Julius West Expansion Plans Considered

A two-story academic wing, two single-story auxiliary gymnasiums and three classrooms on the lower level is the best option for the possible expansion of , a panel of parents, teachers, architects and community members said at a feasibility study meeting last month.

Julius West’s current enrollment is 1,038, which is 43 students over the 995-student capacity of the school building, according to Montgomery County Public Schools’s “Schools At a Glance”.

Studies project that 1,400 students will attend the school by 2015, said Julius West Principal Nanette Poirier.

“This is just a germ of a concept, of how the building would be added to,” said Jim Emr, president of Smolen-Emr-Ilkovitch Architects, Inc.

A more detailed analysis of the option will be conducted later, Emr said.

The study is one of several  as school planners look for ways to relieve overcrowding in the cluster's schools.

After introductory remarks from Poirier and Jim Tokar, a structural engineer and project manager for MCPS, Gary Mosesman of Smolen Emr Ilkovitch Architects went through various expansion options introduced in previous meetings.

“Construction is very much a big element because it has to be constructible in order to be feasible,” Tokar said. “It also has to cause the least disruption to the school while it's under construction because the school will be occupied.”

 The 14 people in attendance decided on the option by a vote and were allowed to ask questions about the options and the expansion process.

Karla Berggren and Jennifer Young, mothers of students at —which is feeds into Julius West, were among those who attended the meeting.

“I think part of the reason Jennifer and I are here is because our cluster is so overcrowded,” Berggren said.

“And that all leads back to here,” Young added.

The work session was the facility advisory committee's fourth meeting on the subject.

“There was good input that’ll go into the record for the following stages,” Emr said.

School planners and architects are scheduled to present the recommended expansion option at a Julius West PTSA meeting at 7:30 p.m. on April 12 at the school. The final recommendations for expansion plans at Julius West and at other cluster schools will be made by the county schools superintendent to the county school board in the fall.

Correction: This article has been revised. The original version did not accurately reflect the process for approving the expansion plans. This version changes the last paragraph to reflect the process.