Schools are bursting at the seams in west county

At Crofton Elementary, administrators are feeling the pinch.

Its meager parking lot can barely handle school employees. Parents complain about trouble calling in; the school's three phone lines can't handle it. Office workers joke they need a third arm and another head to answer phones and unlock doors.

And pizza days get hairy, as the cafeteria struggles to dish out slices to 178 more students than it was designed to handle.

It's not the only west county school feeling growing pains these days. The Arundel feeder system's enrollment grew faster than expected this year, while the number of students who enrolled in...