School Modernizations, Additions in Bethesda and Chevy Chase

Montgomery County's public schools will see many improvements over the next decade. Many schools are slated for modernizations, some may receive classroom additions, and one school—Bethesda-Chevy Chase Middle School (No. 2)—has been recommended to be built.

Bethesda Now reported that the county's recent surge of enrollment is not due to new developments but to more kids being sent to public schools than to private schools since the start of the recession in 2008, to state-required full-day kindergarten since 2006, and to reduced job mobility (leading to fewer families moving out of the county), Bruce Crispell, director of planning at Montgomery County Public Schools, said at a Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board committee meeting Monday night.

Crispell added that all nine Bethesda-Chevy Chase cluster schools were over capacity, although Somerset Elementary School was over capacity by only by one student. "Crispell distributed projections at the meeting that showed all but one of those schools would be under capacity by 2017 because of the anticipated building of 944-student capacity Bethesda-Chevy Chase Middle School and planned additions or modernizations for B-CC High School, Bethesda Elementary, North Chevy Chase Elementary, Rock Creek Forest Elementary and Rosemary Hills Elementary," Bethesda Now reported.

Read more about overcrowding in Montgomery County Public Schools on Bethesda Now's website.

The improvements and changes recommended for Bethesda and Chevy Chase schools, according to an email newsletter—"The Berliner Brief"—from Montgomery County Council Member Roger Berliner, are:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase Cluster:

• Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School: classroom addition programmed, with August 2017 as expected date of completion
• Bethesda-Chevy Chase Middle School No. 2: new school recommended, with August 2017 as expected date of completion
• Bethesda Elementary School: addition (at Bradley Hills Elementary School) approved, with August 2013 as expected date of completion
• Bethesda Elementary School: classroom addition recommended, with August 2015 as expected date of completion
• North Chevy Chase Elementary School: classroom addition recommended, with August 2015 as expected date of completion
• Rock Creek Forest Elementary School: modernization recommended, with January 2015 as expected date of completion
• Rosemary Hills Elementary School: classroom addition recommended, with August 2015 as expected date of completion
• Rosemary Hills Elementary School: modernization programmed, with January 2021 as expected date of completion
• Westbrook Elementary School: classroom addition approved, with August 2013 as expected date of completion
• Westbrook Elementary School: gymnasium approved, with August 2013 as expected date of completion

Walter Johnson Cluster:

• North Bethesda Middle School: classroom addition proposed; expected date of completion is still to be determined
• Tilden Middle School: modernization recommended, with August 2019 as expected date of completion
• Ashburton Elementary School: classroom addition proposed; expected date of completion is still to be determined
• Luxmanor Elementary School: modernization programmed, with January 2018 as expected date of completion
• Kensington Parkwood Elementary School: classroom addition proposed; expected date of completion is still to be determined
• Wyngate Elementary School: classroom addition approved, with August 2013 as expected date of completion

Whitman Cluster:

• Bradley Hills Elementary School: classroom addition approved, with August 2013 as expected date of completion
• Burning Tree Elementary School: classroom addition proposed; expected date of completion is still to be determined
• Wood Acres Elementary School: classroom addition recommended, with August 2016 as expected date of completion