New "W" High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:/ Overwhelming majority of kids in Woodward are going to come from WJ, with a smattering from DCC /

Fixed it for ya.

That wouldn't make sense. Woodward's capacity will be 2150. WJ will be overcapacity by 800, Wheaton by 400, and Einstein by 500.

Look at current overcapacities and projections. Notice how DCC schools are rather overrepresented at the top and that W schools tend to be just under? And that the one W with a capacity problem is, poof, getting relief a half mile away? When borders could have been shifted to some currently undercapacity? When a new high school in the eastern part of the county inside the beltway that would more directly address the bulk of the need was eschewed for that new W school and a not-so-great expansion of a run-down Northwood that will still leave overcrowding in the DCC where the county has shoved higher density rezonings?

Think that is happenstance?

Just because it makes sense doesn't mean DCC will see relief.

Which site are you referring to? It seems to me that MCPS opted to reopen Woodward because it was a high-school sized plot of land that they already owned, and it had several overcrowded schools reasonably nearby.

By the way, Northwood's run-down building will be razed and replaced with a brand new one. But I agree it will not be enough space to relieve Blair's overcrowding.

They had several candidate sites, both on and off the record. None were overwhelmingly appealing, but nobody was willing to kill sacred cows to think outside the box. Two that got publicized with all their deficiencies were the Washington Adventist property and the Discovery Communications building (not the main building, but, yes, a truly urban campus without fields, etc.). That made them easy straw men, and they could then point to Woodward & Northwood as being far easier & cheaper.

But not more effective for lower-SES eastern down county. Not providing reasonably similar facility service as that seen in other areas from a school system that pays high lip service to equity. There's no reason we should expect that to change, either the rhetoric or the on-the-ground differential.

I understand the distrust of the BOE, but financial and time constraints are a reality that has to be accounted for when deciding how to address the overcrowding issues. Especially since the most overcrowded schools are WJ, Blair, Einstein, and Wheaton, the expansion of Northwood and the re-opening of Woodward were the options that would best service those particular schools. Blair and Northwood are only a mile and a half apart, and there are Wheaton feeders that used to be zoned for Woodward in its prior life. You can’t please everyone, but they picked the locations that made the most financial and logistical sense. I don’t think these posters who are advocating for making adjustments to a bunch of boundaries realize what a logistical nightmare it would be to do that, it’s going to be difficult enough to do even for the 4 schools that need it.

And, right on cue, we have it: the dual excuse that will keep the Ws happy and the DCC overcrowded.

I’m the poster you’re responding to and my kid is zoned for Einstein and is 10, so we will be squarely impacted by this. Extreme overcrowding is extreme overcrowding regardless of whether it’s a W school or a DCC school. They had to kill multiple birds with these 2 stones. I get the skepticism but that’s just the reality of the situation. I think it’s easier for people with no skin in the game to throw out these fantastical plans because the logistics have no impact on them.

Not saying ot won't impact you. But that's the world we live in.

Ok, but as a DCC parent with a kid zoned for one of the overcrowded schools, this option was the best and I’m not seeing how it is going to keep the DCC overcrowded. If my kid is attending school in a trailer and Wheaton is also still overcrowded while Woodward is only housing kids from Bethesda, then I will be the first to admit I was wrong. I just don’t see the current plan as having been crafted to keep the overcrowded DCC schools down while helping WJ. No, it doesn’t completely screw over the WJ kids, but maybe that is what you were looking for, to right past wrongs or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:/ Overwhelming majority of kids in Woodward are going to come from WJ, with a smattering from DCC /

Fixed it for ya.

That wouldn't make sense. Woodward's capacity will be 2150. WJ will be overcapacity by 800, Wheaton by 400, and Einstein by 500.

It's easy to see how this is going to play out. Similarly, the northernmost part of Blair's boundary with around 500 students will likely wind up at the new and expanded Northwood because last I knew it was about 500 over capacity. This means people who live across the street from Blair will attend Northwood. Still, Blair's geographic location is mostly irrelevant since it was originally inside the beltway in DTSS and moved to its current location as a convenience and there are no other HSs inside the beltway and east of the park.

This is already true today across Colesville Rd from Blair in South Four Corners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[

They had several candidate sites, both on and off the record. None were overwhelmingly appealing, but nobody was willing to kill sacred cows to think outside the box. Two that got publicized with all their deficiencies were the Washington Adventist property and the Discovery Communications building (not the main building, but, yes, a truly urban campus without fields, etc.). That made them easy straw men, and they could then point to Woodward & Northwood as being far easier & cheaper.

But not more effective for lower-SES eastern down county. Not providing reasonably similar facility service as that seen in other areas from a school system that pays high lip service to equity. There's no reason we should expect that to change, either the rhetoric or the on-the-ground differential.

