A pair of Ridge Ruxton School parents brought their grievances about the proposed West Towson Elementary School annexation to the Baltimore County Board of Education on Tuesday night.
"The BCPS proposal to use space from our school is certainly doable and reasonable and could work," said Ridge Ruxton parent and PTA secretary Mary Munoz. "There is enough room to house one grade level from West Towson. However, here is the main concern that Ridge Ruxton families have expressed: a lack of trust in the school system."
Under the proposal being considered by school officials for the 2012-13 school year, West Towson's fourth graders would occupy three classrooms and a fourth classroom-sized space currently used for storage, as well as offices in the high school wing of Ridge Ruxton, a public special education school that serves students with varying intellectual and physical disabilities.
The plan is needed, officials say, to address overcrowding at West Towson.
But Munoz and fellow parent Wendy King said that when the idea of having West Towson Elementary built next door to Ridge Ruxton was proposed just a few years ago, families were told the Ridge Ruxton building would remain their own.
"Three years ago, when plans for West Towson Elementary School were being made, we were told that our building would not be touched and that our school would remain separate and intact," Munoz told the school board. "Now, we are being told that is not the case.
"We are concerned that officials have not thoroughly researched and thought out this annexation, but are simply putting out fires as they ignite," she said.
The annexation would be a temporary solution to overcrowding at West Towson, a 451-seat elementary school that was built to ease overcrowding at Rodgers Forge Elementary School.
But enrollment rose to 519 students this year, and school system projections have next year's enrollment pegged at 591.
Munoz and King, a Cockeysville resident, have both been outspoken about the plan. Both spoke at a meeting for Ridge Ruxton parents on Monday, Jan. 30, and King gave the Ridge Ruxton side of the story at a meeting for West Towson parents two days later.
Before the Board of Education, King said she had no doubt the children of Ridge Ruxton would still be provided with the best possible services by the school's staff, but said the services would "definitely decrease with reduced space."
"Our children need extra equipment simply to be able to sit at a table or walk down a hallway," King said. "Our children are learning to do everyday tasks, which is an extreme challenge in itself, but Baltimore County thinks it would be OK to make this job even harder than it already is."
Munoz also asked for a commitment from the board to keep Ridge Ruxton as a separate public day school, which is required in each student's individualized education plan.
"Ridge Ruxton families want to keep our school," she told the board. "You now know why we are so concerned about a few classrooms that we can easily spare.
At last Wednesday's meeting for West Towson families, school officials said that after two years of the annexation, a more permanent solution could be in place, in the form of a new, 700-seat elementary school in Mays Chapel.
Munoz said parents want that written in stone.
"Are you committed to keeping our school? Do you value the separate public day school that it is? If so, tell us formally and in writing that the West Towson annexation will only last two years," she said.
Ridge Ruxton families will have an opportunity for some of their questions that went unanswered at last week's information session to be answered at a second meeting this week.
That meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 9, at the school.