Just IN!!!! Youtube video of Boundary Analysis Discussion / Board of Education Jan. 9, 2020

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you get us some beach front property too?

Wait, you are saying that just because that one school district runs along the beach, they could not
free hand draw the borders?

Sort of surprised our friends on the west coast didn’t free hand draw the boundaries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mini Quiz
Which of the shapes below do resemble more of the current MCPS high school boundaries?

Organic is always better, didn’t you know? This is MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you get us some beach front property too?

That I can not but I think there are few schools build right next to the 495 or other high traffic roads, right?

Blair is right next to 495. Julius West is right next to 270. But there are plenty of schools built on other high traffic roads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you get us some beach front property too?

That I can not but I think there are few schools build right next to the 495 or other high traffic roads, right?

Blair is right next to 495. Julius West is right next to 270. But there are plenty of schools built on other high traffic roads.

The question would be .. why? Isn't the air quality important for the growing kids? They spend half their waking
hours at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mini Quiz
Which of the shapes below do resemble more of the current MCPS high school boundaries?

Organic is always better, didn’t you know? This is MoCo.

Artsy it is. Better? I don't know. You tell me. Why?
When you look at the map of the USA you can't help but notice
the straight cut borders of most of the states. There is some
amount of fairness in the straight lines isn't there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mini Quiz
Which of the shapes below do resemble more of the current MCPS high school boundaries?

Organic is always better, didn’t you know? This is MoCo.

Artsy it is. Better? I don't know. You tell me. Why?
When you look at the map of the USA you can't help but notice
the straight cut borders of most of the states. There is some
amount of fairness in the straight lines isn't there?

I don't care if the lines are straight or wiggly. I care if the boundaries make sense given the surrounding neighborhoods, roads, and the locations of other nearby schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

All current board members are bound by current mcps board of ed policies, one of them being the FAA; which states that boundary decisions should especially strive for diverse student bodies. It doesn't matter who voted for it,when, and if those who voted for it are current members or past. It's the policy that mcps must adhere to..unless the current board decides to change it. It

That's actually not what the FAA states, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

All current board members are bound by current mcps board of ed policies, one of them being the FAA; which states that boundary decisions should especially strive for diverse student bodies. It doesn't matter who voted for it,when, and if those who voted for it are current members or past. It's the policy that mcps must adhere to..unless the current board decides to change it. It

That's actually not what the FAA states, though.

You get the point. It wasn't meant to be verbatim. Let's not pretend that the diversity factor is not prioritized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

All current board members are bound by current mcps board of ed policies, one of them being the FAA; which states that boundary decisions should especially strive for diverse student bodies. It doesn't matter who voted for it,when, and if those who voted for it are current members or past. It's the policy that mcps must adhere to..unless the current board decides to change it. It

That's actually not what the FAA states, though.

You get the point. It wasn't meant to be verbatim. Let's not pretend that the diversity factor is not prioritized.

We don't have to pretend. We just have to read the policy and listen to what was said at last week's meeting to know that no factor has a greater weight, but that all four factors are important considerations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

All current board members are bound by current mcps board of ed policies, one of them being the FAA; which states that boundary decisions should especially strive for diverse student bodies. It doesn't matter who voted for it,when, and if those who voted for it are current members or past. It's the policy that mcps must adhere to..unless the current board decides to change it. It

That's actually not what the FAA states, though.

You get the point. It wasn't meant to be verbatim. Let's not pretend that the diversity factor is not prioritized.

We don't have to pretend. We just have to read the policy and listen to what was said at last week's meeting to know that no factor has a greater weight, but that all four factors are important considerations.

DP. That's how I read it, too. And how I've heard MCPS staff explain it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

All current board members are bound by current mcps board of ed policies, one of them being the FAA; which states that boundary decisions should especially strive for diverse student bodies. It doesn't matter who voted for it,when, and if those who voted for it are current members or past. It's the policy that mcps must adhere to..unless the current board decides to change it. It

That's actually not what the FAA states, though.

You get the point. It wasn't meant to be verbatim. Let's not pretend that the diversity factor is not prioritized.

We don't have to pretend. We just have to read the policy and listen to what was said at last week's meeting to know that no factor has a greater weight, but that all four factors are important considerations.

DP. That's how I read it, too. And how I've heard MCPS staff explain it.

Watch the video and read the policy. In the video, MCPS staff clearly states that boundary studies will view all 4 factors equally, meaning they will look at data under the same equal lens BUT (and this is a huge BUT)... the Board will VOTE based on the data presented by the staff AND the FAA policy. So.. I'm not sure if you guys got that. There's a difference on what MCPS staff has to do VS what the board will do. MCPS staff has to provide options that look at factors equally. All that means is that they will provide options that prioritize geography; options that prioritize demographics; options that provide utilization; and so on. What the Board will do though is to vote based on the data provided by MCPS staff AND the FAA policy. FAA policy has the words especially strive. AGAIN- just look at how they voted in the Clarksburg study whether you agree with the decision or not. Dr. Smith even said that it was the first study that was done under the new wording of the FAA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

All current board members are bound by current mcps board of ed policies, one of them being the FAA; which states that boundary decisions should especially strive for diverse student bodies. It doesn't matter who voted for it,when, and if those who voted for it are current members or past. It's the policy that mcps must adhere to..unless the current board decides to change it. It

That's actually not what the FAA states, though.

