Montgomery County school leaders will consider using the new Crown High building as a “holding school” to house students while their own campuses are under construction.

The plan isn’t finalized, but the school board on Thursday voted to study the idea.

Community members expected Crown High School to open in August 2027, part of a multipronged effort to relieve overcrowding and redraw boundary lines for the county’s secondary schools.

But enrollment numbers are on the decline, leading Superintendent Thomas Taylor to propose using the building as a temporary holding campus where students could learn while their home schools are renovated and rebuilt.

“This approach would allow Crown High School to serve as a swing space for major capital projects — beginning with Damascus, Col. Zadok Magruder, and Thomas S. Wootton high schools — before ultimately opening as a comprehensive high school,” Taylor wrote in board documents.

He said this strategy could help the district save money and shorten construction timelines at other high schools.

But district leaders need answers, particularly to confirm whether they would risk previously approved state funding for Crown High with this strategy.

“This is a critically important factor in determining whether to change direction for Crown High School, as we will not pursue a course which is not in alignment with our State policy and funding partners,” Taylor wrote.

Gaithersburg residents showed up at the school board meeting to ask the board not to use Crown as a holding school. They said they’ve been waiting for a brand-new campus in their community, and they called the potential pivot unfair.

“Families purchased homes in Crown based on official plans guaranteeing a local high school. Changing course now undermines community trust,” Nora Walsh wrote in a letter to district officials.

District officials are expected to share Crown proposals with the community by late November, with opportunities for public feedback in December and January.

At the same time, the district will be working through other boundary-line proposals that will impact high schools and middle schools across the county.

The school board is expected to take final action on the high school boundary studies in late March.

“There are no easy choices in boundary studies,” Taylor said Thursday night.