latest updates on Woodward

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

I don’t think any Bethesda parents are saying that. I’ve never heard WJ parents say things like this. They understand DCC schools will be included in the boundary study. And the PP seems to be from the DCC.

But I think its fair to say that no one will be 100% happy when they do the boundary study (are they ever?). Thankfully, we are getting a brand new school to alleviate the overcrowding and hopefully provide a performing arts center of excellence. We are very fortunate, aren’t we?

I mean, you can just read the previous page of the thread to see the people who are saying that.

I’m not sure who you are arguing with but I’ve read the thread and can assure you that they don’t exist.

Nobody is trying to deny DCC schools anything and surely the BOE will ultimately decide. There are however a lot of people are asking legitimate questions about how this is all going to work given basic constraints.

WJ is currently 2,800 and over capacity of 2,300.
Woodward will have capacity of 2,160 with about 500 seats reserved for magnet students.
North Bethesda MS is 1,000.
Tilden MS is 1,400.

So as a first order of business, if Woodard is in a cluster with Tilden MS and a performing arts magnet, it will open effectively at full capacity. WJ on the other hand will have probably 1,000 seats available but as people are pointing out, there is a question of how many of these seats would essentially be reserved to accommodate a huge amount of permitted development at Strathmore, WMAL towers, White Flint Mall, etc. Not to mention the fact that this specific area of North Bethesda is targeted by the county for more high density development as part of its Thrive plan. How many seats will need to be reserved? I guess the demographers will tell us. In the end, there will probably not be enough capacity to accommodate half of Rock View ES.

Your reading comprehension leaves something to be desired then, because there are plenty of posts here ignoring that the stated purpose of Woodward is to relieve overcrowding at WJ and the DCC, not WJ first and then the DCC if possible, or WJ and a 500 seat magnet and then the DCC if possible. Nowhere has MCPS committed to reserving 500 seats at Woodward for a county wide magnet. There are also multiple split articulation MS in MCPS, they do not need to keep the Tilden cluster together, especially when talking about a HS whose whole purpose is to alleviate overcrowding at multiple HS.

You keep making a lot of assumptions.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

As a OTES parent, the commute would be terrible. Einstein, Wheaton, and Northwood are much closer. It makes no sense.

They need to open an additional DCC high school.

Oakland Terrace is less than 5 minutes from Parkwood, which goes to WJ, which is the same distance as it will be from Woodward. There may be other reasons OTES doesn’t get zoned to Woodward but the commute, given it’s proximity to Parkwood, isn’t one of them. It’s a utilization issue. There are too many kids at Einstein, Blair, and WJ, and that is in no way going to decrease over the coming years, so Blair will get some of its kids sent to Northwood and Einstein and WJ will have some of their kids sent to Woodward.

Oh I get it. You want to send poor kids from
Einstein to Woodard so that you can get more poor kids away from Larlx at Blair? People are funny.

FTLOG, Einstein and Blair and WJ are far over capacity. Woodward is being reopened explicitly to relieve their overcrowding, and to a lesser extent Wheaton's too. Once Woodward reopens, there is no reason to continue to have kids learning in portables at all these schools. It would be irresponsible not to utilize the new space that's made available after spending all the money to build the new school.

You are making a lot of assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Changing Crown and Woodward to Countywide magnets would relieve the overcrowding pressure on Blair (using trailer classrooms) and Poolesville wouldn't need 60M to increase student seat capacity by 630 (even though it's only 3% over cap, which is pretty darn good compared to Gaithersburg HS for example). That money could be used on Gaithersburg and fix Wootton from crumbling.

Newsflash, the whole of MCPS does not revolve around Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And my last question, if they fill up WJ and Woodward to capacity with DCC students, where will the students generated from all of these developments people keep mentioning go to school? Particularly since most of these developments are within the walk zone of both schools?

The crazy lady trying to get the poor, brown kids out of Blair doesn’t seem to have an answer for this one.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

As a OTES parent, the commute would be terrible. Einstein, Wheaton, and Northwood are much closer. It makes no sense.

They need to open an additional DCC high school.

Oakland Terrace is less than 5 minutes from Parkwood, which goes to WJ, which is the same distance as it will be from Woodward. There may be other reasons OTES doesn’t get zoned to Woodward but the commute, given it’s proximity to Parkwood, isn’t one of them. It’s a utilization issue. There are too many kids at Einstein, Blair, and WJ, and that is in no way going to decrease over the coming years, so Blair will get some of its kids sent to Northwood and Einstein and WJ will have some of their kids sent to Woodward.

