The Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday approved Montgomery County Public Schools’ plans to replace JoAnn Leleck Elementary School at Broad Acres in Silver Spring with a new building.
Issues with overcapacity and aging infrastructure made the school a candidate for potential expansion in 2019, according to MCPS. The district later decided to build a new school that is proposed to be one to three stories tall at the same site at 710 Beacon Road.
According to planning documents, the building will have a three-story classroom wing and a single-story wing that will house learning spaces, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, a kitchen, offices, a community health clinic and other support and service spaces. In addition, plans include two internal, open-air courtyards as well as 25,000 square feet of outdoor play and learning space adjacent to the building.
The expected completion date for the school is August 2026, but that may be delayed because the project is included on one of two lists on MCPS’ non-recommended reductions for the fiscal year 2025-2030 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) Budget. Under the school board’s recommended CIP, the completion date for the replacement project was already delayed one year to August 2026.
The project is expected to cost more than $66 million and is now being considered by the County Council under County Executive Marc Elrich’s fiscal year 2025-2030 CIP budget.
Once completed, the new school will be nearly 110,000 square feet with a capacity for 925 students and 164 faculty – making it the largest capacity elementary school in the county, according to county planners who recommended the project’s approval.
Per the school board’s recommended fiscal year 2025-2030 CIP, funds that were initially destined for addition projects at Cresthaven and Roscoe R. Nix elementary schools were reallocated to construct a new school at the site of JoAnn Leleck Elementary to address overcrowding.
The elementary school currently uses 12 portable classrooms due to overcrowding and placing more portables would be “challenging,” according to MCPS. The school’s capacity is 723 students and this year’s enrollment is around 789.
Plans for the site also include a parking lot with 116 parking spaces, 40 bike racks and electric vehicle chargers. Environmental features such as improved stormwater management, a geothermal heating and cooling system and rooftop solar are also planned for the school, county planners said.
One unique characteristic of the school is that more than 70% of students report as walkers, planners told the board. The site redesign will include improvements to pedestrian infrastructure as well as accessible sidewalks and curb ramps that lead to the nearby Broadacres Local Park.
Also, the school has one of the highest rates– at 89.2%–of students who live in economically disadvantaged households for the 2024-2025 school year, according to MCPS.
Joann Leleck Elementary holds Title I status and is designated as a community school, which means it is allocated federal funds to support academic programs such as summer school, additional teaching professionals and paraeducators and family engagement funds, according to MCPS. As a designated community school, it serves as a hub that provides students and families with wraparound services such as mental health and social services.
Adam Bossi, a downcounty planner at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, noted the neighborhood surrounding the school scored “highly as a disadvantaged area” on Montgomery Planning’s community equity index.
“Seeing a major public investment to improve a community-serving facility here is really a great thing,” Bossi said at Thursday’s meeting.
Planners also described the school as “part of the fabric of the neighborhood.”
Surrounding the school are Broadacres Local Park, Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park, St. Camillus Church, St. Francis International School, Victory Oaks Senior Living community and residential neighborhoods of garden-style apartments.
Father Brian Jordan of St. Camillus Church, who was the sole public commenter during the planning board’s hearing for the project Thursday, said the parish intends to be a community partner in the project.
“We want to help as much as we can. It’s a great honor and a joy to have the progress and to have a new public elementary school,” Jordan said.
He also shared with the planning board parishioners’ concerns about traffic congestion and air quality issues that could occur during construction.
A video rendering of the project can be viewed below.