Mixed metaphor alert...

Also, according to you, the options for MCPS options

1. Buy a property for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, then build a new building on it
2. Buy a different property for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, then build a new building on it, minus the amenities that every other high school in the county has
3. Build a new building on a property they already own

I'm astonished that they chose option 3.

Absolutely stunning that you follow up inappropriate use of the term "mixed metaphor" (the two metaphors presented are not incompatible) with a straw man argument

Amont the things that are missing from the options you presented are:

1) The various effects (relativve overcrowding relief, proximity to seeved populations, etc) of each option. Option 2 was, in effect, their own straw man, as the deficits noted indicate.

2) The options they didn't even allow to come to the board, if they considered them at all. For example, there are properties they/the county already own and lease out to private interests (at rates far below market). Some of these have adjacent lands that could be agglomerated to support a, yes, more expensive but better-serving solution. Sacred cows. Outside the box.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:/ Overwhelming majority of kids in Woodward are going to come from WJ, with a smattering from DCC /

Fixed it for ya.

That wouldn't make sense. Woodward's capacity will be 2150. WJ will be overcapacity by 800, Wheaton by 400, and Einstein by 500.

Look at current overcapacities and projections. Notice how DCC schools are rather overrepresented at the top and that W schools tend to be just under? And that the one W with a capacity problem is, poof, getting relief a half mile away? When borders could have been shifted to some currently undercapacity? When a new high school in the eastern part of the county inside the beltway that would more directly address the bulk of the need was eschewed for that new W school and a not-so-great expansion of a run-down Northwood that will still leave overcrowding in the DCC where the county has shoved higher density rezonings?

Think that is happenstance?

Just because it makes sense doesn't mean DCC will see relief.

Which site are you referring to? It seems to me that MCPS opted to reopen Woodward because it was a high-school sized plot of land that they already owned, and it had several overcrowded schools reasonably nearby.

By the way, Northwood's run-down building will be razed and replaced with a brand new one. But I agree it will not be enough space to relieve Blair's overcrowding.

They had several candidate sites, both on and off the record. None were overwhelmingly appealing, but nobody was willing to kill sacred cows to think outside the box. Two that got publicized with all their deficiencies were the Washington Adventist property and the Discovery Communications building (not the main building, but, yes, a truly urban campus without fields, etc.). That made them easy straw men, and they could then point to Woodward & Northwood as being far easier & cheaper.

But not more effective for lower-SES eastern down county. Not providing reasonably similar facility service as that seen in other areas from a school system that pays high lip service to equity. There's no reason we should expect that to change, either the rhetoric or the on-the-ground differential.

I remember those presentations about the hospital and Discovery buildings, but they were in the context of seeking a temporary holding facility for Northwood students during their construction. They ultimately decided to delay Woodward's already-approved reopening and use its partially finished building as a holding school for Northwood first. I do not think there was a proposal to open a permanent new high school at the hospital or Discovery sites (though I agree that would have been worthwhile to consider). I still don't know why they don't go ahead with an addition to Einstein. They have room to expand.

I wonder why the Einstein addition was scuttled as well. The performing arts spaces in the school need a major overhaul (the auditorium especially is horrible). Maybe it was decided that Northwood needed an overhaul first. They have added portable after portable to Einstein. I don't mind using portables to manage classroom space, but, adding portables doesn't address overcrowding in other spaces like the cafeteria and auditorium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[

They had several candidate sites, both on and off the record. None were overwhelmingly appealing, but nobody was willing to kill sacred cows to think outside the box. Two that got publicized with all their deficiencies were the Washington Adventist property and the Discovery Communications building (not the main building, but, yes, a truly urban campus without fields, etc.). That made them easy straw men, and they could then point to Woodward & Northwood as being far easier & cheaper.

But not more effective for lower-SES eastern down county. Not providing reasonably similar facility service as that seen in other areas from a school system that pays high lip service to equity. There's no reason we should expect that to change, either the rhetoric or the on-the-ground differential.

Mixed metaphor alert...

Also, according to you, the options for MCPS options

1. Buy a property for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, then build a new building on it
2. Buy a different property for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, then build a new building on it, minus the amenities that every other high school in the county has
3. Build a new building on a property they already own

I'm astonished that they chose option 3.

Absolutely stunning that you follow up inappropriate use of the term "mixed metaphor" (the two metaphors presented are not incompatible) with a straw man argument

Amont the things that are missing from the options you presented are:

1) The various effects (relativve overcrowding relief, proximity to seeved populations, etc) of each option. Option 2 was, in effect, their own straw man, as the deficits noted indicate.

2) The options they didn't even allow to come to the board, if they considered them at all. For example, there are properties they/the county already own and lease out to private interests (at rates far below market). Some of these have adjacent lands that could be agglomerated to support a, yes, more expensive but better-serving solution. Sacred cows. Outside the box.