Parts of OTES are not close to Parkland or Woodward. And clearly you don’t drive Conn Ave or the other roads in the morning. It would be a nightmare to go back and forth twice a day.

Come on, the OTES catchment area is not that big, there is no part of the catchment area that is more than a mile or so from any other part. Why would your HS kid not take the bus, because it would in no way be a nightmare to go the less than 5 miles from say GA Ave and Plyers Mill to Woodward. And if your kid can’t handle traveling 5 miles to get to school they have bigger problems.

Players Mill does not go to Woodward. 5 mikes here could be 30-60 minutes.

GA Ave from Viers Mill to Dennis is roughly the north boundary for OTES, this area includes GA and Plyers Mill, so if OTES got re-zoned for Woodward those neighborhoods would go there. Those areas are also the farthest points from Woodward in the OTES boundary and are still only about 5 miles away. I’ve lived here for 15 years and it does not take 60 minutes to get from there to the area where Woodward is even in the worst of rush hour, let alone at 7 am and 2:30 pm for HS transportation purposes. 30 minutes is not a huge deal for getting to and from school.

It is a big deal when you drive your kids and then have to wait in a pick up line

Why would you have to drive your HS age kid to and from school if a bus will take them?!

We have never gotten a bus. We have always had to drive to an mcps school. And, why would you not drive your kids? And high school starts at 13-14. Too young to drive.

If you are the at the far ends of the OTES boundary you will get a bus either way to HS, whether it’s to Einstein or Woodward, because it’s out of the walk zone for both schools. To be honest there are very few areas in bounds for OTES that would be a safe walk to Einstein regardless of distance given the need to cross Connecticut and/or University, but if a bus will take my kids to school there is no need for me to drive them no matter what school it is.

University yes, but there are zero areas in bounds for OTES where you would cross Connecticut to get to Einstein.

You can cross at Conn lower down. It would not be safe to walk but it is walkable.

Einstein is located east of Connecticut. All of the OTES zone is also east of Connecticut. So you would not cross Connecticut at all.

Yes, we would depending on what route you take.

OK, you really need to look at a map:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/OaklandTerraceES.pdf

See how the OTES zone is in white, and Einstein is in red at the top, and how Connecticut Avenue is over to the left side? There is no sensible route you would take from one to the other that would cross Connecticut.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

As a OTES parent, the commute would be terrible. Einstein, Wheaton, and Northwood are much closer. It makes no sense.

They need to open an additional DCC high school.

Oakland Terrace is less than 5 minutes from Parkwood, which goes to WJ, which is the same distance as it will be from Woodward. There may be other reasons OTES doesn’t get zoned to Woodward but the commute, given it’s proximity to Parkwood, isn’t one of them. It’s a utilization issue. There are too many kids at Einstein, Blair, and WJ, and that is in no way going to decrease over the coming years, so Blair will get some of its kids sent to Northwood and Einstein and WJ will have some of their kids sent to Woodward.

Oh I get it. You want to send poor kids from Einstein to Woodard so that you can get more poor kids away from Larlx at Blair? People are funny.

This literally makes no sense. Oakland Terrace has the 2nd lowest FARMS rate of the Einstein feeders, and how the hell would re-zoning Oakland Terrace to Woodward “keep poor kids away from Larlx at Blair”? Did you just dip into the wine early?

You seem to have jumped forward a number of steps to presume and propose which schools in the DCC would, if any, get sent to Woodward. I suggest taking a chill pill.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

I don’t think any Bethesda parents are saying that. I’ve never heard WJ parents say things like this. They understand DCC schools will be included in the boundary study. And the PP seems to be from the DCC.

But I think its fair to say that no one will be 100% happy when they do the boundary study (are they ever?). Thankfully, we are getting a brand new school to alleviate the overcrowding and hopefully provide a performing arts center of excellence. We are very fortunate, aren’t we?

I mean, you can just read the previous page of the thread to see the people who are saying that.

I’m not sure who you are arguing with but I’ve read the thread and can assure you that they don’t exist.

Nobody is trying to deny DCC schools anything and surely the BOE will ultimately decide. There are however a lot of people are asking legitimate questions about how this is all going to work given basic constraints.

WJ is currently 2,800 and over capacity of 2,300.
Woodward will have capacity of 2,160 with about 500 seats reserved for magnet students.
North Bethesda MS is 1,000.
Tilden MS is 1,400.

