Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Eric J. Smith said yesterday that he will recommend closing the dilapidated, but beloved, Ferndale Elementary School and building in its place the county's first institution devoted entirely to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten.

If approved by the board, Smith's plan would bring to an end years of controversy surrounding the small, gray, 77-year-old building on Wellham Avenue.

In July, noting unsafe and unhealthful conditions, Smith temporarily shuttered the county's smallest elementary school and sent its 140 pupils to nearby George Cromwell Elementary.

The plan would be Smith's first attempt to bring the county the pre-kindergarten-kindergarten model, which he said he strongly supports.

A "first-class" center for early childhood education also would be millions of dollars cheaper than rebuilding Ferndale as a K-5 institution, he told about a dozen parents in Ferndale's musty library.

"I think, from the educational standpoint, we can do some things here that would truly be recognized nationwide," he told parents.

But parents struggled to understand why Smith was willing to spend up to $4.5 million to build a facility for about 160 pre-kindergartners and kindergartners, and not for Ferndale Elementary's current pupils.

"Why not do what the community wants and have an elementary school here?" asked parent Brenda Cramer. "You are destroying the Ferndale identity. There will be no more Ferndale."

The superintendent said although he has cut millions from construction projects in past months, his budget is too tight to allow funds to be spent on a new school that would benefit only Ferndale, a working-class community sandwiched between light-rail tracks and Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

His proposed early childhood education center would absorb children from nearby George Cromwell Elementary and Hilltop Elementary.

According to the school system's projections, it would cost $9.4 million to rebuild Ferndale as a K-5 school to modern standards and pay for additions at Hilltop Elementary to meet the area's full-day kindergarten needs.

Turning Ferndale into an early childhood education center would cost $3.7 million to $4.5 million, and the state likely would provide funding as part of its full-day kindergarten initiative.

Smith said his plan also would benefit the county by creating the extra classroom space in the community necessary to satisfy the state's requirement for full-day kindergarten by 2007 and free pre-kindergarten for low-income children.

"I didn't want to look at Ferndale in isolation," Smith told the parents. "This is the [proposal] that makes the most educational sense and the most financial sense for the county as a whole."

Smith plans to present his proposal to the school board at next week's regular board meeting. After that, the board likely will schedule public hearings before making a decision by April 30, the deadline for closing a school and redistricting students.