Takoma Park leaders urge MCPS to rebuild Piney Branch with pool and larger gym

Takoma Park officials and parents told the Montgomery County Board of Education at a CIP public hearing that Piney Branch Elementary School should be rebuilt with its pool retained and a larger gym to serve students and community programs.

"On behalf of Mayor Searcy and the Takoma Park City Council, I want to reaffirm our city's strong support for the future of the Piney Branch Elementary School," Ward 4 Council member Kirk Gilbert said, thanking the superintendent for including Piney Branch in the capital plan. Gilbert and other speakers described the school as the smallest site in the county at 1.9 acres and said aging systems and classrooms lacking natural light are harming learning conditions.

The concern was reinforced by Council member Amy Wesselick, who said the school has had "no substantial revitalization" since it opened in 1971 and cited examples from parents and students, including classrooms with widely different temperatures and an incident when a redirected sewage line forced classes into stairwells. Both speakers asked the board to preserve the pool and to include an indoor gymnasium that "meets or exceeds the current gym size and allows for community use." Gilbert said maintaining the pool is important because learn-to-swim programs there have been lifesaving for many children.

MCPS staff told the board the current CIP proposal includes the pool in the scope for Piney Branch, but noted that on-site rebuilding is complex because the campus footprint is small and the topography and constrained buildable space increase cost and construction difficulty. Staff said any on-site rebuild would require moving students to a holding school while construction proceeds; the superintendent's proposal identifies Sligo Creek and Fairland or Grosvenor as holding options in other cases and recommends converting Sligo Creek for some projects.

Board members asked staff to return with further details on how the pool and expanded gym would be sited and how holding-school placements would affect families. The superintendent and staff said additional planning details and community engagement will follow in later work sessions before final board action on the FY27 CIP scheduled for Nov. 20.

Speakers at the hearing urged keeping community access to the pool and gym in any rebuilt design so that the school continues to serve as a neighborhood anchor.