Schools in the 1990s: Playing Catch Up and the Equity Divide

There was a lot of growth on the outer edges of Columbia and surrounding areas in the 1980s but very little school construction. In fact there was a net loss of one school during that decade. So it's no surprise that the 1990s would see a boom not unlike the one seen two decades earlier. 

In the 1970s it was almost all in Columbia and Ellicott City and very little in Elkridge or North Laurel. The 1990s however, there will be many new Schools in both of those areas as well as Ellicott City and Clarksville. Very little new construction will happen in Columbia and what does happen there will be more to house students from higher growth areas.

Lets start in Elkridge where Waterloo Middle closed in 1984. There was talk of a replacement School almost immediately after its closure and land was acquired a shirt distance away on Mayfield Avenue. The Waterloo Middle building remained in operation both to house Waterloo Elementary from 1985-1987 while it was under renovation and then from 1987-1988 the district that would become Bollman Bridge. Upon Bollman Bridge's 1988 opening, Waterloo Middle was torn down but not for its own replacement, but for Deep Run Elementary which opened in 1990. 

Deep Run Elementary was the first new School in Elkridge since Waterloo Middle opened in 1955. Although Elkridge went 35 years without a new School it went on to gain five additional new ones in the coming years. First, in 1991 there was the long awaited Waterloo Middle Replacement School; Mayfield Woods Middle. Then, in 1992, Elkridge's namesake Elementary was replaced with a brand new building on Montgomery Road less than a mile from its original building on Old Washington Road. It should be noted that this building once housed Elkridge High School until 1952. 

About a mile west down Montgomery Road, Rockburn Elementary opened in 1993. On the same site as the new Elkridge Elementary, Elkridge Landing Middle opened in 1995. Nearby on the line in between Ellicott City and Elkridge lies Ilchester Elementary which opened in 1996. Though not in Elkridge, Long Reach High opened in Columbia that same year but a lot of Elkridge attends Long Reach and those left at Howard would attend a less crowded School. 

Meanwhile, back in Ellicott City, St. Johns Lane Elementary was the sole Elementary School for the northern part of the town from 1983-1990. Lots of growth happened there during that time as well. 

The western chunk of the St. Johns Lane was sent to the new Waverly Elementary in 1990 along with part of Centennial Lane Elementary. In 1994, part of that same area would then attend the new Manor Woods Elementary while eastern part of the St. Johns Lane District (similar to the closed Rockland District) would be sent to the Hollifield Station Elementary that would open in 1997. Hollifield Station took from Waverly Elementary as well. 

Ellicott City was also home to new Middle Schools in the 1990s as well. Burleigh Manor opened in 1992 serving the Centennial Lane section of town while Mount View Middle would open in 1993 providing relief for Dunloggin and Patapsco Middles respectively. On the eastern edge of town, Ellicott Mills Middle would be torn down in 1999 to reopen in 2001.

During this time, Ellicott Mills Students would attend the built but unopened Bonnie Branch Middle. Ellicott City would not get a High School during the 1990s but its western edge would attend the new River Hill High which opened to its own population in 1996 while other parts of town would be redistricted to Wilde Lake High whose replacement building opened in 1996 and attended River Hill for two years while original Wilde Lake was torn down and rebuilt. 

As I previously stated, River Hill was built in 1994 but opened to its own population in 1996. It would serve Clarksville, Fulton, Highland, Dayton, its namesake Columbia Village, and the western edge of Ellicott City. Almost all of this area attended Clarksville Elementary and Clarksville Middle up until 1991 when Pointers Run Elementary opened. This School served Fulton and the part of Clarksville that would become Columbia's Village of River Hill. In 1997, Fulton would gain its own Elementary School and the northern part of Clarksville, Dayton, and Glenelg would gain a new Elementary school in 1998 known as Tridelphia Ridge. The following year, Fulton and Highland would get their own Middle School; Lime Kiln. Lime Kiln was built on the same site as Fulton Elementary just two years earlier. 

In North Laurel, school construction raged on through the 1990s just like the rest of the County. The need for newer schools didn't go away when Bollman Bridge Elementary and Patuxent Valley Middle opened in 1988 and 1989 respectively. In 1992, Laurel Woods and Hammond Elementaries donated parts of their districts to make the new Forest Ridge Elementary. Laurel Woods remained crowded and the new Forest Ridge quickly became crowded as well so in 1998 Gorman Crossing opened allowing growth in the area to continue. On the Middle School front, Hammond Middle would donate its eastern chunk to make Murray Hill Middle which opened in 1997. Hammond Middle would refill itself by providing relief to Patuxent Valley.

Did you catch all of that? I barely did and I was a Howard County Student during all of that time. Although I lived in Columbia which was hardly impacted by these new Schools. The price tag of all these new Schools was quite high. So high in fact that systemic renovations and additions to Columbia Schools fell far behind and continue to do so even to this day. The 1990s was the start of the equity divide between old and new schools and the Neighborhoods they serve.            

Decline to Growth: The School System in the 1980s

The 1970s represented a period of unprecedented growth in Howard County in the form of School Construction as did the 1990s. The 1980s however did not. When the 1970s closed out, the School System had just opened Clemens Crossing Elementary and a replacement Clarksville Middle. The long range Capital Improvement Plan included building new Schools in Hawthorn, Elkhorn, Hopewell, Savage (replacing the Elementary School that closed in 1973) and either renovating or replacing Guilford. As you can tell, very little of this actually happened. 

