The Special Education Learning Center Comes to Jones Lane

Just outside the doors of Jones Lane Elementary School are six portable classrooms built to accommodate the second grade and one music and one reading class.

The reason for the portable classrooms: Montgomery County Public Schools has permanently moved the Special Education Learning Center and its roughly 40 students to Jones Lane because of overcrowding at Rachel Carson Elementary School.

"The decision was made by the superintendent after a year-long feasibility study was done during the 2006-07 school year to consider all possible options," said Jones Lane Principal Carol Sample in an email.

"At the conclusion of the study, it was determined that JLES could accommodate the Learning Center program, which would eliminate the need to put an addition on both (or either) Jones Lane and/or Thurgood Marshall Elementary Schools."

Jones Lane PTA President Tracy Husted said there were several reasons why the second grade was chosen out of all the others to be moved to the portables. The staff felt that the kindergartners and first-graders needed bathroom access, as did the children in the Learning Center program, so it was not an option for them to be housed in the portables.

The third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms could not be moved, due to the Promethean whiteboards in their classrooms, said Husted. The technology in these interactive boards is extremely sensitivity and expensive, which makes them difficult to move without possibly damaging them.

In the end, the only option was to move second grade classrooms into portables. But that decision has angered some second-grade parents.

"There are some parents concerned who are saying, 'It's too bad that Rachel Carson is overcrowded, but now you are going to overcrowd Jones Lane more,'" Husted said.

Principal Carol Sample said the concerns about safety and overcrowding have been addressed.

"Change can be difficult for some," Sample said. "The one thing I can say for sure is that our parents have been very accepting and welcoming of the Learning Center program to Jones Lane Elementary School. We have known it was coming to our school since the end of the 2006-07 school year." 

In the 2009-10 school year enrollment at Jones Late was at 487 students.  MCPS does not have enrollment numbers up for the 2010-11 school year yet, but Husted said Jones Lane is now slightly over capacity.   But, she said, there isn't much that can be done, due to budget constraints and general overcrowding throughout Montgomery County. When the board originally decided to move the Special Education Learning Center to Jones Lane, it was under capacity and nowhere near as crowded as Rachel Carson.

"[Rachel Carson] had too many kids for their facility," Husted said. "More than the classrooms or the class sizes, it's the facilities like the gym and the cafeteria. They can't expand that; they can only have so many lunch periods."

To welcome the new students, Jones Lane renovated four classrooms that were previously used by the first and second grade. Inside each classroom, an office was also added to allow for a quiet place for both teacher and students to go.

"I can tell you that the students, staff and families of Jones Lane ES have embraced the change and enthusiastically welcomed the Learning Center program to our school," Sample said.

The portable classrooms are equipped with whiteboards and computers, but she added, "We hope to add more technology as the year progresses."