The Montgomery County Council’s Education and Culture Committee heard on Thursday that Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) International Admissions and Enrollment office has sharply shortened enrollment timelines, but said cuts to specialized counselors are constraining crisis response.

Margarita Borges, director of International Admissions and Enrollment, told the committee that operational changes—an on‑site Welcome Center, a new call center and an intake integrated into the district’s Synergy system—have reduced the time it takes to enroll most newcomer students. "Seventy‑five percent of our students are enrolled within just two days of arriving at our office," Borges said, adding that "95% of the families enroll within a week." She said the faster turnaround minimizes time out of school for children and helps families stabilize quickly.

Borges and newcomer coordinator Oscar Alvarenga described a broad set of services beyond paperwork: mental‑health intakes, credit evaluations, orientation sessions and referrals to partners such as CASA and the Gilchrist Center. Alvarenga said the Welcome Center coordinates "warm handoffs" to partners and, where needed, runs legal clinics and connects families to Montgomery College and other post‑secondary pathways.

At the same time, staff warned the committee that a long‑running, specialized mental‑health team that supports newcomer students is smaller than it was a few years ago. MCPS staff said the county had 37 EML therapeutic counselors (ETCs) in 2023 but now has roughly 20 counselors on staff. "Our ETCs are assigned to two to three schools each, and then they provide countywide referral support," Borges said. With fewer ETCs, she said, some schools that previously had weekly coverage will be shifted to a referral‑based model, requiring staff to submit requests and wait for an available counselor.

Council members pressed staff for operational detail and local impacts. Chair of the committee praised the two‑day turnaround but asked for a follow‑up list showing which schools will lose routine ETC coverage so the committee and the public can track reassignments. Borges agreed to provide that information.

Several council members and staff connected the workload increase to immigration enforcement. Council member Mink described arriving from a district incident in which a student with documentation was detained and said the "ripple impact" of such events has increased the need for trauma‑responsive supports. MCPS staff said much of the additional time in some enrollments is tied to crisis cases—students arriving without parents or who have become nonresident or McKinney‑Vento students because of family disruption.

The committee also discussed McKinney‑Vento students and staffing. Borges said the district has expanded a McKinney‑Vento unit but recommended a dedicated full‑time liaison; she mentioned an approximate count of McKinney‑Vento students but the transcript contains inconsistent figures and MCPS committed to provide exact current numbers to the committee.

The presentation included requests and offers of follow‑up: MCPS will send disaggregated country/language data, a list of schools affected by ETC reassignments and clearer counts for McKinney‑Vento and other crisis enrollments. The packet and presentation materials will be posted online, officials said.

What happens next: MCPS staff said they will supply the follow‑up data to the committee and will be present at upcoming budget forums as staffing and resource needs are considered.