According to notes from old School Board Meetings from that time, enrollment had begun to decline in the older West Columbia Schools and Ellicott City Schools while the Southeast and East Columbia had remained strong and were still growing. In some cases this was due to a large concentration of Schools in a small area, too many new schools at once, a delay in construction in some parts of Columbia, and lack of turn around in Neighborhoods. This decline put the School System in a panic.

The panic made the School System decide that some Schools had to close. In West Columbia there was talk of closing Longfellow given its low enrollment and small district. There was also talk of closing Faulkner Ridge whose district was consumed by the opening of Clemens Crossing. In Ellicott City St. Johns Lane, Worthington, Northfield, and Rockland had low enrollment as did the Middle and High Schools that fed into them. 

The decision was made to close Faulkner Ridge and Rockland Elementaries in 1983 and Waterloo Middle in 1984. It was thought that Longfellow would soon follow in 1986 but the redistricting in 1983 funneled a lot of students into it while the remaining West Columbia Schools received the rest of the Faulkner Ridge District. Rockland Closed that same year with St. Johns Lane taking the entire Rockland District. Waterloo Middle had the bulk of its population districted to Ellicott City Middle (now Ellicott Mills) while the rest was annexed to Wilde Lake Middle where enrollment had already been low. 

Now we go to East Columbia and the southeast where enrollment was continuing to grow. Crowding at Phelps Luck had calmed allowing Locust Park to return there from Waterloo, Worthington, and Jeffers Hill. Jeffers Hill for one needed the extra room because the Sewells Orchard out parcel was being built throughout the 1980s. Jeffers Hill also had the western part of Huntington districted there as Atholton Elementary and Guilford weren't able to take more crowding. Dasher Green was becoming more crowded by the day and could have really used an Elkhorn Elementary at this time. Talbott Springs was not overly crowded and could continue to have Hopewell districted there. There was debate about closing Guilford Elementary in the early 1980s due to the age of the building and possibly sending the population to Hopewell if it were built. 

This didn't happen so Guilford received a large renovation in 1982. Despite its proximity, Hopewell didn't attend the larger Guilford as its current district was growing at an uncontrolled speed from Huntington in King's Contrivance. Atholton Elementary was in a similar boat as large amounts of growth from the Dickinson and MacGills Common Neighborhoods of King's Contrivance were being built. Atholton did however receive a renovation in 1980. Elementary Schools had been Master Planned into both Dickinson and Huntington as had a Middle School. None of these Schools were ever built. Crowding also continued at Whiskey Bottom Road Elementary (now Laurel Woods)

Now back to the "declining enrollment" parts of  the County. In Ellicott City, the decline was very short lived. Pretty much immediately after Rockland Closed, St. Johns Lane became crowded due to having the population of two schools within its walls. Northfield was also crowded as Dorsey Hall, Gray Rock Farms, and Plumtree Drive were being built. Worthington was now crowded as Stonecrest Hills, Wheatfield Way, and Brampton Hills were being built. 

Back in West Columbia, Longfellow never closed. Having its enrollment inflated by Swansfield and Faulkner Ridge has allowed Longfellow to remain adequately enrolled. Hawthorn Elementary was scrapped and the growing Hickory Ridge Neighborhood attended Bryant Woods. Running Brook could not take growth from the Fairway Hills Neighborhood under construction further up Columbia Road so Talbott Springs took them in. So how could Swansfield afford to send much of its district to Longfellow? The answer is two short words; Clary's Forest. Development in Clary's Forest made Swansfield very crowded. Though an Elementary School for Clary's Forest was master planned into the Neighborhood but was never built. Instead, a large addition was built onto Swansfield to allow Clary's Forest to remain there. 

So what happened to the School Buildings that closed? Faulkner Ridge became offices and Rockland became the Howard County Center for the Arts. Waterloo Middle however had a more interesting after life. First from 1985-1987 it hosted Waterloo Elementary as it went through a massive renovation. From 1987-1988 it acted as a makeshift Elementary School for select Students from Guilford since Huntington was making it too crowded and the newly minted Laurel Woods (nee Whiskey Bottom Road) as growth near there was causing crowding and because Savage Elementary closed upon Laurel Woods opening when it really shouldn't have and it never reopened.

So essentially Waterloo Middle acted as a "new" Elementary School for a year. So where did the Students from this swing go after the 1987-1988 school year was over? They went to the first new School in Howard County built in nine years; Bollman Bridge. 

Bollman Bridge was the long awaited replacement for Savage Elementary that came 15 years after its closure. The school board promised in 1973 not only a new Elementary School for Savage but a Middle School as well. That promise came to fruition one year later with the opening of Patuxent Valley Middle in 1989 just next door to Bollman Bridge. Patuxent partially relieved crowding at Hammond Middle and Ellicott Mills. 

Once Bollman Bridge opened the old Waterloo Middle was torn down to make way for a new Elementary School set to open in 1990. What Elementary School you ask? Well. I guess you'll have to wait until I write about the School System in the 1990s.