By Betselot Wondimu ‘15

With shifts in the Washington-Metropolitan population in the past decade, MCPS has gained a considerable number of students for the 2014-15 school year. MCPS currently has its highest number of students ever, with more than 154,000 enrolled. This is an increase of about 2,700 students compared to the 151,289 enrolled in MCPS during the 2013-14 school year.

Despite the fact that MCPS’s overall enrollment has dramatically increased, Sherwood’s student body has actually dropped. Its enrollment has slumped to 1,877 after having 1,980 students during the 2013-14 school year. This can be partially attributed to the incoming Freshman Class consisting of 459 students, fairly smaller than the outgoing Senior Class of 496 students.

Sherwood’s enrollment has been falling for the past eight years, steadily declining from its peak of 2,240 students during the 2005-06 school year. MCPS officials predict Sherwood’s enrollment will continue declining and MCPS’s enrollment will continue rising, projecting 1,748 students to be enrolled in Sherwood and 163,049 in MCPS by the 2019-20 school year.