More than 250 Laurel sixth-graders could be facing a huge transition in 2012 — a year earlier than they and their parents were expecting.

The Prince George's County Board of Education is scheduled to vote in the coming weeks whether or not to approve a plan that would restructure grade configurations in the county, moving sixth-graders from more than 20 elementary schools up to the middle school level. It's a move that would affect 269 students at four Laurel-area elementary schools.

"I was surprised (at the proposal)," said Eileen Collins, PTA president at Laurel Elementary. "I wanted my son to finish out sixth grade at Laurel: I know he was looking forward to that; transitions are always hard for everyone involved."

If the plan is approved, students scheduled to enter the sixth grade this fall at Deerfield Run, Laurel, Montpelier and Oaklands elementary schools would be moved to Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School, which currently has only seventh- and eighth-graders. Scotchtown Hills Elementary was not part of the current restructuring proposal.

Deerfield Run would lose 79 students, bumping it down from being at 104 percent capacity to 90 percent capacity. Laurel would lose 53 students, taking its overall capacity from 118 percent to 107 percent; Montpelier would go from 106 percent capacity to 92 percent with the move of 83 students; and Oaklands would go from 101 percent capacity to 87 percent with the transition of 54 students.

Capacity at Eisenhower is 1,051 students; current enrollment is at 702 students. If the board approves the shift, the school would house 951 students next year, still leaving it under-capacity, at 90 percent enrollment.

Restructuring is countywide trend

Several middle schools in Prince George's County already accept sixth-graders, including Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, in Beltsville, which made the transition two years ago and accepts students from Bond Mill Elementary, which is now a K-5 school. Ultimately, the grade re-structuring should happen in the entire county, said District 1 Board of Education member Rosalind Johnson, who represents Laurel.

"It is a grade-configuration for success," Johnson said. "In regards to that recommendation, we have been looking at what were the best school configurations that produce the best academic results for children. One of the things we know is that when students are in the same school for longer periods of time, they perform better because they build relationships with teachers, and they're comfortable."

Collins said she wished more emphasis had been placed on researching the merit of a K-8 model, a structure that would keep students in the same school for more years.

Johnson agreed, but said it was impossible to restructure the entire county in that way because of cost, and having a sixth to eighth-grade middle school is the next best thing, for several reasons. No feeder patterns are being affected, Johnson said, so transportation costs typically associated with redistricting would be a nonissue, and students would have access to programs and facilities they wouldn't normally have in elementary school.

"Sixth-graders who are in a middle school facility would have access to full-time physical education, music, art — they don't have that when they're in the K-6 arrangement," Johnson said. "There's going to be an enrichment of their academic possibilities … they'll be getting so much more in terms of expanding their potential."

Collins, whose son is now a fifth-grader at Laurel, said it would have been beneficial to involve more parents, and students, in the decision-making process, but if such a move were to occur, the schools would need to increase transitioning and welcoming events at the middle-school level to familiarize students and families with the new school.

"We as parents are concerned about our kids transitioning, anywhere, any time," Collins said. "The kids aren't as mature (as sixth- or seventh-graders), but I don't think the issue is a maturity issue. … I think the issue now is more of what the school system is going to do to further ease that transition."

A vote on the move was scheduled for Jan. 5, but concerns and requests from parents will likely push that vote back, both Collins and Johnson said.

"It's true, parents are concerned about the age range that happens in (school) buildings, but we have experience with moving young people, and students can make the change beautifully, as they always do," Johnson said. "Concerns have not come to fruition (in the past)."

This story has been updated.