Proposal would close Montgomery elementary school

A small elementary school in rural northwestern Montgomery County would be closed under a plan presented by Superintendent Jerry D. Weast to the Board of Education, school officials said Friday.

Citing declining enrollment and the need to save money, the plan would send Monocacy Elementary School's students eight miles south to Poolesville Elementary School for the beginning of the next school year. That would be the first school closure in Montgomery County in more than 20 years.

Both schools, located in a sparsely populated area of the county west of Germantown, have seen declining enrollments over the past decade even as the overall size of Maryland's largest school system has surged to more than 140,000.

At Monocacy Elementary, enrollment has dropped from 298 students in 1999 to 176 this year, even though the school system tried busing students from the Poolesville area to boost its population. This year's kindergarten class has 18 students, according to Weast's proposal.

Poolesville Elementary's student population declined from 504 in 2001 to 387 this year. If the schools are combined, officials said, Poolesville Elementary would have a population of 525 students, still below its capacity of 549. A slight majority of Monocacy Elementary's students would have shorter commutes to school, officials estimated.

"The recommendation to close Monocacy Elementary School and consolidate its enrollment at Poolesville Elementary School is made after years of hoping that enrollment would turnaround," Weast wrote. He added that enrollment "has now declined to untenable levels."

Monocacy Elementary would be the first school to be closed by Montgomery since 1987, when county officials combined Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville with Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.

With money short, other school systems have looked to closures as a way to trim spending. The process is often fraught with emotion from parents, students and staff. Prince George's County proposed closing 12 schools this year but shuttered eight after strong protests at some schools. Loudoun County considered closing three but hasn't closed any.

Some of the closed schools in Prince George's were in poor physical condition or had poor academic records in addition to being under-enrolled. But Monocacy Elementary's academic performance is strong. Over 90 percent of its students passed state exams in reading and math, and the school, built in 1961, was modernized in 1989.

"I am aware of how difficult it can be for a community to have a school closed," Weast wrote in the proposal. "However, I believe the educational benefits for students who will be consolidated at Poolesville Elementary School are significant. In addition, the net annual cost savings of one million dollars ¿ that will result from the closure of Monocacy Elementary School ¿ is a major benefit as well. In this difficult budget environment we must take actions that can reduce costs."

The county's proposal didn't itemize the cost savings, but it did note that "administrative and support staff costs can be significantly reduced." The fates of those staffers was not included.

"Our Office of Human Resources will work with the staff to find other positions for employees displaced by the closure," Brian Edwards, Weast's chief of staff, said in an e-mail.

The proposal notes that enrollment at both schools is projected to continue falling because there is little major development planned for that part of the county. But with the population of most other parts of the county on the rise, no other schools are expected to be closed under Weast's proposal.

Public hearings for the plan are scheduled for January and February, prior to a final vote by the Board of Education in March.