Montgomery County Public Schools will consider redrawing some of its school boundaries, shifting high school students in the process, according to a report by the News-4 I-Team.
The changes, which are expected to be formally proposed Thursday by interim superintendent Larry Bowers, could shift students into or from the school district's popular Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville between 2017 and 2022.
Montgomery County schools are facing rapid increases in enrollment and growing capacity problems in its school buildings. The school system, which has deployed nearly 400 portable classrooms, reports particularly acute crowding concerns in its Gaithersburg region. Major new construction, including the ambitious Crown development near Interstate 270, is funneling even more families into the community.
The proposed redrawing of district lines would alleviate crowding at Gaithersburg High School and the elementary and middle schools that feed into it.
However, the formal proposal from Bowers does not specifically order rezoning or a redrawing of school district lines.
The proposal -- which will be included in a larger district building proposal to be released later this month -- would order a committee to be formed to consider plans to alleviate crowding in Gaithersburg High School.
The committee would look into enrollment and facility options in the Gaithersburg, Magruder and Wootton clusters. Members would include stakeholders from those three high schools, as well as the elementary and middle schools that feed into them.
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"As we deal with capacity issues throughout the district, we have an obligation to our community and our taxpayers to look at all options available to us," Bowers said. "I look forward to hearing from the roundtable discussion group as we consider the capital needs of these clusters."
