With the exception of the magnet schools, assignment to the Montgomery Public Schools is dictated by where you live. Each school has an attendance zone as shown on the Montgomery County School Zone Map . Assignment to Magnet Schools is by application only. Some Magnet programs have specific entrance criteria which must be met by students who apply. The Montgomery Public School System offers eight Magnet School locations with alternative curriculums designed to address the special talents, abilities, and interests of students in the Montgomery area.
Buses pick up and deliver students to designated stops in their neighborhoods.
Students living within a 2-mile radius of their assigned public school are required to provide their own transportation. Magnet school students are picked up and returned by bus to the public school they are normally zoned to attend. Students will catch bus transportation to their magnet schools and their neighborhoods at their zoned public school. Students who elect to transfer outside their assigned zones from a school where they are in the racial majority to one where they are in the minority to assist with enhanced racial integration will be required to provide their own transportation to and fr om school beginning in 1998.