So as a first order of business, if Woodard is in a cluster with Tilden MS and a performing arts magnet, it will open effectively at full capacity. WJ on the other hand will have probably 1,000 seats available but as people are pointing out, there is a question of how many of these seats would essentially be reserved to accommodate a huge amount of permitted development at Strathmore, WMAL towers, White Flint Mall, etc. Not to mention the fact that this specific area of North Bethesda is targeted by the county for more high density development as part of its Thrive plan. How many seats will need to be reserved? I guess the demographers will tell us. In the end, there will probably not be enough capacity to accommodate half of Rock View ES.

Your reading comprehension leaves something to be desired then, because there are plenty of posts here ignoring that the stated purpose of Woodward is to relieve overcrowding at WJ and the DCC, not WJ first and then the DCC if possible, or WJ and a 500 seat magnet and then the DCC if possible. Nowhere has MCPS committed to reserving 500 seats at Woodward for a county wide magnet. There are also multiple split articulation MS in MCPS, they do not need to keep the Tilden cluster together, especially when talking about a HS whose whole purpose is to alleviate overcrowding at multiple HS.

You keep making a lot of assumptions.

There is not a single assumption in the PP.

[Anonymous]

You all realize that all this overcrowding could be a bubble right? Population is supposed to dramatically decrease in the coming years as families have fewer or no children. It has happened before and that is why Woodward closed in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

I don’t think any Bethesda parents are saying that. I’ve never heard WJ parents say things like this. They understand DCC schools will be included in the boundary study. And the PP seems to be from the DCC.

But I think its fair to say that no one will be 100% happy when they do the boundary study (are they ever?). Thankfully, we are getting a brand new school to alleviate the overcrowding and hopefully provide a performing arts center of excellence. We are very fortunate, aren’t we?

I mean, you can just read the previous page of the thread to see the people who are saying that.

I’m not sure who you are arguing with but I’ve read the thread and can assure you that they don’t exist.

Nobody is trying to deny DCC schools anything and surely the BOE will ultimately decide. There are however a lot of people are asking legitimate questions about how this is all going to work given basic constraints.

WJ is currently 2,800 and over capacity of 2,300.
Woodward will have capacity of 2,160 with about 500 seats reserved for magnet students.
North Bethesda MS is 1,000.
Tilden MS is 1,400.

So as a first order of business, if Woodard is in a cluster with Tilden MS and a performing arts magnet, it will open effectively at full capacity. WJ on the other hand will have probably 1,000 seats available but as people are pointing out, there is a question of how many of these seats would essentially be reserved to accommodate a huge amount of permitted development at Strathmore, WMAL towers, White Flint Mall, etc. Not to mention the fact that this specific area of North Bethesda is targeted by the county for more high density development as part of its Thrive plan. How many seats will need to be reserved? I guess the demographers will tell us. In the end, there will probably not be enough capacity to accommodate half of Rock View ES.

Your reading comprehension leaves something to be desired then, because there are plenty of posts here ignoring that the stated purpose of Woodward is to relieve overcrowding at WJ and the DCC, not WJ first and then the DCC if possible, or WJ and a 500 seat magnet and then the DCC if possible. Nowhere has MCPS committed to reserving 500 seats at Woodward for a county wide magnet. There are also multiple split articulation MS in MCPS, they do not need to keep the Tilden cluster together, especially when talking about a HS whose whole purpose is to alleviate overcrowding at multiple HS.

You keep making a lot of assumptions.

Of course, and by moving students from schools adjacent to Woodward like BCC they can make more room at the overcrowded DCC schools, but what they aren't going to do is bus kids across county as to not "inconvenience" those who live near Woodward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all realize that all this overcrowding could be a bubble right? Population is supposed to dramatically decrease in the coming years as families have fewer or no children. It has happened before and that is why Woodward closed in the first place.

I'm pretty sure a lot of the population gains are in moco are from immigration. Are there any indications that is going to let up?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

As a OTES parent, the commute would be terrible. Einstein, Wheaton, and Northwood are much closer. It makes no sense.

They need to open an additional DCC high school.

Oakland Terrace is less than 5 minutes from Parkwood, which goes to WJ, which is the same distance as it will be from Woodward. There may be other reasons OTES doesn’t get zoned to Woodward but the commute, given it’s proximity to Parkwood, isn’t one of them. It’s a utilization issue. There are too many kids at Einstein, Blair, and WJ, and that is in no way going to decrease over the coming years, so Blair will get some of its kids sent to Northwood and Einstein and WJ will have some of their kids sent to Woodward.

