By Adam Pagnucco.
In Part One, I laid out a first cut framework for determining which elementary schools might be targeted for closure. That framework included projected capacity utilization in the 2032-33 school year, projected capacity utilization in nearby schools and facility condition as measured by MCPS’s facility condition index. Using these factors, any consultant should be capable of identifying groups of schools that could be candidates for closures and consolidations. Part Two identified one group in Rockville. Part Three looked at a group in Chevy Chase and Kensington. Now let’s discuss a group in Germantown.
Spark M. Matsunaga ES and Dr. Ronald E. McNair ES have adjacent service areas in Germantown. By the 2032-33 school year, Matsunaga is projected to be 61% full and McNair is projected to be 65% full. Matsunaga’s facility condition index ranks 78th of 135 schools and features a roof in poor condition. McNair is in much better condition, ranking 19th. Great Seneca Creek ES, adjacent to Matsunaga on the east, is projected to be at 70% capacity by the 2032-33 school year.
All three schools feed into Kingsview Middle School and Northwest High School. Matsunaga also sends some students to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School and Seneca Valley High School, a complication that MCPS would have to address before taking any potential action in this area.
Matsunaga is projected to have 382 students in 2032-33. The excess capacity of the other two schools, each of which has superior facility condition ratings to Matsunaga, is projected to be 461.
Descriptive stats and service area maps for the three schools appear below.
Spark M. Matsunaga ES, Germantown
Enrollment, 2032-33: 382
Capacity, 2032-33: 622
Utilization: 2032-33: 61%
Last year renovated/modernized: 2001
Facility Condition Index: 0.535523 (78th of 135 elementary schools)
Dr. Ronald E. McNair ES, Germantown
Enrollment, 2032-33: 525
Capacity, 2032-33: 812
Utilization: 2032-33: 65%
Last year renovated/modernized: 1990
Facility Condition Index: 0.357438 (19th of 135 elementary schools)
Great Seneca Creek ES, Germantown
Enrollment, 2032-33: 408
Capacity, 2032-33: 582
Utilization: 2032-33: 70%
Last year renovated/modernized: 2006
Facility Condition Index: 0.493915 (54th of 135 elementary schools)
Great Seneca’s service area map.
Next: Gaithersburg.
Note: As I wrote in Part One, I have zero affiliation with MCPS and no inside knowledge of any plans on closures, consolidations or boundary shifts. If I were to ask MCPS about their intentions, I am 100 percent sure they would direct me to their public presentation and say, “No decisions have been made at this time.” My work in no way represents MCPS.