Montgomery County has seen the number of enrolled students drop by 9,200 since the 2019-2020 school year, and that number is expected to fall by another 6,300 students by the 2031 school year.

The drop in enrollment in Montgomery County Public Schools has prompted one of Maryland’s largest school systems to consider closing and consolidating some elementary and middle schools.

At Thursday’s Board of Education meeting, school system staff described the process they will use to provide information to parents and the wider community through a series of in-person and online meetings, starting Oct. 19.

The sessions between October and December will include information on the criteria that will be used to determine whether to close or consolidate schools. There will also be a survey open from Oct. 19 through Nov. 4.

At Thursday’s board meeting, board member Julie Yang asked Acting Chief Operations Officer Andrea Swiatocha, “Are there a predetermined number of closings or savings that we are targeting?”

Swiatocha responded that there is not.

Board member Karla Silvestre referenced the impact of federal immigration policies on student attendance when she asked a question about it.

“International admissions has decreased incredibly in the last two years, largely because of political, national politics. That might come back — how will we plan for that or take that into consideration?” Silvestre asked.

Swiatocha said the school system will have to work to strike a balance between closures and leaving room for future capacity.

“We don’t want everything at 98 or 100% where we’ve left ourselves no ability or capacity to account for if we ever get the international enrollment bumped back,” she said. “That’s very much at the forefront of our mind.”

In February, Superintendent Thomas Taylor will make his recommendations to the school board. Hearings on the recommended changes will be held before the Board of Education makes its final decision in April.

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