Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) held its first public information session and rolled out a community survey for its ongoing boundary study Wednesday night, detailing the timeline and gathering input for the review that will impact 19 of the county’s high schools.
“This is not a one-and-done meeting,” Ingrid Boucher, founder of MCPS subcontractor Bloom Planning, said during Wednesday night’s Zoom webinar. “We have multiple opportunities that we will be rolling out over the next several months, including participating in public information meetings like this one … [and] submitting your input via surveys.”
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. Bloom Planning, which was hired to focus on community engagement, is a Pennsylvania-based company that provides planning services.
At Wednesday’s community information session, Boucher explained the 14-month boundary study was necessary because of the expected completion of three MCPS capital projects for the 2027-2028 school year. 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.
“We need to go through a boundary study process in order to determine who will attend these schools,” Boucher said. “We also have some schools who are experiencing overcrowding, and this boundary study process will help to alleviate some of these challenges.”
Rebecca Laoch, a project planner with FLO Analytics, noted the boundary study was divided into two focus areas – one focused on the attendance area of Woodward High, and another for the attendance area of Crown High and the expansion of Damascus High.
The presentation also described the priorities for the boundary study, based on school board policy FAA – diversity, geography or proximity to schools, stability for students and building utilization. Robin O’Hara, senior facilities planner in the MCPS Office of Facilities Management, said the priorities are treated equally.
The first community survey, which anyone in the MCPS community can participate in, is centered around these priorities and determining which are most important to the community.
Wednesday was the first information session of the month and was focused on the boundary study for Woodward High’s attendance zone. The next information session focused on Woodward is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda. The Crown boundaries session is set for Monday on Zoom and Wednesday in person from 6 to 8 p.m. at Gaithersburg High School.
These initial community sessions are included in phase two of the study, which includes finalization of community engagement plans and collection of initial community feedback and is scheduled to last until the end of April.
Phase one of the boundary study, according to the boundary website, included finalizing the contract with FLO Analytics and creating teams to help with the project. Phase one lasted from January to February.
Phase three, which will occur from May to July, is expected to include introducing to the community the initial options for new boundaries for feedback, holding community meetings and administering a survey on the proposed boundary options. This is when the second community survey will be released, Boucher said.
MCPS will present additional or revised options based on the community feedback and input during phase four, scheduled to run from August to September. In September, a third round of community meetings and another survey will be released based on the refined options, Boucher said.
The final phase of the boundary study is set to last five months – from October 2025 to February 2026 – and will include finalizing the boundary options and developing a recommendation for MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor to present to the school board.
According to Boucher, 28 public meetings are expected to be held, although the first four information sessions scheduled in April will offer much of the same information.
Adnan Mamoon, deputy chief of facilities management, said Taylor’s boundary recommendation is scheduled to be presented to the school board in January or February of 2026. The board will then hold public hearings before voting on the new boundaries.
