A new elementary school is opening in Frederick County in August of 2026. Until a new name is chosen, the school has been designated Elementary School (ES) #41. The new 882-seat elementary school will be located near the intersection of Route 144 and Mussetter Road in the Greenview Planned Unit Development in eastern Frederick County. 

In May, Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) released a digital update to local parents announcing the progress of the district study. According to this update, the primary purpose of the redistricting is to establish an attendance area for the new elementary school and to relieve overcrowding at Oakdale Elementary School (OES).

The school is being built and opened at a rapid pace because of the overcrowding occurring in Frederick County schools. OES, in the east part of the county, and Tuscarora Elementary School, in the city, are two schools at the highest capacity this year. OES is presently over 170% of its capacity. 

Communications Manager from the Department of Public Affairs at FCPS, Brian Oland provided insight on the redistricting process and which schools are a part of the ongoing study. There are five elementary schools that are part of the redistricting study and three middle schools.

“One of the goals of the redistricting study is to create an attendance area for the new elementary school and boundary lines, while relieving the capacity at Oakdale Elementary,” said Oland. “We’re in the process of doing that right now, and we’ll keep moving forward [with the study].”

The study also includes middle school attendance areas to establish feeder patterns with the new elementary school boundaries and to improve balance capacity across all middle schools. 

The rush on this new building stems from ongoing overcrowding in FCPS. According to FCPS enrollment and capacity needs, FCPS is the fastest growing public school system in Maryland.

The chart of the total enrollment from 1980 through 2025 displays continued enrollment growth in Frederick County Public Schools for the past 25 years, which is predicted to stay on a path of incessant growth. The future estimate for 2032’s enrollment stands at 52,964 students, approximately 12% growth from enrollment in 2022. FCPS’ enrollment has increased by nearly 10% over the past 5 years, while 18 other school systems in the state saw decreases during the same period.

In the last five years, multiple measures have been taken to address the issue of overcrowding in east Frederick County, including the redistricting of Linganore, Oakdale and Urbana school feeder patterns that was put into effect in the 2020-2021 school year and the building of Blue Heron Elementary School in fall of 2021.

In August of 2021, the addition of a new wing to Oakdale Middle School was also fast-tracked to provide additional classroom space. OES has added 14 portable classrooms outside of the school building to house 4th and 5th classrooms, a office and other academic support teachers. 

The newly built Blue Heron Elementary School reached capacity in its second year, prompting the construction of another new elementary school in east Frederick County.

Rae Gallagher, the president of the Frederick County Board of Education (BOE), provided insight on how the school is going to be built and what to expect of ES #41. Gallagher described how the school layout will resemble previously built schools, such as Blue Heron Elementary School, Brunswick Elementary School and Yellow Spring Elementary School. 

“We have used a similar prototype design for the construction [for] several of our most recent elementary schools, and I believe the new design will still continue to mirror that design … they are similar designs, and then they have to be adapted to the particular topography of the area where the school will be placed,” Gallagher said. “I don’t anticipate that [the design] will be significantly different from our most recent elementary school designs.”

The elementary school is set on an extremely quick timeline to be opened in August of 2026. This is a swift turn around for an FCPS school. Typically, the time it takes to open a brand new school is 18 to 24 months; ES #41 is only supposed to take 17 months.

“The goal is there and in place, and as long as everything is approved at the county and state level, the funding comes through and we are able to purchase the construction supplies [the school will meet its deadline],” said Gallagher. “As long as everything flows the way it’s supposed to flow, [we] don’t anticipate delays.”

The budget of the school has yet to be finalized and still remains crucial to the timeline of the project. 

“We are in the process right now of working on the overall guaranteed maximum price, which is what we do with our construction managers to help facilitate the construction of the building,” said Brian Staiger, the director of Capital Programs at FCPS. “But we’re estimating that it will be somewhere in the $60 to $70 million range.” 

Overcrowding in schools negatively impacts morale and affects other aspects of education, behavior, discipline, environment and comfortability. 

Justin Heid, math specialist teacher at OES, shared his observations with overcrowding at OES and how it has impacted the learning environment.

“It is very hard to manage the space … when there [are] so many students in the building during transitions,” Heid said. “It just makes it very difficult to transition through the building and it takes a lot of time to do [lead students,] which then will take time away from instruction.”

Overcrowding is a problem in over 17,400 schools nationwide. In the Frederick area, there are 19 elementary schools and four high schools (Frederick, Oakdale, Urbana, Walkersville) facing this issue. Future projects are intended to address this burden.

One solution to overcrowding in schools is to construct new schools to accommodate the growing community. The opening of ES #41 will be one step in attempting to resolve  this ongoing problem, but the BOE is addressing overcrowding in additional ways for the coming school year.   

“We are looking at all of the surrounding elementary schools, as well as the middle schools in the area, so that we can hopefully, in this redistricting process, [create] a more proactive plan for the continued growth and development,” Gallagher said. “Hopefully, as we’re rearranging which students are attending which elementary and middle schools, we will–at least for the next couple of years–not have to address additional growth challenges.”

FCPS welcomed the public to assist in the process of naming the new elementary school, ES #41. The form to submit a name suggestion closed April 25, and Frederick County residents were then able to vote from a list of preselected names. Some of the current suggestions include Bartonsville Elementary, Diamondback Elementary, Old National Elementary, Piedmont Elementary and Rolling Hills Elementary. The deadline to vote ended on May 23.

“[The Board of Education] will narrow it down, and then there will be a final decision,” said Gallagher.