By Adam Pagnucco.
This year, the two biggest stories in MCPS (along with the problem-plagued background check program) are the boundary studies and the academic programs analysis. The former are redrawing high school and middle school boundaries to prepare for three capital projects (the new Woodward and Crown high schools and the expansion of Damascus HS). The latter examines the mix of specialty academic programs offered in high schools and middle schools. The two have long been interrelated, but now MCPS is effectively merging them. And that creates a new and crucial question:
What’s your MCPS region?
Consider this statement from MCPS’s Update on Academic Program Analysis, Region Realignment and Family Information Sessions on October 1.
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MCPS is taking important, coordinated steps to provide every student access to high-quality programs and learning opportunities — no matter where they live. The Academic Program Analysis and Boundary Studies are not separate efforts, but part of MCPS’ larger commitment to align planning and resources so students are challenged and ready for their future. Damascus High School (previously in Region 5) and Quince Orchard High School (previously in Region 6) will switch regions.
- New Region 5 schools: Crown, Magruder, Quince Orchard, Gaithersburg, Watkins Mill
- New Region 6 schools: Seneca Valley, Clarksburg, Damascus, Poolesville, Northwest
Program offerings will be updated to reflect these changes, and more details will be shared at the Oct. 16 Board of Education work session.
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How do these two studies interact? First, under the new regions model, it seems that multi-regional magnets (like the Richard Montgomery HS IB program and the Science, Mathematics, Computer Science Magnet programs at Blair HS and Poolesville HS) will no longer be offered. Instead, each region will include a number of high schools with each having a mix of academic programs. So while Richard Montgomery, Blair and Poolesville may still host those programs, the pool of eligible students will shrink to just those in that region.
And, unlike the existing Downcounty and Northeast Consortia, students will apply to specific programs at these high schools instead of the entire high schools themselves. The two existing consortia will disappear.
And so your student’s educational destiny will now depend on the region where your home is located. It also depends on the high school to which your home is assigned. See how the two intersect? For better or ill, this is a huge change for MCPS that will reverberate through generations.
Combining the above update with a presentation to the school board in August, these are the current proposed region designations for high schools.
Region 1
Bethesda-Chevy Chase
Blair
Whitman
Einstein
Northwood
Region 2
Blake
Paint Branch
Springbrook
Sherwood
Region 3
Kennedy
Walter Johnson
Woodward (New HS)
Wheaton
Region 4
Richard Montgomery
Rockville
Churchill
Wootton
Region 5
Crown (New HS)
Magruder
Quince Orchard
Gaithersburg
Watkins Mill
Region 6
Seneca Valley
Clarksburg
Damascus
Poolesville
Northwest
The new structure is particularly impactful for Downcounty Consortium (DCC) families. If you live in the Blair, Einstein and Northwood service areas and want to send your elementary or middle school kid to Wheaton or Kennedy, you would not be able to do so under this structure. Conversely, if you live in the Wheaton or Kennedy service areas and want to send your elementary or middle school kid to Blair, Einstein or Northwood, that would not happen. That’s one consequence of ending the DCC.
Also, for DCC families, the nature of choice is changed. (That’s the case for Northeast Consortium families too even though their high schools are not included in the boundary studies.) Instead of indicating a high school of choice, these students will have to apply to specific programs at high schools if they don’t want to attend their home high schools. How will that process work? Who knows?
None of this is a done deal at this moment. If you have a problem with this, you should speak up to MCPS and the school board right now.