First, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase school cluster's elementary schools needed expansion. 

Then, discussions about building a new middle school began.

Now, it's the high school's turn, and an addition to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School to increase the school's capacity to 2,400 students is under discussion, Bethesda Patch reported.

The Montgomery County Council already has approved partial funding for the project, in order to coordinate subdivision development in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area with school growth, Bethesda Patch said.

The school currently serves just over 1,800 students, according to the school's website. Enrollment is "projected to grow to almost 2,200 students by the 2017–2018 school year," according to the official meeting notes from an Oct. 9 work session about the addition.

The addition would be the size of a small elementary school, according to Montgomery County Public Schools staff, The Gazette reported:

The addition would be approximately 47,000 square feet. Design plans call for an additional 33 teaching stations, including 23 regular classrooms, two art rooms, a seminar room, multipurpose lab with ovens, and an auxiliary gym. Other options include artificial turf for the football field, which [Debbie Szyfer, senior planner for Montgomery County Public Schools] said would help meet the need for additional practice fields.

The addition would not include renovations to the current building, although the small size of the school's cafeteria (which cannot accommodate all of the students, many of whom leave the school campus for "open lunch"), was noted at the Oct. 9 work session, and MCPS will "assess if expansion of the cafeteria is possible," according to the official meeting notes.

Concepts for the addition's design include:

• Concept A: The addition would be located on part of the existing tennis courts. For this design, a raised tennis court structure would accommodate the six tennis courts and provide additional parking below the courts. This concept is "least efficient in terms of circulation and traffic flow through the building," according to the official meeting notes from the Oct. 9 work session.
• Concept B: The addition would disrupt two of the tennis courts, and would include raised tennis courts above a parking area.
• Concept C: A four-story addition would be located at the front of the building, creating a new front facade and interior entrance plaza for the school. Of the three concepts, it would be the "most efficient ... in terms of circulation and traffic flow," although some parking would be lost, according to the official meeting notes from the Oct. 9 work session.

A fourth concept suggesting the renovation or demolition of the west side of the school, in conjunction with building a fifth floor on top of the school, was proposed at the Oct. 9 work session. Project architects Smolen Emr Ilkovitch Architects are investigating this possibility.

A public work session about the addition will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. A community presentation will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. Both events will take place in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School cafeteria.

Read more about the proposed addition on Bethesda Patch, on The Gazette's website and in the official meeting notes from the Oct. 9 work session.