By Adam Pagnucco.
MCPS’s boundary studies in the vicinities of the new Woodward High School in North Bethesda and the new Crown High School in Gaithersburg are stoking massive controversy among many parents all across the county. Kensington and Potomac have emerged as flash points and they will probably not be alone.
Readers are asking me why this needs to happen. Well, one reason is that when a new high school is built, boundaries need to be redrawn. After all, why should MCPS open a school and then not assign any students to it? But in the case of Crown, there is a ticking clock that even MCPS cannot ignore. And that clock is ticking down to zero.
Let’s look at Crown’s vicinity, which in the context of MCPS’s boundary study accounts for all areas between Potomac, Poolesville and Damascus. Most high schools in the study area are currently over capacity, including Churchill (where 2023-24 enrollment is 110% of capacity), Clarksburg (118%), Gaithersburg (102%), Northwest (108%), Poolesville (111%), Quince Orchard (124%) and Richard Montgomery (107%) and enrollments are projected to grow. Expanding Damascus HS, which has been delayed, will help but would probably be inadequate. So MCPS has to do something about this.
But why must MCPS build a new high school rather than add one or more expansions, which might be cheaper? To gain insight into this, we have to go back two decades to the time when what was once known as Crown Farm was developed. The 182-acre farm was a vast tract south of the I-270/I-370 interchange near the existing Rio development. The city planned to annex the land for a combination of commercial development and thousands of housing units. Today, it’s called Downtown Crown and is one of Gaithersburg’s most prominent town centers.
Crown Farm’s location, from the City of Gaithersburg’s website.
The site had huge economic promise but it required infrastructure to support thousands of new residents. So when the city voted to annex it, it struck an annexation agreement with the developer mandating that the site would include right-of-way for transit, parking, roadways, LEED certification, a park, preservation of historic structures, a school and other amenities.
The school site shown in the annexation agreement.
The annexation agreement contained this language regarding the school site:
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MCPS shall be deemed to be ready to begin construction of the school when the school is fully funded for construction in the first two (2) years of the applicable Montgomery County Capital Improvement Program. Gaithersburg acknowledges that it has obtained confirmation from MCPS that MCPS has agreed to accept the parcel as proposed and shown on the Approved Sketch Plan and described in this Agreement as a site for the construction of a public high school. Gaithersburg agrees that when the construction of the public high school is reasonably determined by MCPS to be needed to serve the students of Montgomery County, Gaithersburg will convey the School Site without cost or payment to MCPS for said construction. Any costs of said conveyance by Crown Village to Gaithersburg or by Gaithersburg to MCPS shall be paid by Gaithersburg…
In the event that MCPS does not move forward with the construction of a high school on the School Site within twenty (20) years of the “Effective Date of this Annexation,” as said term is hereinafter defined, Gaithersburg, at its sole discretion, may use the School Site for a public recreational amenity.
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The effective date of annexation was September 21, 2006.
So this means that MCPS was effectively receiving a 32-acre donation of land from the Crown developer and had twenty years to build on it. If the deadline passes, MCPS would risk giving it up.
The original Crown HS capital project was created in 2018 and included in the FY19-24 version of the county’s Capital Improvements Program (CIP). That project would have begun construction in FY21 and completed it in FY24. But the project was delayed in FY20 and FY21. The most recent version of the project starts construction in FY24 and completes it in FY29. It beats the clock, but more delays could trigger the language in the annexation agreement.
Look folks, MCPS doesn’t always make great decisions (anyone remember the electric bus contract?), but it would be absolutely insane to risk losing this parcel. Where else is MCPS supposed to get 32 acres for a school site near I-270 for free? What would county leaders think if they learn that MCPS walked away from this opportunity? It’s just not going to happen. When the terms are use it or lose it, it’s hard to blame MCPS for wanting to build.
All of this says nothing about the ultimate school boundaries MCPS will draw. That remains to be decided. But there will be a Crown High School, and that means there will be new school boundaries.