Through the second half of this school year, Charles County public school system will take measures to reduce overcrowding at Arthur Middleton Elementary School, which is over capacity by 264 students.
Effective Jan. 2, 2025, the school system will implement a moratorium for two specific address blocks in the current Arthur Middleton Elementary School zone. Families moving to those addresses, which are zoned for Middleton Elementary, will not be allowed to transfer into the school.
Superintendent Maria V. Navarro approved the moratorium to alleviate overcrowding, a release from the school system said.
The current enrollment at Middleton is 771 students, which is 264 students over the building’s state-rated capacity of 507 students.
Current enrollment at Dr. Gustavus Brown Elementary, which is located about a mile from Middleton’s campus and is also located within the Carrington community of St. Charles, is 398 students.
Brown Elementary’s state-rated capacity is 493 students, which leaves space for 95 additional students, according to the school system.
"The moratorium will ensure class sizes remain stable," the release said.
The school system has already added six relocatable classrooms to the Middleton school campus and is converting some media center space to accommodate an additional third-grade class. However, these additions are not factored into the state rated capacity for Middleton.
Mike Heim, the chief of operations for Charles public schools, told Southern Maryland News, “Middleton Elementary School exceeded its state-rated capacity in 2019-2020. CCPS submitted for planning and design funding for Margaret Jamieson Thornton Elementary School in 2019 to provide relief for Middleton Elementary School and surrounding elementary schools.”
The moratorium will be in place Jan. 2, 2025, for Block 2643 in the Gleneagles South and Stone Haven neighborhoods, and Block 2711 in the Highlands neighborhood and areas along Demarr Road.
These blocks are in areas located off St. Charles Parkway in White Plains that are experiencing rapid growth. Any student moving to these blocks on or after Jan. 2, 2025, will be registered to attend Dr. Gustavus Brown Elementary School for the remainder of the 2024-25 school year, the release said.
Effective with the opening of Margaret Jamieson Thornton Elementary School in August 2025, students living in these blocks will attend the new school, including some of those who currently attend Middleton.
“Brown Elementary School is currently under its state-rated capacity by 86 students. The average class size at Brown Elementary School is smaller compared to class sizes at Middleton Elementary School. Brown also has four relocatable classrooms,” Heim said in response to the concern of whether Brown could become overcrowded.
The school system will coordinate transportation to Brown Elementary for any new students with families moving into the two identified moratorium blocks next year.
This is not the first time the school system has used a moratorium, according to Heim. Former Superintendent Kimberly Hill approved a moratorium in June 2016 to help alleviate overcrowding at Milton M. Somers Middle School. The moratorium was lifted after the countywide middle school redistricting plan took effect in 2022.
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