What if They Stayed Open?

I have been researching the School Districts of yesteryear and all the knowledge about growth patterns that come with it as a fringe benefit. One thing that always comes back to me is the closure of three schools in the early to mid 1980s; Faulkner Ridge Elementary, Rockland Elementary, and Waterloo Middle. The Elementary Schools closed in 1983 and Waterloo Middle closed in 1984. Enrollment was of course a factor but also the age and location of the Schools. 

When these Schools did close, it caused crowding of the Schools that absorbed the populations of the now former Schools. Not only that, but a new round of growth came quickly after the closures thereby making the Schools even more crowded. The more I research this, the more short sighted these closures were. Not only that, but the enrollment decline of the 1980s wasn't as steep nor did it last as long as originally projected. So lets go back in time and keep these Schools open shall we?

First lets start at Faulkner Ridge. West Columbia families in Wilde Lake and Harpers Choice had had their kids go through the School System and they graduated. Their families still live in their homes thereby causing enrollments in their schools to decline. At the same time however, growth was either happening or on the horizon in Hickory Ridge and Dorsey's Search. Also lets not forget that the growth that happened after Faulkner Ridge closed Swansfield and Clemens Crossing Elementary to receive large additions. 

Now the fun part; we redistrict as if the year is 1983 but Faulkner Ridge stayed open. Some things will remain the same such as the funneling of kids into Longfellow from Faulkner Ridge, Swansfield, and Bryant Woods. Longfellow was the School System's second choice for closure. Also, Hawthorn would be moved into Bryant Woods as well. At the moment, Faulkner Ridge only has its namesake Neighborhood attending its Elementary School but Clary's Forest and Cedar Acres that rides a bus to its current School will be redistricted into Faulkner Ridge  As Clary's Forest begins to grow, so too will Faulkner Ridge and the School System would have saved money by not having to add on to Clemens Crossing and Swansfield. 

Other fringe benefits would include Faulkner Ridge not being bused to Running Brook thereby allowing Fairway Hills to have Running Brook as its home School prior to 2003. Without Fairway Hills attending Talbott Springs, Talbott Springs would be able to provide relief for the always crowded Dasher Green. Clemens Crossing would also be able to provide relief to Pointers Run in the '90s.

By the late '80s, Faulkner Ridge would have become crowded with Students from Clary's Forest and Cedar Acres. An easy fix would be to redistrict Cedar Acres to Bryant Woods and Columbia Town Center to Running Brook. So now that I (hopefully) proved how it would be beneficial to keep Faulkner Ridge open, lets focus on Rockland. 

Rockland was located just off of Rogers Avenue not far from the current Holliefield Station Elementary. The building is still standing and now houses the Howard County Arts program. At the time of its closure, Rockland's capacity was only 261 even though the criteria to keep an Elementary School viable is 250 Students. In addition to this very fine line Rockland has to walk, the School needed lots of renovations. That's a lot of strikes against Rockland and still another one is; St. Johns Lane was also under capacity and was renovated recently. So Rockland closed and St. Johns Lane absorbed it. 

St. Johns Lane become crowded very fast which given the growth in the area, would have happened regardless of whether or not Rockland closed. Rockland also would have become crowded. In 1990 when Waverly opens, I would redistrict Rockland south of Route 40 into St. Johns Lane to back fill it. Seven years later, Hollifield Station opened which was for all intents and purposes a replacement for Rockland just 14 years too late.

Would Holliefield Station have been built if Rockland stayed open? I believe it would have because by 1997, the growth was too much for a site as small as Rockland's too handle. The building known as Holliefield Station would have been built at its current site and the only difference would be that the name Rockland would have been retained. Northern Ellicott City would have been much less crowded had Rockland remained in operation between 1983 and 1997.      

Now we come to our final and perhaps most complicated School; Waterloo Middle. Waterloo Middle, Ellicott City Middle (now Ellicott Mills), Patapsco, and Wilde Lake Middle were all grossly under capacity. When it's one section of the County like West Columbia or Northern Ellicott City, it can be easier to keep an under enrolled School open while growth has paused. However this is several Middle Schools in just as many parts of the County. The closure had a domino effect of beefing up enrollments in all of the Schools listed that remained open. After closure, the Waterloo Middle building acted as swing space for Waterloo Elementary and what would become Bollman Bridge. Last but not least, where would Deep Run go if the Waterloo Middle had remained open at its current location?

The only solution would be to open Mayfield Woods in 1984 so the existing building could still act as swing space before being torn down to make way for Deep Run. So Patapsco, Ellicott City Middle, and now Mayfield Woods are all under enrolled. Wilde Lake Middle could have survived by redistricting the way it ultimately did in 1991 by redistricting Hawthorn and Clemens Crossing from Harpers Choice and Clarksville Middle respectively. 

In this case, I agree with the decision to close Waterloo Middle. As I've stated before, the building had an after life and became the site for a much needed Elementary School. Had it stayed open, it may have hindered the 1989 opening of Patuxent Valley as well. 

I intended to prove that all three of these Schools could have remained in operation either to present day and/or until a replacement School was built nearby. I believe I did for two of them and as the saying goes; Two out of three ain't bad.