Parts of OTES are not close to Parkland or Woodward. And clearly you don’t drive Conn Ave or the other roads in the morning. It would be a nightmare to go back and forth twice a day.

Come on, the OTES catchment area is not that big, there is no part of the catchment area that is more than a mile or so from any other part. Why would your HS kid not take the bus, because it would in no way be a nightmare to go the less than 5 miles from say GA Ave and Plyers Mill to Woodward. And if your kid can’t handle traveling 5 miles to get to school they have bigger problems.

Players Mill does not go to Woodward. 5 mikes here could be 30-60 minutes.

GA Ave from Viers Mill to Dennis is roughly the north boundary for OTES, this area includes GA and Plyers Mill, so if OTES got re-zoned for Woodward those neighborhoods would go there. Those areas are also the farthest points from Woodward in the OTES boundary and are still only about 5 miles away. I’ve lived here for 15 years and it does not take 60 minutes to get from there to the area where Woodward is even in the worst of rush hour, let alone at 7 am and 2:30 pm for HS transportation purposes. 30 minutes is not a huge deal for getting to and from school.

It is a big deal when you drive your kids and then have to wait in a pick up line

Why would you have to drive your HS age kid to and from school if a bus will take them?!

We have never gotten a bus. We have always had to drive to an mcps school. And, why would you not drive your kids? And high school starts at 13-14. Too young to drive.

If you are the at the far ends of the OTES boundary you will get a bus either way to HS, whether it’s to Einstein or Woodward, because it’s out of the walk zone for both schools. To be honest there are very few areas in bounds for OTES that would be a safe walk to Einstein regardless of distance given the need to cross Connecticut and/or University, but if a bus will take my kids to school there is no need for me to drive them no matter what school it is.

University yes, but there are zero areas in bounds for OTES where you would cross Connecticut to get to Einstein.

You can cross at Conn lower down. It would not be safe to walk but it is walkable.

Sounds like a simple and inexpensive pedestrian bridge would correct this issue.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

As a OTES parent, the commute would be terrible. Einstein, Wheaton, and Northwood are much closer. It makes no sense.

They need to open an additional DCC high school.

Oakland Terrace is less than 5 minutes from Parkwood, which goes to WJ, which is the same distance as it will be from Woodward. There may be other reasons OTES doesn’t get zoned to Woodward but the commute, given it’s proximity to Parkwood, isn’t one of them. It’s a utilization issue. There are too many kids at Einstein, Blair, and WJ, and that is in no way going to decrease over the coming years, so Blair will get some of its kids sent to Northwood and Einstein and WJ will have some of their kids sent to Woodward.

Oh I get it. You want to send poor kids from Einstein to Woodard so that you can get more poor kids away from Larlx at Blair? People are funny.

This literally makes no sense. Oakland Terrace has the 2nd lowest FARMS rate of the Einstein feeders, and how the hell would re-zoning Oakland Terrace to Woodward “keep poor kids away from Larlx at Blair”? Did you just dip into the wine early?

You seem to have jumped forward a number of steps to presume and propose which schools in the DCC would, if any, get sent to Woodward. I suggest taking a chill pill.

DP, but since Woodward is being reopened to address overcrowding at WJ and two DCC high schools, how would some of the DCC elementaries not end up there?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

As a OTES parent, the commute would be terrible. Einstein, Wheaton, and Northwood are much closer. It makes no sense.

They need to open an additional DCC high school.

Oakland Terrace is less than 5 minutes from Parkwood, which goes to WJ, which is the same distance as it will be from Woodward. There may be other reasons OTES doesn’t get zoned to Woodward but the commute, given it’s proximity to Parkwood, isn’t one of them. It’s a utilization issue. There are too many kids at Einstein, Blair, and WJ, and that is in no way going to decrease over the coming years, so Blair will get some of its kids sent to Northwood and Einstein and WJ will have some of their kids sent to Woodward.

Parts of OTES are not close to Parkland or Woodward. And clearly you don’t drive Conn Ave or the other roads in the morning. It would be a nightmare to go back and forth twice a day.

Come on, the OTES catchment area is not that big, there is no part of the catchment area that is more than a mile or so from any other part. Why would your HS kid not take the bus, because it would in no way be a nightmare to go the less than 5 miles from say GA Ave and Plyers Mill to Woodward. And if your kid can’t handle traveling 5 miles to get to school they have bigger problems.

