I wanted to share this document from the Montgomery County Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings dated Nov 3: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OZA. It’s Holton’s formal request to lift its enrollment cap by about 30%.

A few things jumped out at me reading it:
-The school isn’t planning to add any new buildings. Instead, they’d move administrative offices to Granger House and repurpose existing office space into classrooms.
-The document notes that the school is well below its legal capacity for the campus spaces. Another words, they could (and want to?) fit more bodies in the existing spaces on campus.
-To accommodate roughly 200 more students, they project adding just 11 staff members. That math makes me wonder if the plan depends on larger class sizes and a lower teacher-to-student ratio. Or maybe they are just adding more grades?
-The traffic estimates are bit daunting considering I already spend 25 minutes in line most days. And the extra cost of the bus isn’t feasible for our family.

As a parent who watched my daughter’s grade grow dramatically in one year, I already feel how much harder it’s become for students to feel “seen and known.” Staff turnover hasn’t helped, and this proposal makes me worry that those challenges will deepen.

What also bothers me is that I had to seek this information out myself. We were told last January that families would get regular updates about any enrollment or facilities changes. I don’t think I’ve seen any since then. While this hasn’t been “approved” I expected more transparency in the process, particularly given the contract controversy of a few years back. Totally possible, I could have missed them though.

There’s a public hearing on the proposal next Monday. I wanted to share in case others want to read the document and make their own meaning out of it.

Yea, I highly doubt a 28 year old is a multimillionaire after graduating. There's VERY few 28 year olds pulling in enough to get that amount of money.

Anonymous wrote:OP -- you really need to go and see and listen for yourself and your child. My DD went to Holton and let me say is a multi-millionaire on her own about 10 or so years after graduating. She went to an Ivy after Holton and has made it big. She never asked for a dime after graduating from college.
Holton is really hard academically...so it that is your daughter...go for it. Mine didn't love it, nor did I, but we are not sure if daughter would have been so successful if she hadn't gone there. I still have a few mom friends from there. Good luck on whatever you decide.

multimillionaire definitely = great school

lol

My DD was turned away from an advanced level course a year ago (there are no longer APs at Holton) because there was “no room” and put on a waitlist. I understand this is to keep class size down but why not chop the class into two?
There is no way I’m complaining about this for the record. I don’t want to get on the school’s bad side and hurt her chances of getting into her top choice. Acceptances are right around the corner…

Regardless of the class size (which is under 20 in my DD grade) the reported students teacher ratio is 6:1. Maybe you don’t believe it but it is super easy to verify (679 students and 121 teachers) Thats comparable with other private schools in the area. So not sure what is the source of complain.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Microbiology has 20 students. My English 12 has 20. Forensics and Advanced Econ have 20 as well. Pretty sure Advanced Bio and Gov both have 19.

Nothing over 20 but a big handful with 19/20.

Why did the class size increase?

That’s an excellent question for the Holton administration.

Anonymous wrote:Microbiology has 20 students. My English 12 has 20. Forensics and Advanced Econ have 20 as well. Pretty sure Advanced Bio and Gov both have 19.

Nothing over 20 but a big handful with 19/20.

Why did the class size increase?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has been there for 5 years. Never had a class more than 18.

DD is a senior. Two of her classes this year have over 20 girls.

Why is this an issue in high school?

PP here. I was responding to a post which claimed that there were no Holton classes with 20+ girls.
And yes, I expect that the 58k tuition would ensure that class size is lower than in public school.

If you are not happy go to public school. Problem solved.

The comparison shouldn't be to public school, the comparison is to similarly ranked and priced privates.

Microbiology has 20 students. My English 12 has 20. Forensics and Advanced Econ have 20 as well. Pretty sure Advanced Bio and Gov both have 19.

Nothing over 20 but a big handful with 19/20.

Yes, it was amazing!

Anonymous wrote:The concern here is about whoever is lying about numbers. PP shouldn't have to switch schools bc of dishonest posters. PP also didn't say she or her daughter are unhappy. Concern is fair and appropriate, given the mishandling of numerous issues by this administration.

The high school theater production is still amazing and of very high quality.

The concern here is about whoever is lying about numbers. PP shouldn't have to switch schools bc of dishonest posters. PP also didn't say she or her daughter are unhappy. Concern is fair and appropriate, given the mishandling of numerous issues by this administration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has been there for 5 years. Never had a class more than 18.

DD is a senior. Two of her classes this year have over 20 girls.

Why is this an issue in high school?

PP here. I was responding to a post which claimed that there were no Holton classes with 20+ girls.
And yes, I expect that the 58k tuition would ensure that class size is lower than in public school.

If you are not happy go to public school. Problem solved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has been there for 5 years. Never had a class more than 18.

DD is a senior. Two of her classes this year have over 20 girls.

Why is this an issue in high school?

PP here. I was responding to a post which claimed that there were no Holton classes with 20+ girls.
And yes, I expect that the 58k tuition would ensure that class size is lower than in public school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has been there for 5 years. Never had a class more than 18.

DD is a senior. Two of her classes this year have over 20 girls.

Why is this an issue in high school?