Some Baltimore County parents protest overcrowding plan

Parents say they weren't given opportunity to provide input
TOWSON, Md. —Some angry Baltimore County parents are protesting a school system plan that's designed to ease overcrowding. They believe the plan will put a burden on their neighborhood.
The school system has a floating plan to reopen the old Loch Raven Elementary School off Glen Keith Boulevard. School officials said it will help solve some of the district's overcrowding problems, but that's not how some Loch Raven area parents see it.

"It seems like the overcrowding in west side of Towson is being pushed over to the east side," parent Rob Metcalf said.

Here's the plan: The school system wants to move students from nearby Halstead Academy to the old Loch Raven site. As many as 500 Halstead students would pack up and move into what's billed as a high-tech school.

"The proposal to move Halstead Academy to this location isn't going to benefit our neighborhood. We are not opposed to Halstead getting a new building, but why does it have to be in our neighborhood,"  Metcalf said.

School Superintendent Dallas Dance spoke about the proposed changes in central and southwest Baltimore County. He said by working so closely with the community and government stakeholders, the school system has developed proposed solutions that do much more than create more room for students.

But some Loch Raven parents said they've been all but left out of the process, and they refuse to support what's on the table.

"And then, all of a sudden the first week of school, we find out that we are somehow involved... This Loch Raven Elementary was offered up as a suggestion without any representation from us," parent Lorri McCleary said.

In the meantime, making room at the old Loch Raven site for Halstead Academy students could affect a senior nutrition site, a learning program for 3-year-olds and a senior craft sales gallery, which may be forced to move out.

"(It) sounds like a good idea to me. I don't know whose idea it was in the first place," resident Carol Tuckey said.

The proposed changes are set to go into effect in the fall of 2016.

The board is set to take up the overcrowding plan during a meeting Tuesday evening.