WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Schools throughout the DC-area have their own unique set of challenges as the first day of school grows ever closer, but one common thread seems to be an ever-growing student population.

“We’re going to have a record number of students, more than 80,000 for the first time ever,” said Anne Arundel Schools Spokesman Bob Mosier. “It’s not an unexpected number. Our projections have been trending that way for a number of years. We’ve been slowly but steadily trying to add staff and reallocate positions over the years, not just this year.”

Six schools undergoing renovations and construction work will be opening a day late, Mosier said. They’re also trying to fill some last-minute teacher positions.

“We’re making the final push, like every school system is. This is the time of year when you try to push down the accelerator and try to get those things done.”

School districts throughout the region have been grappling with an incessantly growing student population. In Loudoun County, a new high school is opening in time for the first day on August 31.

“It’s going to be a lot of last-minute touches on it, but it is basically done. Faculty and staff are in,” Loudoun County Schools Spokesman Wayde Byard said. “The facilities are ready, but we’re still doing a little outside work.”

They’re also looking at some last-minute teaching vacancies. “We still have a few hard-to-fill positions in Special Education, which is usually the norm for this time of year throughout the region,” Byard said. “We do have trained substitutes ready to go, though so we will be fully staffed when school opens.”

Loudoun County is now teaching 77,000 students, with about 2,000 more coming in each year, Byard said.

‘We are annually the fastest growing jurisdiction in Virginia. We’re number three in the state now. We have 88 schools, 44 of which have been built since 2000,” Byard said. “Half the fleet has been built within the past 15 years.”

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