There will be more than 1,000 new staff members in Montgomery County schools when classes begin next week.
As of Thursday, 1,042 new teachers had been hired in MCPS, 289 of whom are graduates of MCPS schools, according to school system Chief Operating Officer Andy Zuckerman.
Zuckerman said about 80 positions throughout the school system remain to be filled. Along with new teachers, 137 support staff and 42 administrators were hired.
With the opening of Snowden Farm Elementary School in Clarksburg — the only new MCPS school to open this fall — Montgomery County will have 207 schools serving approximately 163,000 students.
A final enrollment for the 2019-20 school year will be available after school begins, but Superintendent Jack Smith said MCPS anticipates “somewhere between 1,400 and 1,800 expected new students.”
He said enrollment in kindergarten through 12th grade could exceed 160,000 students for the first time, with an additional estimated 4,500 pre-kindergarten students.
Sixteen schools have new principals this year and three will operate with “acting principals” as their top administrators take extended leave, according to Kimberly Statham, director of the district’s Office of School Support and Engagement.
Six elementary schools — Damascus, Clarksburg, Laytonsville, Candlewood, Seven Locks and Bannockburn — will have assistant principals for the first time this year to help handle administrative functions.
The school system is operating a $2.66 billion budget for fiscal year 2020.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
