Creating an agricultural sciences program, establishing a pre-kindergarten program, relaxing transfer policies — the Monocacy Roundtable Discussion Group has developed a variety of approaches to increase enrollment in the Poolesville school cluster.

"A lot of creative ideas have come out of the process," Poolesville cluster coordinator Sarah Defnet said. "There's a tendency to look at each approach as somewhat standalone or isolated, but the best approach will likely be a combination."

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast recommended in October closing Dickerson's Monocacy Elementary School and consolidating it with Poolesville Elementary, the only other elementary school in the cluster, at the end of the school year due to projected enrollment declines at both schools — a move he said would save $1 million per year.

The recommendation galvanized residents in the rural upcounty, who said the proposed time frame denied them due process. The county Board of Education concurred in November, rejected the proposed closure and created the roundtable group.

Although the 18-member group — which includes the Poolesville cluster and adjacent Clarksburg and Northwest cluster representatives as well as representatives of the towns of Poolesville and Barnesville — will not be developing a recommendation, members were generally in agreement at a meeting last month about which approaches they favored.

"In the end it's kind of a testament to that when something makes sense, it makes sense to everybody, regardless of perspective," said Barnesville representative Barbara Davidson, an education consultant and former teacher. "Those from the neighboring clusters have really put themselves in our situation."

The most popular approaches were to keep Monocacy open with no changes; allow more students to transfer into the Poolesville cluster; and create an agricultural sciences, global ecology or math and science magnet program at cluster elementary and middle schools, according to roundtable members.

Other suggestions were to create a Board of Education policy stating that schools in the Agricultural Reserve — 93,000 acres in the rural upcounty where development is restricted to preserve farming — will not be held to the same enrollment standards as other county schools; to place students in kindergarten through second grade in Monocacy Elementary and students in third through fifth grades in Poolesville Elementary; to create a virtual school at Monocacy serving homeschooled and other students; to add a prekindergarten program or an autism program at Monocacy; to add an English for Speakers of Other Languages support center at Monocacy that would also serve students in the surrounding clusters; to create an elementary school consortium in the Clarksburg, Northwest and Poolesville clusters; to create a performing and visual arts magnet program at Poolesville cluster elementary and middle schools; to create a language immersion program at Poolesville cluster elementary and middle schools; to reduce tuition for Frederick County students enrolled at Monocacy; and house a charter school at Monocacy.

No representative suggested conducting a boundary study.

The roundtable, which began in March, will meet once more before proposals are presented to the public May 24.

It will send a report to the superintendent and school board in June. The superintendent will make a new recommendation in October and the board will hold a public hearing and vote on the recommendation the following month.

A public information meeting on the approaches to increasing enrollment in the Poolesville cluster developed by the Monocacy Roundtable Discussion Group will be held 7:30 to 9 p.m. May 24 in the John Poole Middle School cafeteria, 17014 Tom Fox Ave. in Poolesville. For more information, visit www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/

departments/planning/

CommunityInfo_Roundtable.shtml.