There is one charter in the whole county at the moment. If you are interested in developments probably the best thing to do is check the MCPS website. The county also does an annual report that is well done and informative. You could also read the Gazette for local developments, and of course these boards.

Sorry, I posted before finishing. The last link is the Board of Education for updates, news, and links to facebook and twitter.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/

In Montgomery County, your kids generally have to go to school in the home district. There are exceptions for magnet programs and consortia.

I'd start with your home school, which you can find here:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/gis/Publiclocator.asp

And then look at special programs available to you based on your location:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/

I'm guessing there is an easy answer to this, but as my two sons have not yet started Kindergarten, I feel a little out of the loop. How do parents keep abreast of their options within their school district (especially when you don't yet have children in the school system)? I have a friend in a neighboring county that recently applied for and was accepted to a new public Montessori charter school. I feel like if that option was available to me here, I wouldn't even know about it. Do I have to constantly check the MCPS web site? Are there other avenues? Thanks.