DCC fails to decrease Blair's population next year

Because of its overwhelming popularity among eighth graders within the downcounty region, Blair will be overcrowded next school year, acquiring 91 more freshmen than initially predicted in March, according to recent Downcounty Consortium (DCC) numbers.

Blair will enroll 81 fewer freshmen than the 903 in September 2003, and the total population will be 3,350 students next year, six fewer than September's 3,356. The population will be about the same next year because the current number of freshmen is much larger than the number of graduating seniors. DCC Senior Planner Bruce Crispell confirmed that although Northwood High School will be reopened to help displace students from Blair, Blair's population will be higher than last fall's predictions of 3,225 students for 2004-05, which did not include Magnet and Communication Arts Program (CAP) students living outside of the DCC.

School zones permanently changed as a result of the DCC, where half of the eighth graders at Silver Spring International Middle School were reassigned Northwood as their home school instead of Blair.

Blair will be about 520 students over capacity, but would be even more overcrowded had the DCC not been initiated, according to Crispell. The "MCPS Schools at a Glance" report release before initiation of the DCC in 2000 projected that Blair's population would be 3,393 for 2004-05, 45 more than what Blair will have.

Principal Phillip Gainous was displeased with the numbers, as alleviating Blair's overcrowding was one of the DCC's primary goals. "I was expecting that we would lose more students," said Gainous. "That was disappointing." According to DCC Director Erick Lang, there will be a limit on the number of eighth graders that will be enrolled at Blair and Einstein for 2005-06.

The DCC's primary goals were to reduce student populations and to attract students to specifically focused learning academies at each DCC school.

MCPS Director of Planning and Capital Programming Joseph Lavorjna said that Blair's incoming freshman numbers could have been lower if more students had not been given their first choice school. "This is the first year, so it was a matter of, 'Do you let more kids have their first choice or do you limit the number of students in the high school?'" he said. About 91 percent of eighth graders received their first choice high school.

Crispell added that as the DCC adjusts and Northwood acquires more students in the next three years, Blair's population will decrease to the 2,000s. Northwood will begin next school year with only a freshman class and will gain an additional class each year.

The 822 entering freshmen all either chose Blair as their first choice or were accepted into the CAP or Magnet. All 73 students of DCC middle schools who did not receive their first choice had chosen Blair and, along with 13 other eighth graders, they are taking part in an appeals process, according to Lang. According to Blair PTSA Vice President Kathi Yu, the DCC "bent over backwards" to grant many students their first choice of school because of frustration concerning the boundary changes.

During the beginning stages of the DCC, Gainous and other principals from DCC schools hoped that eighth graders would choose a high school based on their interest in the learning academies it offered and not just the school itself. Because of Blair's appeal, said Gainous, having the initial choice of school instead of academy was part of the reason so many students will come to Blair.

Yu predicts parents will have "a little agitation" if overcrowding continues. "There's nothing [the PTSA] can do," she said. "We can put on the [PTSA] list serve, 'We1come to Blair, but please consider Northwood!'"

Similar to the DCC, a Northeast Consortium (NEC) consisting of Paint Branch, Blake and Springbrook High Schools was created in 1997 to decrease overcrowding at Paint Branch and Springbrook and to create focuses on students' academic interests.

Paint Branch Signature Coordinator Brian Eichenlaub said the NEC has been "pretty successful," citing significant student and parent interest in the academic signature programs (like the DCC academies), and the under-population of the NEC high schools. He also referenced "MCPS Schools at a Glance" population projections, which predicted Paint Branch's student population for the current school year to be 24 above its current amount.