By Adam Pagnucco.
Below are the top ten stories on Montgomery Perspective in May 2025, ranked by page views.
1. MCPS’s Insane Boundary Maps
2. Kensington: Ground Zero for the MCPS Boundary War
3. MCPS Announces Cell Phone Policy
4. National Housing CEO Calls Out MoCo, Maryland for “Poor” Political Climate
5. MoCo’s Income Tax: A Comparison
6. Don’t Leak! Or MCPS Might Sue
7. How Will the County Spend Your Money? Part One
8. Union Calls for Boycott of Montgomery County Conference Center
9. Albornoz: “I am Troubled by What Lies Ahead”
10. A Seriously Messed Up Process
My post on MCPS’s boundary maps was not only the most-read post in May – it was also the most-read post in the history of Montgomery Perspective. That’s not a big surprise to me as MoCo residents are MUCH more likely to know their high school cluster than their county executive, county council members or state legislators. In fact, if you were to describe MoCo society as tribal in nature, the use of high school clusters to identify tribes would not be off the mark!
What did surprise me is that MCPS did not appear to have a comms strategy for the day after these maps were released. They had to know they would be controversial, especially Option 3 (demographics). Why not game it out? Why not anticipate what would be said and have responses at the ready? Instead, the “strategy” seemed to be to just let parents read this site (and they did!) and then vent. Did that really serve MCPS’s interest?
The issue is far from resolved. More maps will be released. And MCPS is also conducting a program analysis. Consider what it covers:
MCPS is conducting a districtwide analysis of academic programs available to students. The goal of the study is to ensure that all students have access to high-quality programs and that programs available meet the needs of our community, industry demands, and maximize the use of resources.
This work has begun at the secondary level. The analysis includes middle and high school application regional and countywide magnet and lottery-based programs, Career and Technical Education programs, as well as access to Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Dual Enrollment courses.
Parents will be keeping a wary eye on what comes from this, especially since it could interact with the boundary study to significantly impact the Downcounty Consortium. That means MCPS’s dominance of community discussion will continue.
On to June!