Superintendent reverses self on student growth

Superintendent Jerry Weast has reversed himself again – this time on the growth of the Montgomery County public school population. Weast and the Board of Education insisted that the public school population was going to continue to increase, which was one of their reasons for trying to run over the Seven Locks community by demolishing their school, turning the land into a high-density housing development, and building the triple-sized Kendale school a mile away on a wooded wildlife habitat.

Community leaders were outraged, saying that Weast and the county had the demographic trends wrong, and that "said it was time the Montgomery school system moved away from relying on temporary classrooms," the Washington Post reports.

"School enrollment has declined a bit this fall, from 139,387 to 138,520, based on preliminary data. He says he expects two to three additional years of flat growth after 20 years of steady gains."