Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Taylor, Ed.D., will request $2.704 billion to upgrade school facilities under his Capital Improvements Program and budget.
Part of his plan includes eventually closing Silver Spring International Middle School and instead using it as a holding school, where students could go if their own school is under construction.
Taylor previewed his fiscal year 2027-2032 plan Monday evening at the school district building in Rockville.
Tables in the school board room held dented cans, duct tape, and gum to represent kicking the can down the road on infrastructure projects and that MCPS has been “operating as a school system on chewing gum and duct tape,” Taylor said.
“Our facility condition is in fact declining,” Taylor said. “And the sad part about this is that it’s not just declining, but it’s getting worse and worse and worse every year because the gap in the resources we have to fill is continuing to widen each year.”
Holding Schools
“The safest way to deliver a construction project is to take kids off of the construction site,” Taylor said. “And to move them to another facility where construction isn’t happening.” This is typically done through holding schools, but, there are currently no secondary holding schools.
“As much as we would love to tackle some of the big pieces of our capital improvement needs, like refurbishing Wootton High School or Magruder High School, it is impossible to do that when the kids are in the building, and so having some type of holding school to fulfill that need will make those projects possible.”
Is Silver Spring International a Holding Solution?
One proposal is to use the Silver Spring site, located on the 300 block of Wayne Avenue, as a holding school for secondary education. The international school’s campus would be absorbed into Eastern and Sligo middle schools, both of which Taylor recommended be updated.
“The condition of Silver Spring International Middle School is not great,” Taylor said.
“Its location is not awesome.” It is the site of the old Blair High School. Taylor said the new Blair was built because the SSIMS site was not sufficient, but then MCPS put more kids in it — “probably wasn’t the best move, but that was a decision made 20 years ago.”
Also, the Purple Line is right in front of the school — “that is probably not a great location for an ongoing and existing school, but it is probably a decent location for a holding school.”
Ahead of Monday evening’s presentation, Taylor spoke to SSIMS families in a Zoom meeting to share his plan.
Proposed Projects
Major projects under Taylor’s plan include:
- Eastern Middle School replacement, adding capacity to absorb some of SSIMS
- Sligo Middle School addition and renovation, adding capacity to absorb some of SSIMS
- Piney Branch Elementary School replacement
- Burning Tree Elementary School replacement
- Cold Spring Elementary School replacement
- Highland View Elementary School replacement
- Damascus High School replacement
- Sligo Creek Elementary School replacement
Most of the projects are estimated to be done in August 2031.
HVAC
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning is one of the biggest pain points, Taylor said. MCPS is $740 million behind in HVAC projects, and more than 40 HVAC systems are not functioning properly. When HVAC is not working properly and it is hot and humid outside, mold happens — “and we have had our fair share of mold in MCPS this year.”
MCPS should be fixing 12 HVACsystems per year but has only done five replacements a year because “we’ve run out of money,” he said.
Enrollment
Enrollment in the county’s public schools is declining, Taylor said. The percentage of households with kids has dramatically reduced, he said. The school system is down 2,600 students from last year.
“This is significant,” said Taylor. “This is a big hit to our community.”
Specifically, Kindergarten enrollment is down. International enrollments are also sharply down, and enrollment is projected to decrease each year over the next several years.
“Even though enrollment is dropping, it doesn’t change the size of our portfolio,” Taylor said.
Public Comment
Taylor will host listening sessions on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22. The public can also give feedback during school board hearings on Oct. 23 and Oct. 28.
