MCPS to hold six regional back-to-school fairs in August

Plan shifts to mirror new regional program model

July 13, 2026 2:27 p.m.

Albert Einstein High School main entrance. Photo credit: G. Edward Johnson via Wikimedia Commons

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will be holding six region-based back-to-school fairs in August as the district moves toward implementing its plans for a regional-focused model for programming, according to a Thursday statement.

“The regional fairs are designed to make it easier and more fun for families to get connected and ready for the first day of school,” MCPS said in the Thursday statement. “Each fair will feature easy-to-navigate zones where families can find exactly what they need.”

The multiple fairs, which are set to be held at six high schools in the morning and afternoon of Aug. 22, is a shift from the district’s usual back-to-school fair. Over the last several years, MCPS has held one large fair all day in August at Westfield Wheaton mall.

The fairs will be held at the following schools for families in the following regions on Aug. 22:

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Region 1: Albert Einstein High at 11135 Newport Mill Road in Kensington from 9 a.m. to noon

Region 2: Paint Branch High in 14121 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville from 9 a.m. to noon

Region 3: Wheaton High at 12401 Dalewood Drive in Silver Spring from 3 to 6 p.m.

Region 4: Richard Montgomery at 250 Richard Montgomery Drive in Rockville from 1 to 4 p.m.

Region 5: Gaithersburg High at 101 Education Blvd. in Gaithersburg from 9 a.m. to noon

Region 6: Seneca Valley High at 19401 Crystal Rock Drive in Germantown, 3 to 6 p.m.

The move to regions follows the school board’s March decision to move forward with a regional program model with six regions for news programs in MCPS. The regional programming will end the consortia model available to some high school students. The Downcounty Consortium, which includes Albert Einstein, Montgomery Blair, John F. Kennedy, Northwood and Wheaton high schools and the Northeast Consortium, which includes James Hubert Blake, Springbrook and Paint Branch, will be dissolved in favor of regional programs.

Competitive countywide programs, such as the Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Magnet Program at Montgomery Blair and the countywide International Baccalaureate Programme at Richard Montgomery, would also no longer be available countywide and would be converted into regional programs.

The first admissions process for the regional programs will begin during the 2026-2027 school year. That means students who are entering seventh grade starting in the 2025-2026 school year would be eligible for regional programs the following school year and could continue in those programs until they graduate. During those years, the current and the newly proposed model would operate at the same time.

Families can find the entire list of schools here in the regions here.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine