The Oct. 13 Metro article “County school enrollment tops previous records”
brought needed attention to the increased enrollment and crowding of
Montgomery County schools. Our neighborhood school, Ashburton
Elementary, has capacity for about 650 students. Enrollment exceeds 900 —
representing a 57 percent increase
since 2007. Unfortunately, the county’s solution to crowding is to
build even bigger schools on existing sites. In fact, Montgomery County
Public Schools is considering an addition to Walter Johnson High School
to bring its capacity to 3,200.
This strategy is in sharp contrast to the “Final School Size Study Report:
Impact of Smaller Schools,” published this summer by the Maryland State
Department of Education. That report made the following
recommendations: elementary schools no larger than 700 children, middle
schools capped at a 900-student capacity and high schools to be built
for a maximum of 1,700 students. Most schools in our area are larger
than these recommendations already, and the county continues to approve
new development projects that bring in even more students.
Unless
the county gets creative, schools will continue to suffer from
crowding. The long history of high-quality education here will suffer,
and so will property values. The county needs to invest in more schools,
not bigger ones, before approving more development.
Shannon Ross, Bethesda
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/invest-in-more-schools-not-bigger-ones/2015/10/16/daa38f46-72b6-11e5-ba14-318f8e87a2fc_story.html
Are you kidding me? This would result in reduced congestion during rush hour traffic due to lesser number of buses.
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