Officials at Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) have been taking surveys and meeting with the community to ensure its enrollment plans for the 2027-2028 school year make sense and cause the least amount of disruption to student’s academic lives.
Under the current boundary study, many students will not continue at their current middle or high school but will be assigned elsewhere. The changes will take place due to the upcoming opening of the Crown High School in Gaithersburg, the expansion of Damascus High School and the reopening of Charles W. Woodward High School in North Bethesda.
At the same time, MCPS hopes to alleviate overcrowding issues as it decides which middle schools will feed into specific high schools.
The boundary study has been ongoing for some time and caused controversary as families learn of proposed changes.
How it Works
The new enrollment guidelines will begin with grades nine and 10 during the 2027-2028 school year. Rising 11th and 12 graders will remain at their current high school.
Then, in school year 2028-2029, implementation of the new feeder schools will continue with grades 9 through 11 followed by full implementation of grades 9 through 12 in the 2029-2030 school year.
“The time for growth is here, and we are ready for it,” MCPS Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor said.
According to Taylor, even though the changes will mostly occur around the new or reopened high schools, enrollment changes are expected to have a ripple effect. And the results could change school assignments for students who live in other areas not necessarily near those high schools.
Mapping Objectives
The four main factors affecting what neighborhoods will be assigned to which school clusters include creation of equal and diverse student bodies, proximity to where students live, stability of enrollment so changes remain minimal and fiscally responsible according to Superintendent Taylor.
He noted that most parents want to send their students to a nearby school with a relatively short time spent on a school bus.
Parents React to the New Maps
As with any change, parents are divided.
As one parent wrote to MCM, “As a Montgomery County parent and active community member, I support the MCPS boundary study—an increasingly rare stance. The conversation has shifted toward fear and bias, when it should focus on opportunity, equity, and long-term growth. While many parents rant and rave about proposed changes, I want to help balance the narrative. Our kids don’t need perfect conditions to thrive—they need fairness, flexibility, and adults who model resilience.”
Other parents went on Change.org and started a petition opposing one proposed boundary reassignment. It currently has garnered more than 2,000 signatures and deals with the proposed shifting of students from Wayside Elementary out of the longstanding Wayside–Hoover–Churchill cluster and into the Wootton High School cluster.
According to the petitioners, this change means “breaking up peer groups, lengthening commutes, and disrupting years of community continuity.”
For maps of the currently proposed Woodward High School assignments, click here.
Crown High School feeder schools can be found here.
The boundary study, done in partnership with FLO Analytics, cost more than $1 million.
