Berwyn Heights Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association

In 1949 a small group of parents organized the Berwyn Heights Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA). At that time there were thirteen pupils enrolled in three grades at the school. The three grades met in one classroom, and the kindergarten met in another. The Mother's Club for the kindergarten provided the playground equipment, and a group of fathers finished a basement playroom for rainy days, built tables on which the students could eat, built a swing set and a bicycle rack as well as repairing the building itself. The PTA supplied a telephone for the school and purchased a jungle gym for the playground. Prince George's County furnished a fire escape, new desks, new movable partitions for the classrooms, and painted the building inside and out. All of this was accomplished over a four-year period.

In 1950, the school faced possible closure due to low enrollment. Although the similarly named "Berwyn Elementary School" was nearby, the PTA lobbied to keep what would become the Berwyn Heights Elementary School open. In November 1952, a committee began developing the new school a modern community school with six grades and an anticipated enrollment of 125 students by 1954.

The Berwyn Heights Elementary School opened in September 1958. This new school continued to grow in enrollment and had a very active PTA, which sponsored annual events, such as a book fair, tulip bulb sale, and a Spring Fair.

Prior to the 1980-1981 school year the Prince George's County Board of Education held discussions on closing under-enrolled schools for budgetary reasons. Berwyn Heights Elementary and many other schools appeared before the Board of Education to plead their case. In the end, the Board of Education closed a number of schools, including Berwyn Heights Elementary. The PTA attempted to appeal this decision, but the county closed the school at the end of the 1981 school year. The following year the students were scheduled to be bused to Spring Hill Lake Elementary School.

From the guide to the Berwyn Heights Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) records, 1952-1981 (University of Maryland Libraries)