LISTEN: Montgomery County Schools Facing An Enrollment Boom – Where To Put The Kids?

John Matthews
WMAL.com

ROCKVILLE — (WMAL) Montgomery County schools are facing an enrollment boom that is showing no sign on slowing down.

While growth has been seen in both middle and high schools in recent years, school officials are particularly concerned with growth in elementary schools, where the population has grown by more than 13,000 students since 2007.

The Board of Education needs to plan for those students as they move up through the school system, requiring more seats and classrooms in middle and high schools down the road.

The problem is keeping up with the growth.

James Song, the school system’s Director of Facilities Management, says it takes five to six years to build a new school, and that timeline is posing a challenge.

School officials predict that between 2015-2021 there will be 11 clusters with capacity deficit at the elementary level, 7 middle schools with capacity deficit and 19 high schools with capacity deficit.

To handle the current crush, schools have been converting computer lounges into classrooms, putting in new classrooms elsewhere and filling schools that were not already at capacity with as many students as they can.

Longtime Board of Education member Pat O’Neill says she doesn’t think the Board has enough money to build the room and schools needed.

“We are growing at a very fast clip, and the money is just not keeping up with the projects that we need to have in the pipeline,” she says.

The answer may have to be found by thinking “outside the box” – and that includes thinking of education outside the classroom.

“We’ve got to start thinking differently about career programs during high school, and where we house those programs,” said School Superintendent Jack Smith. “We’ve got to starting thinking different about facilities and what students will bneed in the future.”