In 2019 and 2020, AIM led a successful campaign to completely rebuild two high-poverty elementary schools, South Lake and Burnt Mills, a victory worth $71 million. At these schools where the majority of students qualify for free and reduced meals, AIM organized with parents to secure after-school programs in 2018, and then continued organizing both in the school and local apartment complexes. 

Parents turned their focus to the unsafe and crumbling school buildings, which had broken heating, mold in the cafeterias, undrinkable water, and not enough restrooms. Students had to eat lunch as early as 10 am and as late as 1:45 pm because the cafeteria did not have enough capacity for all the students. The nurse’s office could only fit 2 students, although there were only 900 students in the school, and parents wanted to expand health services at the school. Despite being at the top of the Board of Education’s priority list, the County Council repeatedly removed South Lake and Burnt Mills from the budget in favor of schools in wealthier neighborhoods.

In 2019, AIM launched an official campaign to demand funding, bringing together South Lake and Burnt Mills parents and staff, tenants, and members of the Gaithersburg Beloved Community Initiative (GBCI). The team organized tours with Councilmembers to show them the unsafe conditions at the schools. At a school board meeting, nearly 200 parents and staff from Burnt Mills and South Lake showed up in person, with everyone standing in support whenever someone from either school spoke. The school board was deeply impressed–they had never seen two schools stand together like that before. 

AIM kept up public pressure by organizing a high-profile press conference outside the school when the Council initially backed out of its promise. Our persistence paid off: in December 2020, the County Council unanimously voted to fund the new school buildings. In 2024, South Lake and Burnt Mills students completed their first year in beautiful, safe new buildings.