Incoming class still too large

Blair will be just as overcrowded next school year despite the reopening of Northwood and the beginning of the Downcounty Consortium (DCC). Specific estimates vary among school officials as to the severity of the overcrowding.

According to DCC Senior Planner Bruce Crispell, preliminary numbers released in February indicated that Blair, including Communication Arts Program (CAP) and magnet freshmen, will have 732 freshmen next school year, 171 fewer than the current freshman class. Crispell said the total population will be 3,260 students. ESOL resource teacher Joseph Bellino said Crispell's number represents only two fewer students than the current population.

Academy Coordinator Susan Ragan said that the preliminary count done by the DCC office did not include magnet students who do not live in the DCC or students who will move to the DCC over the summer and may want to attend Blair. Ragan anticipates about 850 freshmen for next year, only 53 fewer than the number of entering freshmen this year.

According to Kathi Yu, PTSA Vice President of Academic Achievement, initial numbers indicate that there will be 905 freshmen next school year, nine more than this year. There will be 730 incoming students in addition to the 175 students who were accepted into the CAP and the Magnet this month.

Principal Phillip Gainous said that there will not be a significant enough change in the overcrowding at Blair for next school year but believes changes will occur in the future. "We're going to be pretty much the same size," he said. "On the one hand, it's flattering that more students chose Blair, but on the other hand, we're not going to be relieved with overcrowding."

The DCC's primary goals, according to Director Erick Lang, were to reduce Blair's overcrowding by reopening Northwood High School and creating specific learning academies to make students more engaged.

Noticeable change in Blair's population will not occur until Northwood High School acquires students over several years, according to Lang. "It will take more time to reduce population at Blair," he said. "[But] I don't see it as a problem at this point because there are a lot of students who will be shifting."

Others, such as Ole Varmer, co-president of the Silver Spring International Middle School PTSA, were skeptical about the DCC's ability to alleviate Blair's overcrowding. "I don't have faith it's going to improve the current situation," Varmer said. "I don't see how this is going to reduce overcrowding at Blair."

In addition, some members of Blair's PTSA have issues with the number of students receiving Free and Reduced Meals (FARMs) who are in the DCC, according to Yu. "I am very concerned that the DCC was created out of the highest FARMs-rate schools," said Yu. "I think other schools should've been in the mix." For example, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School is located closer to Blair than two of the four other DCC schools. FARMs rates for the incoming freshman class have not yet been released.

Eighth grader Maria Guerrero, a student at Takoma Park Middle School who plans to attend Northwood next year, said most of her classmates were interested in attending Blair. "When [the school] first told me about the DCC, I thought it would work, then everyone wanted to go to Blair," said Guerrero. She also noticed that many students chose to go to a school with their friends.

Lang said that considering that next year is the first year of the DCC, the process is going well so far, and he references the success of the Northeast consortium at Paint Branch, Springbrook and Blake high schools.

If an eighth grader did not receive his or her first-choice school and attends a DCC middle school but lives outside of the DCC or is a new enrollee, he or she will participate in a second round of the choice process this month.