You get the point. It wasn't meant to be verbatim. Let's not pretend that the diversity factor is not prioritized.

We don't have to pretend. We just have to read the policy and listen to what was said at last week's meeting to know that no factor has a greater weight, but that all four factors are important considerations.

DP. That's how I read it, too. And how I've heard MCPS staff explain it.

Watch the video and read the policy. In the video, MCPS staff clearly states that boundary studies will view all 4 factors equally, meaning they will look at data under the same equal lens BUT (and this is a huge BUT)... the Board will VOTE based on the data presented by the staff AND the FAA policy. So.. I'm not sure if you guys got that. There's a difference on what MCPS staff has to do VS what the board will do. MCPS staff has to provide options that look at factors equally. All that means is that they will provide options that prioritize geography; options that prioritize demographics; options that provide utilization; and so on. What the Board will do though is to vote based on the data provided by MCPS staff AND the FAA policy. FAA policy has the words especially strive. AGAIN- just look at how they voted in the Clarksburg study whether you agree with the decision or not. Dr. Smith even said that it was the first study that was done under the new wording of the FAA.

It's a fact that the wording in the demographic factor of the FAA policy has "especially strive" instead of "strive."

It's also a fact that this was the first boundary study where the FAA policy has the words "especially strive" instead of "strive" in the demographic factor.

It is NOT a fact that the the word "especially" means that the demographic factor is more important than the other factors, or that the BoE believes that the demographic factor is more important than the other factors, or that the demographic factor was more important than the other factors in the upcounty boundary study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

All current board members are bound by current mcps board of ed policies, one of them being the FAA; which states that boundary decisions should especially strive for diverse student bodies. It doesn't matter who voted for it,when, and if those who voted for it are current members or past. It's the policy that mcps must adhere to..unless the current board decides to change it. It

That's actually not what the FAA states, though.

You get the point. It wasn't meant to be verbatim. Let's not pretend that the diversity factor is not prioritized.

We don't have to pretend. We just have to read the policy and listen to what was said at last week's meeting to know that no factor has a greater weight, but that all four factors are important considerations.

DP. That's how I read it, too. And how I've heard MCPS staff explain it.

Watch the video and read the policy. In the video, MCPS staff clearly states that boundary studies will view all 4 factors equally, meaning they will look at data under the same equal lens BUT (and this is a huge BUT)... the Board will VOTE based on the data presented by the staff AND the FAA policy. So.. I'm not sure if you guys got that. There's a difference on what MCPS staff has to do VS what the board will do. MCPS staff has to provide options that look at factors equally. All that means is that they will provide options that prioritize geography; options that prioritize demographics; options that provide utilization; and so on. What the Board will do though is to vote based on the data provided by MCPS staff AND the FAA policy. FAA policy has the words especially strive. AGAIN- just look at how they voted in the Clarksburg study whether you agree with the decision or not. Dr. Smith even said that it was the first study that was done under the new wording of the FAA.

It's a fact that the wording in the demographic factor of the FAA policy has "especially strive" instead of "strive."

It's also a fact that this was the first boundary study where the FAA policy has the words "especially strive" instead of "strive" in the demographic factor.

It is NOT a fact that the the word "especially" means that the demographic factor is more important than the other factors, or that the BoE believes that the demographic factor is more important than the other factors, or that the demographic factor was more important than the other factors in the upcounty boundary study.

Especially:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/especially

[Anonymous]

Dude. We are not arguing about the meaning of the word "especially." We are discussing what the word "especially" means, in the context of the 2,500 (or so) other words in the policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No current Board is bound by a past Board's action. They can make any changes they want.

They are not proposing ANY changes with this assesent. They are getting someone from outside MCPS (which I think is a good thong - don't trust MCPS at all - they gave us these over crowded schools with these boundaries) to take a look.

They have said multiple times they are not busing kids across the county. They are not going to make traffic worse, spend money they don't have on busses and bus drivers - they made it clear they are looking at adjacent clusters only.

So much misinformation and unnecessary outrage. I am as frustrated with MCPS as others with their lack of transparency, but they cleared that up at the meeting. There will be no boundary changes from this assessment.

Thank you for being a voice of reason.

and when people go on and on about neighborhood schools in a lot of cases people's assigned school is not actually the one that is physically closest to their house.
https://mobile.twitter.com/CaitlynnPeetz14/status/1216003644925075457/photo/1

The board has an obligation to make sure each kid goes to the closest school? That's ludicrous, for all the reasons previously stated, unless you intend to do away with the concept of feeder patterns. .

There's an extended discussion earlier in this thread about how that data point is meaningless, and people who repeat it are either useful idiots or intent on deceiving others by raising it. Which are you?

I have to disagree. Their point is completely above board and direct. In fact, the data the county provided showed the closest school was assigned to only a fraction of people in the 30% range. Most people who are arguing for "local schools" are using this as code for defending 40-year-old boundaries that have resulted in schools being either good or bad schools.The BOE has an obligation to address this.