Montgomery County schools see ‘sharp decrease’ in student enrollment

...He said the school system is anticipating a loss of 6,000 students over the next six years. That would bring the enrollment figures down to 149,706 from a high of 165,267 in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the declining enrollment projections, Taylor said, “It doesn’t change the size of our portfolio,” referring to the total 238 school buildings in the school system...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2025/10/montgomery-county-schools-see-student-enrollment-drop-project-its-part-of-trend/

This is how @MCPS 6-yr enrollment forecasts performed recently: all ~200 schools.

This is how @MCPS 6-yr enrollment forecasts performed recently: all ~200 schools. Do they even know?  Why do we have to figure it out ourselves? pic.twitter.com/P0ebvEZeYF

— Brian Krantz (@briankinmd) December 12, 2018

4,057 Empty Seats: The Truth About MCPS Middle School Capacity #unusedClassrooms

Enrollment/Capacity/Utilization

If you watched the August 20, 2015, Board of Education discussion of the dire need for a new middle school to be built on a Kensington park site, you would think that MCPS middle schools were simply bursting at the seems. 

In fact, MCPS has approximately 4,000 unused, existing seats in middle schools today.   The image to the left highlights all of the MCPS middle schools with available classroom space. The actual available space varies depending on which MCPS chart you use.  

That's right, available middle school classroom space.

MCPS has so much empty middle school space that at Sligo Middle School they have given an entire wing of the school to a private company.  

Are Board of Education members simply unable to understand the basic math of classroom capacity?  

Let's take one set of MCPS numbers.

MCPS states that they have middle school classroom space to accommodate 36,315 middle school students.

Last year, MCPS enrolled 33,169 actual middle school students. 

Even using this set of MCPS numbers, there are still 3,146 EMPTY middle school classroom seats. 

That's at least the equivalent of THREE entire middle schools of empty classroom space.  

If you use the chart shown in the image above, there is the equivalent of FOUR entire middle schools of empty classroom space.

County Committee Orders Two Studies for MCPS Alternative Education Program

Opponents of a Montgomery County Public Schools’ plan to move the county’s Alternative Education Program from the Blair G. Ewing Center to the English Manor School property off Bestor Drive won a small victory Thursday afternoon.

 The Montgomery County Council’s Education Committee approved a plan Thursday that has the county’s school system looking at both the Blair site and English Manor building for the program that currently includes 138 students. The council committee agreed to allow the school system to spend $1.5 million for two feasibility studies- one that looks at renovating to Ewing site off Avery Road and another that allows the school system to check out if the English Manor property or another school system-owned site would work for the programming...

 http://www.mymcmedia.org/county-committee-orders-two-studies-for-mcps-alternative-education-program-photos/

ABC7: Residents battle MCPS over controversial bus depot plan

ROCKVILLE, Md. (WJLA) – Resistance is growing against a plan to build a new bus depot for hundreds of school buses in Montgomery County. The problem, some say, is that construction crews will have to demolish a functioning school and playground to make way for the new depot.

“This doesn’t make sense from any angle whatsoever,” opponent Jamison Adcock remarked. “Day by day, more and more people are finding out about this. The county council and the county executive, the Board of Education and the superintendent of schools all need to understand how angry they are about this.”

As it stands, Montgomery County Public Schools would vacate its Derwood bus depot by January 2017, moving roughly 370 busses to the Blair G. Ewing Center along Avery Road in Rockville. In turn, all 155 Blair Ewing students would relocate to the former English Manor Elementary School in Aspen Hill, which opponents say is older, smaller and in serious need of repair.

“Demolishing a perfectly good 85,000-square-foot building makes absolutely no sense,” Adcock added. “This site is less than half the size of the current bus depot. You can’t fit 10 pounds of sugar in a 5-pound bag and that’s what the school system is trying to do.”

Others argue fuel tanks could pose environmental concerns to nearby Rock Creek. Increased traffic from hundreds of busses and countless staff vehicles is another serious concern.

Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/01/residents-battle-mcps-over-controversial-bus-depot-plan-110985.html#ixzz3QFbhHYn3
Follow us: @ABC7News on Twitter | WJLATV on Facebook

Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton said she has said for years that Montgomery County Public Schools was incorrectly calculating school capacity

Rockville looks at changes to school rules

Rockville eyes changes to help get more money for schools

...The standards guide how the city determines whether potential development projects would overcrowd its schools.

But the standards have failed to either control school growth or draw funding from the county for school projects, Councilman Tom Moore said.

Moore wants the city to follow the county’s guidelines of allowing development that causes enrollment to hit 120 percent of a school’s programmed capacity, rather than Rockville’s standard of 110 percent.

The 110 percent threshold was designed to allow the city to request county money before a school’s enrollment hits 120 percent of capacity, with the money allocated to that school’s cluster more quickly, but it hasn’t worked, he said.

