Back to School Brings New Buildings, More Students

Montgomery County Public Schools opened the 2011-2012 school year on Monday with nearly 147,00 students—its largest enrollment ever, a new superintendent and an updated curriculum for kindergarten through second grade, the school system announced in a news release.

“I am looking forward to another great school year for our MCPS families,” county school board President Christopher S. Barclay said in the release. “We are excited about the beginning of [new superintendent] Dr. [Joshua] Starr’s tenure and are looking forward to building on our past successes to make our high-performing school system even better.”

Most of the enrollment growth is taking place in the early elementary grades. As a result, 60 percent of the county’s 131 elementary school buildings are over capacity. With more students than the buildings can comfortably accomodate, 350 portable classrooms are in place countywide. The school system also completed 12 major construction projects this year to address additional anticipated growth. 

In Rockville,  has a new addition and Farmland Elementary has a new building that includes "environmentally-sustainable features."

Redland Middle School underwent renovations to expand and improve classroom space.

It wasn’t all about where to sit. The updated curriculum for kindergarten through second grade—called Curriculum 2.0—"allows more time for all subject areas and focuses on developing students’ creative and critical thinking skills," according to the release.