In recent years, Montgomery County’s population growth has created hard choices for public school system leaders who find themselves faced with the prospect of educating the largest student population in the county’s history. Nearly all MCPS schools, including WJ and the communities surrounding them, will be affected.
In short, we’re all going to feel it.
Not far from WJ, the future White Flint development that includes high rise apartment buildings will fall within our district resulting in more students. According to figures posted on the Maryland State Data Center website, Montgomery County’s population will jump from 971,777 to over 1.14 million between 2010 and 2030.This will impact the school community in both big and small ways –It will take more time to get to school on more heavily traveled roads and touch the very quality of the education we receive, such as class siz
Principal Jennifer Baker said the student population growth will eventually overwhelm WJ’s existing school facilities that were only recently renovated in 2010. Although that is several years away, the signs are already here. With 2,269 students currently attending WJ, the freshman class is the largest of the four at over 600, while the senior class is the smallest.
Additionally, County officials project that student population growth will require an entirely new elementary school that will feed first into Tilden Middle School, then into WJ.
Baker said there is a good chance future WJ students will likely have to be taught in the infamous portables.
WJ staff are already being squeezed by tight facilities. Some teachers must move from class to class because they have no set classroom of their own. Songtao Shu, WJ’s only Chinese teacher, has been moving from different classrooms since she first started teaching in 2011. You may have noticed her in the halls with her cart full of supplies for her next class.
“I just try to arrange this small cart and imagine it’s my classroom,” she said. “I really wish that I could have my own room.”
But growth has an upside, too. Yes, the portables may be cold in the winter, but a bigger student body means a more diverse student population with its different cultures and personalities.
“Growth is not always bad,” said Baker. “I think that we have a really vibrant community here at WJ and I love it. The more the merrier.”
So the question is this: How do we handle the oversized classes, the crowded hallways or the full parking lots? It’s a fact that we have to get ready. Even though there is a lot of time, administrators need to start planning now in order to get ahead of the issues and successfully improve the WJ community.