Moore suggested other changes. He wants developers to pay a fee for projects when a school’s enrollment reaches 105 percent to 120 percent of capacity. He wants the city to assess the average of all schools in a cluster rather than each school’s capacity. Also, the city should calculate a project’s impact on enrollment when a developer applies for approval, not when it’s approved, as is done now.

Older residents are moving out of Rockville and being replaced by younger families with schoolchildren, with 85 percent of the city’s enrollment growth coming from existing homes rather than new development, Moore said.

Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton said she has said for years that Montgomery County Public Schools was incorrectly calculating school capacity and that more students would come from existing homes.

But before any changes are made, officials must make sure parents and other stakeholders are aware of them before January’s public hearing...

 

Starr Doesn't Need Empty Middle School

Here's an entire MCPS middle school that sits empty.  
Could it be used to get current students out of classroom trailers? 

Superintendent Joshua Starr has told County Executive Ike Leggett that the classrooms aren't needed and won't be needed for at least the next 6 years, and so Montgomery County can use the building.

Should the Board of Education have discussed this decision, or can Superintendent Starr simply declare an entire middle school building useless to the needs of current public school students?      

  2014 Broome Middle School by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

By the numbers, MCPS isn't in a capacity crisis.

Not according to the State of Maryland. 

According to Maryland Public School Construction standards, MCPS has seats for 155,825 students. 

Current enrollment is 151,289.

  CIP15 Appendix J ( by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Capacity Crisis? Then why give away Classrooms?

The Superintendent and Board of Education are currently singing the "capacity crisis" song.
If the Superintendent and BOE actually believe there is a capacity crisis in MCPS, then why are they giving away MCPS classrooms to private businesses?

This picture shows a wing of Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring.

The awning imprinted with the name of a private business just went up on the outside of the school this year.

Why are those classrooms not being used for MCPS students? 

The Town Courier: Cities Evaluate School Overcrowding

The mayors and city councils of Rockville and Gaithersburg met on May 14 to discuss the adequate public facilities ordinances (APFO) in place in both cities and in Montgomery County. The conversation focused specifically on how APFO policies effect school overcrowding in the county.APFO policies are put in place to legislate a balance between the development of new communities and the existence of the infrastructure required to support the needs of these communities. For example, a new subdivision may not be constructed if the existing infrastructure — including roads, sewers, fire departments and schools — is not adequate to support the new community.
The May 14 discussion between officials from the two cities centered on the state of their schools. The city of Rockville’s APFO does not allow its schools to exceed capacity by more than 110 percent, while Gaithersburg’s ordinance allows its schools to exceed capacity by 120 percent. The Montgomery County APFO also allows schools to exceed capacity by 120 percent...

 “The system currently in place is not working, and we should sit down with the county executive and county Planning Board to figure out the best way to do this. Everyone involved has said that they would like to be a part of the discussion, and I would like to start the process this summer,” said Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz.

http://www.towncourier.com/2012/06/22/cities-evaluate-school-overcrowding/

School Capacity and Development on Planning Board Agenda for July 12, 2012

Subdivision Staging Policy Worksession #1: Schools and Local Area Transportation Review

A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… They of different names but same zip code (Gaithersburg/North Potomac 20878) educate their children in more than a few elementary schools, but for the purpose of this story, the main characters are Rachel Carson Elementary School (RCES - Gaithersburg 20878) and Stone Mill Elementary School (SMES - North Potomac 20878). **Travilah ES (North Potomac 20878) is an interesting but bit player due to proximity. Based on proximity to Rachel Carson, Stone Mill is only 2.8 mi as the Google crow flies; Travilah is 3.7 mi.

Now the Gaithersburg Town Courier posted on Facebook that RCES is at 137% capacity, the calculated number from their posting of 889 students in a school with a capacity of 649. Not noted, but according to the accountability office, RCES was 68% white in 2010, one of the few domains of majority White anywhere in the Montgomery County school system. RCES appears to be the poor cousin in the 20878 zip at 14.2% FARMS (Free and Reduced Meals) - a FARMS rate 2.6 times that of SMES; the majority of the 13.5% Hispanic children and the 6.6% African American children at RCES are in the FARMS category

Looking just 2.8 mi down the road, RCES parents might wonder why the closer-to-Potomac SMES is only at 86% capacity; only 593 students in a school that can hold 689. This school is majority Asian (48%) and White (39.8%), an astounding total of 87.8%.

What do the communities say? In these worst of times, would Stone Mill open their arms to the less fortunate, overcrowded of Rachel Carson?

Will the Board of Soccer - er, Board of Education - weigh in on this?

Face it Rachel Carson parents - you're not a focus/red zone school, so you're unlikely to get any help from your elected officials.

** Then again, Travilah Elementary School at 3.7 mi from RCES has even fewer students (at only 83.8% capacity), and a very similar SMES - like majority of White/Asian (88.4%), but an in-between FARMS @ 8.2%. DuFief ES, another over capacity school in the same zip/Gaithersburg, but not as overcrowded as RCES, might want to appeal to their neighboring Travilah community.

- Agnes Jones-Trower