Players Mill does not go to Woodward. 5 mikes here could be 30-60 minutes.

GA Ave from Viers Mill to Dennis is roughly the north boundary for OTES, this area includes GA and Plyers Mill, so if OTES got re-zoned for Woodward those neighborhoods would go there. Those areas are also the farthest points from Woodward in the OTES boundary and are still only about 5 miles away. I’ve lived here for 15 years and it does not take 60 minutes to get from there to the area where Woodward is even in the worst of rush hour, let alone at 7 am and 2:30 pm for HS transportation purposes. 30 minutes is not a huge deal for getting to and from school.

It is a big deal when you drive your kids and then have to wait in a pick up line

Why would you have to drive your HS age kid to and from school if a bus will take them?!

We have never gotten a bus. We have always had to drive to an mcps school. And, why would you not drive your kids? And high school starts at 13-14. Too young to drive.

If you are the at the far ends of the OTES boundary you will get a bus either way to HS, whether it’s to Einstein or Woodward, because it’s out of the walk zone for both schools. To be honest there are very few areas in bounds for OTES that would be a safe walk to Einstein regardless of distance given the need to cross Connecticut and/or University, but if a bus will take my kids to school there is no need for me to drive them no matter what school it is.

Einstein is much much closer.

Obviously it’s closer, but that 15 minute difference is negligible in the grand scheme of things, we aren’t talking about kids spending an extra hour to get to Woodward v Einstein. Some Einstein feeder is going to get sent to Woodward despite being closer to Einstein because keeping kids in portables due to overcrowding is not really the gold standard for education.

As a parent who would have to get my kids after school it is a big deal. That makes no sense when there are multiple closer schools. They can pull from the WJ Kensington area. That would make sense and closer schools and rearrange everyone.

Why would you need to get your HS kid after school if there is a bus? There isn’t enough space to just rearrange everyone, there are schools that have to come out of the DCC and into Woodward. The distance involved here is a difference of a few miles, it’s not like sending a kid another 10 miles away cross county. Using the OTES example, it’s 1.6 miles to Einstein, 3.4 miles to Wheaton, and 4.2 miles to Woodward.

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Anonymous wrote:Call it an educated guess.

I’m interested how you would presume (or is that assume?) to know what the BOE will do when the BOE has not said what they will do. I would also be interested to understand your rationale for why they are paying for design and renderings for Phase 2, which represents all of the spaces for the performing arts magnet, if they don’t plan to open a performing arts magnet. Why would MCPS waste this time and money?

And my last question, if they fill up WJ and Woodward to capacity with DCC students, where will the students generated from all of these developments people keep mentioning go to school? Particularly since most of these developments are within the walk zone of both schools?

You have revealed ypur ignorance. MCPS does tons of site selection studies, capacity studies, and designs, that go nowhere.

Just in my cluster in the past 7 years, and just what I know of: TWO WJ/ES site selection studies. WJ Study Group. WJ Round Table. WJ ES capacity study. WJ/BCC ES site selection..
WJ/BCC capacity study. Not to mention the THREE actual designs to take WJ to 3500 which the community promptly rejected.

MCPS wastes money on studies and designs All. The. Time.

When these schools are replaced or expand they need to make them much larger if they will not open new ones. 3000 students is absurd.

Their is an individual who is very AGGRESSIVE with planting the idea that MCPS is creating a performing arts school. Not only has this happened before and failed but people don’t understand how expensive the performing arts can be.

No one has factor in the facility who will be apart of this theoretical program. Performing arts teachers with masters in their crafts are EXPENSIVE, supplies for the arts is EXPENSIVE, THE PERFORMING ARTS ARE EXPENSIVE. They’re not only expensive but a lot of parents view them as pointless. Look at the Visual Art Center, the oldest magnet program in the county and has been constantly threatened with budget cuts despite only having 2 teachers. They don’t even provide transportation.

Also, other arts programs in schools are being cut in MCPS. Why should MCPS fund a performing arts program but I’m fighting for my DC school choir program not to be cut? That’s not fair.

Lastly, where is the funds going to come from? Schools like Baltimore School of the Arts and Duke Ellington get funding from private donors and fight every year not to be cut. At this point, they’re only still opened because their historical monuments that are part of their cities. I don’t know about a program that’s just been launch and how long it will last before MCPS starts to cut some things.

