By Jonathan Jancewicz
The Montgomery County school system has seen an exponential growth of students over the past decade. From elementary to high school, schools across Montgomery County are more crowded than ever.
A study by the Washington Post showed over the past decade more than 20,000 new students have enrolled into the Montgomery County school district. The total number of students in the county is now up to 165,000, which makes Montgomery County the 14th most populated school district in the country.
In a 2021 analysis report of the county schools, the Montgomery County School Board announced that for the 2021-2022 schooling year it would not change any school boundaries to try to combat the overcrowding problem. The action of the Montgomery County School Board did not sit well with parents, students and administrators across the county.
To be able to make the changes needed the county needs to have a faster and more efficient system. Walter Johnson High School Journalism teacher Wendy Borrelli said the county needs to work with the local communities to solve the problem.
“I would say that the county needs to be better aligned with the communities it serves to anticipate growth and make adjustments to school buildings and staffing more effectively,” Borrelli said. “The current system is faulty and slow and therefore not in the best interest of the students we serve.”
Montgomery County is made up of over 500 miles of locations that vary in wealth, affluence, and socio-economic class. Towns such as Bethesda and Chevy Chase are towns of great affluence and wealth. While some other towns such as Wheaton and Fairland are more blue-collar and do not have the affluence of Bethesda. This inequality between towns in the county is heightened by the school system.
The cluster system links a group of public elementary schools to a group of public middle schools to a small group of public high schools. The system causes problems such as keeping wealthier towns separated from the poorer working-class towns. The cluster system has barred districts and schools from being able to share to students in case a school becomes overcrowded.
Right now Montgomery County has not taken any steps to help streamline its system or help the communities that are facing issues of overcrowding. After a year and a half of mostly online school only for the students, Montgomery County is focusing on getting students back into school. Studies by the University of Pennsylvania show that most students suffered a negative impact on their school and testing performance.
Some students are not happy about how Montgomery County has handled the issue of overcrowding. They feel that schools need to do a better job at giving the students more space and resources. Some students believe that the county and schools don’t even have to make major changes to the system but smaller changes to the schools. Walter Johnson Junior Quentin Williams believes that the schools and county should start out with simple solutions.
“It is a hard thing to fix but I think the schools could space out classrooms better and expand the schools for a start,” Williams said.