For the first time in history, more than 3,000 students entered WJ to begin the school year.
The total number, 3,028 (as of Sept. 30), is more than 700 students over the school’s capacity. This makes WJ the second-largest school in Maryland behind Montgomery Blair. Each grade currently has more than 700 students.
The 75-student increase from the end of last year warranted the addition of another administrator.
“I think getting an additional administrator was a huge help,” Assistant Principal Marjorie Cohen said. “Each [assistant principal] has about 450 kids under their alpha range, which is crazy. If we hadn’t gotten that extra administrator, I think that would have been a lot more.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 1, a lack of space was evident during severe weather emergency drill as some students were funneled into locker rooms, lengthening the time for them to reach a safe spot.
“I think that so many of us are coming together in the hallways,” senior Skylar Zheng said. “You see everybody pushing each other just so they can find room, and in this drill, we couldn’t find any room so we had to resort to using some of the classrooms. If an actual storm was happening, it would take us so much time to get into a safe environment.”
More than 300 seniors requested parking permits this year for 240 parking spots. The first 100 spots were given to students who travel for school-related programs while the other 140 were randomly assigned.
In addition to WJ increasing its size, the county raised the limit on the number of students per class with new budget cuts.
“We still try and do the best we can in terms of giving everyone the individualized attention they need,” Cohen said. “It just means everybody is spread more thin. We have a lot of new staff at WJ, but it doesn’t mean we got to hire more teachers.”
As the school has continued to grow, many students have become accustomed to the crowds.
“I’ve heard that there’s definitely more people, but I can’t necessarily tell,” sophomore Emma O’Hearn said. “Going up and down some of the stairwells is a bit more difficult.”
With so many students, WJ has less trouble filling upper-level courses than other schools in the county.
“One of the good things about being a larger school is because we have more teachers, sometimes we can expand and offer more classes or have a wider variety,” Cohen said. “So while classes might be big, we offer more AP courses than any other school in the county.”
With Crown High School in Gaithersburg and Woodward in Rockville set to open in 2027, many students will be redistricted which should lower WJ’s population.
