The attendance zones of local public high schools in the Silver Spring, Bethesda and Kensington areas would be impacted to various degrees under four proposed options for the enrollment boundaries of the new Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville, according to Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
MCPS presented its initial options resulting from its ongoing boundary study in an online session Tuesday afternoon, starting with four initial options based on the board’s four boundary priorities for the attendance area for Woodward, which is scheduled to open in 2027.
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 state and Massachusetts to conduct a school boundary study.
The boundary study is required because of the expected completion of three MCPS capital projects for the 2027-2028 school year, according to MCPS staff. The projects include the reopening of Woodward, an expansion of Damascus High School and the construction of the new Crown High School in Gaithersburg.
The boundary study is expected to determine the attendance areas for the three schools and alleviate space needs across the district, according to board documents.
Community members can explore the initial options through maps and data that are available on the MCPS boundary option website. An interactive map allows users to input their addresses to see how they would be impacted by each option.
The school board must adopt new boundaries by March 2026 to be in time for the start of the 2027 academic year.
Tuesday’s presentation focused on the boundaries for Woodward, which will impact Bethesda Chevy-Chase (B-CC), Walter Johnson and Walt Whitman in Bethesda; Montgomery Blair, John F. Kennedy and Wheaton in Silver Spring; Albert Einstein in Kensington and Northwood High, whose building is being rebuilt in Silver Spring. During the construction, Northwood students are attending classes at Woodward, which is nearing completion. This study also impacts 14 middle schools.
The options presented Tuesday are initial options, each focused on meeting the school board’s priorities for the boundary study: diversity of student populations, proximity of communities to schools, stability of school assignments over time and facility utilization, or student capacity, according to MCPS. The district is soliciting feedback from the community on the options and will return with more refined options based on the feedback, according to Tuesday’s presentation.
The high school initial options
According to the presentation, boundary options one, two and four define Woodward’s attendance zone as largely in North Bethesda and Rockville, pulling students from Walter Johnson, at 6400 Rock Spring Drive, and Wheaton, at 12401 Dalewood Drive, high schools. Woodward is at 11211 Old Georgetown Road.
In addition to pulling from the Walter Johnson and Wheaton attendance zones, option one also would expand Walter Johnson’s attendance area into South Kensington, North Chevy Chase and Chevy Chase Lake, which currently fall under the Bethesda-Chevy Chase attendance area. In turn, the first option would make the area between the Beltway and Colesville Road in Silver Spring fall under the B-CC attendance zone, instead of the existing Albert Einstein High attendance zone.
According to Tuesday afternoon’s presentation, most high schools would be at between 80% and 100% of their enrollment capacity under option one — except for Blair, Kennedy and Wheaton, which would then be above 100% capacity.
Option two also would expand Walter Johnson’s attendance area into South Kensington and slightly into Walt Whitman’s, which is located at 7100 Whittier Boulevard, attendance zone. Whitman’s zone would expand into Southern Brookmont and Friendship Heights Village in Bethesda. North Chevy Chase and Chevy Chase Lake would remain in the B-CC zone, which would also include the section of Silver Spring between the Beltway, Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road. Northwood’s attendance zone would expand into Forest Glen in Silver Spring, and Wheaton’s zone could include a section of Kennedy’s attendance zone as well.
Under option two, all of the high schools would fall between 80% and 100% of enrollment capacity and the majority of the attendance zones would have contiguous boundaries, except for a small area of Wheaton’s attendance zone.
Option three creates a Woodward attendance zone that includes North Bethesda, the area around Wheaton Woods Elementary in Rockville and the Layhill and Aspen Hill neighborhoods in Silver Spring, which currently are included in the Kennedy High attendance area.
Option three also creates several small islands of attendance areas for some high schools in the existing zones of other schools. That part of option three is designed to reduce an existing disparity among the high schools’ enrollments regarding Emergent Multilingual Students and students who receive free and reduced-price meal services (FARMS), which is a measure of poverty. Under option three, enrollment at B-CC, Kennedy and Wheaton would be slightly above 100% of capacity.
Option four is similar to option two but keeps Southern Brookmont and Friendship Heights Village in B-CC’s attendance area.
Most high schools included in option four would be at between 80% and 100% of enrollment capacity, except for Wheaton, which would be at about 120%; Blair at slightly over 100% and Walter Johnson, which would be at 77%. Option four would also keep current walk zones in their corresponding attendance areas for middle and high schools.
Whatever option is chosen, decisions concerning grandfathering to allows students in certain grades to remain in their current schools are up to the school board. However, MCPS staff said Tuesday that Superintendent Thomas Taylor supports implementing the new boundaries for grades nine and 10 and grades six and seven during the 2027-2028 school year, and allowing rising 11th and 12th graders and rising eighth graders to stay at their current schools.
Thomas also supports implementing the new boundaries for the 2028-2029 school year for eighth and 11th graders and for the 2029-2030 school year for 12th graders as well.
What’s next?
MCPS has released a survey so community members can provide feedback on the initial options. According to the boundary study timeline, the options will be refined throughout July and August, and another set of potential options will be presented in September and subject to community feedback. In December, based on the feedback, MCPS will provide Taylor with a boundary recommendation to present to the school board, which is expected to then hold public hearings on the recommendation.
MCPS is also set to begin presenting initial options for the boundary study for Crown and Damascus high schools, beginning with virtual sessions on Monday and in-person sessions set for Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the MCPS boundary study website.
