a reaction to an inadequate [public] school system." For parents considering parochial school, she said, "the curriculum was important, but only in the context of a loving, nurturing Christian environment."

Information: St. John's, 410-465-7644; Resurrection, 410-461-9111.