Just before spring arrived the Calvert County Board of Education (BOE) appeared to be on the verge of settling on a plan for easing overcrowding at Beach Elementary School (BES). While the alternative does not take BES below its state-rated capacity, the plan would disrupt the fewest number of elementary schools and relocate the smallest number of students.

The plan—Alternative B—was reviewed along with three other alternatives Thursday, March 20 during the BOE’s monthly work session.

In a break with its normal work session practice, the BOE allowed members of the public to offer additional comments on the ongoing elementary school redistricting. Four parents of elementary-age children rendered remarks.

Mark Perrey of Huntingtown used most of his allotted time to criticize the Town of Chesapeake Beach, which is served by BES. Like North Beach, Calvert’s other municipality, Chesapeake Beach does not have an adequate public facilities ordinance (APFO) to curb residential growth while such components as roads and schools are improved and expanded to accommodate a higher population. Perrey labeled the lack of an APFO “blatant ignorance. They are going to be tapped out in 2016.” He added that the two redistricting alternatives the BOE considered last year would sufficiently address the current high enrollment at BES.

“The Town of Chesapeake Beach definitely needs to be held accountable,” said Nicole Cooksey of Owings. “My opinion is there needs to be another school. We can redistrict now but this will be a problem again.”

Richfield Station resident Patty Humler indicated classrooms at both BES and Windy Hill Elementary School (WHES) are maxed out. “There’s no room to move,” she said. Humler also indicated the timeline for renovating, expanding or replacing the current BES building needed to be moved forward.

“My concern is my children moving from school to school,” said Mary Totoro of Huntingtown, who explained her family recently moved from Prince George’s County to Calvert. “We need to take into consideration how our children feel.”

During a discussion later in the work session, Calvert County Public Schools (CCPS) staff reviewed the four alternatives. Alternative B, said BOE President Dr. Eugene Karol, “looks like our best scenario.”

The plan would move 98 students living in the Summer City subdivision from BES to Plum Point Elementary School (PPES). An additional 19 students from a section adjacent to Route 261 referred to as “The Panhandle”—located south of the Town of Chesapeake Beach—would also be transferred to PPES. No other elementary schools would be involved. The projected student population for BES under Alternative B would be 615 while the PPES enrollment woul