Dozens of Stoneleigh Elementary School parents toured the Carver Center for the Arts and Technology on Monday night, getting a look at the building many hope will be their children's home away from home while Stoneleigh is renovated next year.
Parents were presented with the plans for the new Stoneleigh addition and renovation at a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 4, and were asked to decide between two options: stay at Stoneleigh while a 27-month-long construction project rumbles on around them, or take what Principal Christine Warner called a "180-day field trip" to soon-to-be-vacant Carver building and be back in a newly renovated Stoneleigh in a year's time.
Parents are being asked to express their opinion in a survey that's due Wednesday, Oct. 12.
To help parents make an informed decision, Warner and several school board officials hosted the parents at Carver on Monday to take a look around.
Plenty of questions still remain — parents asked about everything from recess time and bus schedules to the height of the blackboards and toilets — but overall, the consensus among parents was that Carver was more than adequate for their children.
"The space is wonderful, and the classrooms are a great size," said Michelle Gutberlet, mother of a kindergartner and a second-grader. "I think it's a great opportunity for us, and I'm thrilled this is available."
Gutberlet, like many other parents, didn't need much convincing before she sent in her survey.
"I think your community is in the people," she said. "It's the teachers and administrators. I know that they're top-notch, and they'll make it the best situation for the kids."
Parents first learned of their choice between staying at Stoneleigh during construction or heading to Carver at the meeting last week, right after plans for the new elementary school were shown for the first time.
John DiMenna, senior vice president of the design firm Rubeling & Associates, briefed parents on the specifics of the project, highlighting a new entrance that will increase security as well as an addition of 14 classrooms.
Five kindergarten classrooms and two others will be on the first floor of the addition, with seven more classrooms on the second floor, adjacent to a new set of bathrooms and a common locker area.
A new library will be created toward the back of the building, and a new art room and science lab are slated to be installed on the lower floor. All classrooms will also be updated with air conditioning.
The first option presented to parents — keeping Stoneleigh open — would involve construction crews working around the students and the school calendar.
During the first summer, likely next year, the 12-month process of constructing the addition would begin. Its completion, during the second summer of construction would coincide with phase two: the renovation of the second floor.
Phase three, including the first-floor renovation, would begin around Christmas break of the second year of construction, and phase four, which brings the project to a close, would occur during the third summer of construction.
Warner said that on top of longer construction time and higher cost, keeping the school open would create logistical problems, including a lack of recess space, changes to arrival and dismissal time and environmental hazards that come with a full-scale construction project.
The other option — Warner's so-called "field trip" — would allow the project to be completed in a 15-month window and cost $2 million less for construction, and is made possible by the opening of a new Carver Center next September.
If the principal had her choice, she said that it would be an easy one.
"If the decision were mine and mine alone, I like field trips," Warner said. "I would take our boys and girls on a remarkable field trip, and I'd do it well."
Several parents spoke in support of the option to move.
"I'm strongly in favor of the move to Carver for a year," said parent Keri Frisch, who said it was the best option in terms of student safety and education.
"I think and hope that the voice of reason will come through, and all the parents who can vote, vote for Carver," said Juliet Fisher, a leader of Stoneleigh United, at last week's meeting.
Many local legislators who have supported the addition from the start were in attendance at the meeting, including state Sen. Jim Brochin, Del. Steve Lafferty, and County Councilman David Marks.
Last week legislators penned a letter to state education officials supporting $6.2 million for the Stoneleigh addition and renovation.
Marks said "nothing is more important in southeastern Towson than the addition at Stoneleigh Elementary School," and said he thinks the option of accelerating construction and moving is the better one.