The school could be like Loiderman’s program (messily put together) but what’s the point? I say make Einstein or Blake (Schools with an establish PA programs) countywide and be done with it.

So, given the expense we should get rid of sports as our performing arts kids have no interest.

Loiderman is not a real magnet or preforming arts. It’s more fun than serious.

Why do you think people on DCUM are “planting” ideas about a magnet and why does this make you so concerned?

Did you review the Phase 2 presentation that this thread is about? What do you think those planned facilities are for?

I just explained why I’m concerned about it. Also having seasonal sports programs is not the same as funding a full on magnet performing arts school. As for the phase planning, if I’m being honest, this schools looks any other school. Schools like Blake and Einstein have more performance base space that their school supports.

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Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why are people assuming that DCC students will be rezoned only to Woodward, and not to WJ as well? They are going to try to reduce disparities in FARMS rates between neighboring schools as well as they reasonably can, right?

This doesn't make sense as it would be a terrible commute for DCC. It makes more sense to pull from BCC, WJ, and and some of the other local W schools, and maybe parts of Einstein. I don't want my kids making that commute.

There are feeders to Einstein and Wheaton that are not a terrible commute to Woodward (Oakland Terrace and Viers Mill in particular). And the bottom line is Einstein is very overcrowded, so some of those kids will have to be sent to Woodward. I love the Bethesda parents on here who act like everything is based on their whims. No, WJ is not the only consideration here, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the BOE is not going to just ignore the DCC because that is not a good look for equity considerations. There is no chance they tell the lower income families down county that their kids have to stay in overcrowded schools with portable trailers so that the Bethesda snowflakes have enough space and can all maintain their little bubble. Give me a break.

As a OTES parent, the commute would be terrible. Einstein, Wheaton, and Northwood are much closer. It makes no sense.

They need to open an additional DCC high school.

Oakland Terrace is less than 5 minutes from Parkwood, which goes to WJ, which is the same distance as it will be from Woodward. There may be other reasons OTES doesn’t get zoned to Woodward but the commute, given it’s proximity to Parkwood, isn’t one of them. It’s a utilization issue. There are too many kids at Einstein, Blair, and WJ, and that is in no way going to decrease over the coming years, so Blair will get some of its kids sent to Northwood and Einstein and WJ will have some of their kids sent to Woodward.

Parts of OTES are not close to Parkland or Woodward. And clearly you don’t drive Conn Ave or the other roads in the morning. It would be a nightmare to go back and forth twice a day.

Come on, the OTES catchment area is not that big, there is no part of the catchment area that is more than a mile or so from any other part. Why would your HS kid not take the bus, because it would in no way be a nightmare to go the less than 5 miles from say GA Ave and Plyers Mill to Woodward. And if your kid can’t handle traveling 5 miles to get to school they have bigger problems.

Players Mill does not go to Woodward. 5 mikes here could be 30-60 minutes.

GA Ave from Viers Mill to Dennis is roughly the north boundary for OTES, this area includes GA and Plyers Mill, so if OTES got re-zoned for Woodward those neighborhoods would go there. Those areas are also the farthest points from Woodward in the OTES boundary and are still only about 5 miles away. I’ve lived here for 15 years and it does not take 60 minutes to get from there to the area where Woodward is even in the worst of rush hour, let alone at 7 am and 2:30 pm for HS transportation purposes. 30 minutes is not a huge deal for getting to and from school.

It is a big deal when you drive your kids and then have to wait in a pick up line

Why would you have to drive your HS age kid to and from school if a bus will take them?!

We have never gotten a bus. We have always had to drive to an mcps school. And, why would you not drive your kids? And high school starts at 13-14. Too young to drive.

If you are the at the far ends of the OTES boundary you will get a bus either way to HS, whether it’s to Einstein or Woodward, because it’s out of the walk zone for both schools. To be honest there are very few areas in bounds for OTES that would be a safe walk to Einstein regardless of distance given the need to cross Connecticut and/or University, but if a bus will take my kids to school there is no need for me to drive them no matter what school it is.

University yes, but there are zero areas in bounds for OTES where you would cross Connecticut to get to Einstein.

You can cross at Conn lower down. It would not be safe to walk but it is walkable.

Sounds like a simple and inexpensive pedestrian bridge would correct this issue.

Students from Rock View have been crossing Connecticut to get to Einstein for decades without needing a pedestrian bridge. No one from Oakland Terrace would need to cross Connecticut.