School Building Upgrades Recommended in Potomac

Montgomery County's public schools will see many improvements over the next decade. Potomac Elementary School, for example, has been programmed for modernization, but may be entirely rebuilt on the Brickyard Road property formerly operated as an organic farm, Potomac Patch reported.

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.

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

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

• Hoover Middle School: modernization approved, with August 2013 as expected date of completion
• Potomac Elementary School: modernization programmed, with January 2018 as expected date of completion
• Wayside Elementary School: modernization approved, with August 2016 as expected date of completion