Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is entering phase two of its boundary study, beginning a period focused on data analysis and initial community communication for a study that will impact 19 high schools, according to an MCPS presentation to the school board on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a concurrent analysis of academic programs across all schools conducted by MCPS staff is also underway, moving into a phase that will outline the realignment of programs, according to the presentation.
The Montgomery County school board approved a $1.3 million contract in December to hire FLO Analytics, an “employee-owned consulting” company with offices in Oregon, Washington and Massachusetts to conduct a school boundary study. The contract represented a revision from the company’s initial, less costly proposal and excluded a proposed analysis of district programs.
The school board must adopt new boundaries by March 2026 since new schools are scheduled to open in August 2027.
Though the program analysis was removed from the contract, the agreement represents an increase of about $300,000 over the maximum amount of the initial version, reflecting an increase in community engagement requirements, according to board documents.
The boundary study is required because of the expected completion of three MCPS capital projects for the 2027-2028 school year, according to an MCPS staff presentation. The projects include the reopening of Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville, an expansion of Damascus High School and the construction of the new Crown High School in Gaithersburg.
Northwood High School students are using the Woodward building on Old Georgetown Road in Rockville as a holding facility while the Northwood building in Silver Spring is rebuilt. The Woodward building is still under construction.
The boundary study would determine the attendance areas for the three high schools and alleviate space needs across the district, according to board documents.
While the program analysis was removed from the contract because the boundary study doesn’t include the entire county, MCPS decided to conduct its own program analysis concurrently with the boundary study.
“There is not a whole lot of enthusiasm behind the boundary study, maybe right at this moment, because it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of impact, and there are geographic parts of the county that need to be brought into the conversation,” MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor said. “But the reality is, is that the boundary study and its ripple effect will literally affect everyone in some way, shape or form.”
Boundary study
Phase one of the boundary study, according to Tuesday’s presentation, included finalizing the contract with FLO Analytics and creating teams to help with the project. Phase one lasted from January to February.
Adnan Mamoon, MCPS deputy chief of facilities management, told the board that the district has met several times with FLO Analytics to begin assessing boundary study data. The district also created a “cross-functional project team” including staff from the district’s facilities, transportation and food and nutrition departments, as well as a community project team with members of local community organizations. Both groups have begun discussions with FLO Analytics about current data to develop a community engagement plan.
That engagement plan will be presented to the board at its April 10 business meeting, according to MCPS staff.
Phase two for the boundary study in March and April includes finalizing community engagement plans, holding some community meetings and starting initial data collection and analysis, according to the presentation.
Mamoon said the initial community meetings are to help inform the public about the boundary study. The meeting related to the Woodward High boundaries is scheduled to be held April 2 on Zoom and April 8 in person from 6 to 8 p.m. at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda. The Crown boundaries session is set for April 7 on Zoom and April 9 in person from 6 to 8 p.m. at Gaithersburg High School.
“The first set of meetings are going to be just to orient the communities so that they know what’s happening,” Mamoon said.
Board member Karla Silvestre said the district would need to make sure the initial community meetings are handled correctly.
“It sets the tone for the whole process going forward. So, no pressure,” Silvestre said with a laugh.
Boundary studies have divided the MCPS community in the past, and Mamoon said MCPS has received community feedback about the difficulties of past boundary studies.
“Many of the community members have shared their frustrations about a lack of communication and trust in the process,” Mamoon said. “We’re going to be using this opportunity to try to do this in a much more comprehensive way.”
Phase three, which will occur in May and July, is expected to include introducing to the community the initial options for new boundary options for feedback, holding community meetings and administering a survey on the boundary options. MCPS will present additional or revised options based on feedback and input from the community in phase four, scheduled to run from August to September. The final phase of the boundary study is set to last four months – from October 2025 to February 2026 – and will include finalizing the boundary options and developing a recommendation for Taylor to present to the board.
Program analysis
For the program analysis, the first phase focused on data collection, including identifying programs, where they’re offered and the demographics of student participants, said Niki Hazel, associate superintendent of curriculum and instructional programs. The program analysis phases have the same timeline as the boundary study.
Now entering phase two, MCPS staff members are creating a program analysis advisory group. Hazel said the staff was hoping to develop, by the end of April, a “framework” for programs so MCPS is “very clear about what we want for all of our students in the district as it relates to equitable programming.”
Hazel said staff will be looking at the data within programming, noting that there are some programs with very low enrollment and student interest and others that have high interest and long waiting lists. The phase two framework would outline what equitable, accessible programming would look like, Hazel said.
“We are in a place where we need to make decisions about how do we ensure that those programs that have high interest and there’s high industry demand are placed equitably in our district,” Hazel said.
While the program analysis will eventually include elementary schools, Hazel said staff are currently focused on middle and high school programming. Taylor told the board it was important to “backwards map” programming to first determine the expectations of a high school graduate, then determine what’s needed to get there.
Phase three of the analysis will focus on creating a plan to implement the programming framework, according to the MCPS presentation. Phase four will focus on finalizing the implementation plan and developing a programming framework for elementary schools while phase five, scheduled to last from October 2025 to February 2026, will focus on implementation.
