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Monocacy Elementary School will remain open for at least another year after the Montgomery County school board chose a different procedural process for deciding whether to close the school than proposed by the superintendant.

The board unanimously voted Thursday night to adopt an alternate resolution proposed by board member Judy Docca to create a roundtable discussion group of representatives from the Poolesville, Clarksburg and Northwest clusters to come up with options for increasing enrollment at Monocacy and in the entire Poolesville cluster. Student member Tim Hwang could not vote but said he also supported Docca's resolution. The group will prepare a report in the late spring or early summer and present it to the superintendant, who will make a recommendation to the board in the fall.

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast announced Oct. 23 his recommendation to close the Dickerson school and consolidate it with Poolesville Elementary by August due to projected enrollment declines at both schools, a move he said would save $1 million per year, mostly from eliminating 11 staff positions though all employees would be given the opportunity to transfer. The recommendation galvanized residents in the rural upcounty, who said the proposed timeframe denied them their right to due process and provided an inadequate amount of time to study the issue.

Board members concurred and said the proposed process was not open, honest, transparent or respectful of the community, and more time was needed to make a decision on how to address the school's declining enrollment.

"This is about community involvement and fair treatment," said board member Phil Kauffman. "[The community] felt that the superintendant's recommendation did not afford them appropriate respect, and I think they're right."

Weast said there is no money to implement a special program at Monocacy and the only viable alternative to closure was a boundary study, which he said would likely be met with opposition from other clusters. He also told the board more budget cuts would be coming and they would have to find a way to make up the projected savings from closing the school.

"I am not adverse to the Poolesville cluster. We're trying to get students in this cluster. But I have to remind you that you have a severe budget problem," Weast said. "...We looked at the adjacent territories and there's not a lot of student population. I think we, again, have to be clear and honest that there isn't an easy answer to this issue and it's not going to be solved by a work group."

Of implementing a boundary change, Weast said, "The transportation is going to be problematic in this budget."

The roundtable discussion group will convene in the spring and report to Weast in May or June, said Joseph Lavorgna, acting director of facilities management. The superintendant will make a recommendation on what to do about Monocacy's projected enrollment decline, such as a special program, liberal transfer policy, a boundary study or closure, in the fall for action by the board during the annual capital budget process.

A boundary study, if approved by the board, would follow the usual process with any changes implemented by August 2012 at the earliest.