Hi, Janis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:/ Overwhelming majority of kids in Woodward are going to come from WJ, with a smattering from DCC /

Fixed it for ya.

That wouldn't make sense. Woodward's capacity will be 2150. WJ will be overcapacity by 800, Wheaton by 400, and Einstein by 500.

Look at current overcapacities and projections. Notice how DCC schools are rather overrepresented at the top and that W schools tend to be just under? And that the one W with a capacity problem is, poof, getting relief a half mile away? When borders could have been shifted to some currently undercapacity? When a new high school in the eastern part of the county inside the beltway that would more directly address the bulk of the need was eschewed for that new W school and a not-so-great expansion of a run-down Northwood that will still leave overcrowding in the DCC where the county has shoved higher density rezonings?

Think that is happenstance?

Just because it makes sense doesn't mean DCC will see relief.

Which site are you referring to? It seems to me that MCPS opted to reopen Woodward because it was a high-school sized plot of land that they already owned, and it had several overcrowded schools reasonably nearby.

By the way, Northwood's run-down building will be razed and replaced with a brand new one. But I agree it will not be enough space to relieve Blair's overcrowding.

They had several candidate sites, both on and off the record. None were overwhelmingly appealing, but nobody was willing to kill sacred cows to think outside the box. Two that got publicized with all their deficiencies were the Washington Adventist property and the Discovery Communications building (not the main building, but, yes, a truly urban campus without fields, etc.). That made them easy straw men, and they could then point to Woodward & Northwood as being far easier & cheaper.

But not more effective for lower-SES eastern down county. Not providing reasonably similar facility service as that seen in other areas from a school system that pays high lip service to equity. There's no reason we should expect that to change, either the rhetoric or the on-the-ground differential.

I understand the distrust of the BOE, but financial and time constraints are a reality that has to be accounted for when deciding how to address the overcrowding issues. Especially since the most overcrowded schools are WJ, Blair, Einstein, and Wheaton, the expansion of Northwood and the re-opening of Woodward were the options that would best service those particular schools. Blair and Northwood are only a mile and a half apart, and there are Wheaton feeders that used to be zoned for Woodward in its prior life. You can’t please everyone, but they picked the locations that made the most financial and logistical sense. I don’t think these posters who are advocating for making adjustments to a bunch of boundaries realize what a logistical nightmare it would be to do that, it’s going to be difficult enough to do even for the 4 schools that need it.

And, right on cue, we have it: the dual excuse that will keep the Ws happy and the DCC overcrowded.

I’m the poster you’re responding to and my kid is zoned for Einstein and is 10, so we will be squarely impacted by this. Extreme overcrowding is extreme overcrowding regardless of whether it’s a W school or a DCC school. They had to kill multiple birds with these 2 stones. I get the skepticism but that’s just the reality of the situation. I think it’s easier for people with no skin in the game to throw out these fantastical plans because the logistics have no impact on them.

Not saying ot won't impact you. But that's the world we live in.

Ok, but as a DCC parent with a kid zoned for one of the overcrowded schools, this option was the best and I’m not seeing how it is going to keep the DCC overcrowded. If my kid is attending school in a trailer and Wheaton is also still overcrowded while Woodward is only housing kids from Bethesda, then I will be the first to admit I was wrong. I just don’t see the current plan as having been crafted to keep the overcrowded DCC schools down while helping WJ. No, it doesn’t completely screw over the WJ kids, but maybe that is what you were looking for, to right past wrongs or something.

We can hope, but we'll see if there is real relief for DCC overcrowding or only token, with monied interests relying on the dual excuse pointed out to defend the homeland from the barbarian hordes.

Righting past wrongs, properly, doesn't involve screwing over Ws, just not screwing over others any more than Ws. And, preferably, with enough put into the system so that nobody gets screwed over. Ideally with a social benefit for those previously impacted -- that's even trickier, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[

They had several candidate sites, both on and off the record. None were overwhelmingly appealing, but nobody was willing to kill sacred cows to think outside the box. Two that got publicized with all their deficiencies were the Washington Adventist property and the Discovery Communications building (not the main building, but, yes, a truly urban campus without fields, etc.). That made them easy straw men, and they could then point to Woodward & Northwood as being far easier & cheaper.

But not more effective for lower-SES eastern down county. Not providing reasonably similar facility service as that seen in other areas from a school system that pays high lip service to equity. There's no reason we should expect that to change, either the rhetoric or the on-the-ground differential.

Mixed metaphor alert...

Also, according to you, the options for MCPS options

1. Buy a property for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, then build a new building on it
2. Buy a different property for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, then build a new building on it, minus the amenities that every other high school in the county has
3. Build a new building on a property they already own

I'm astonished that they chose option 3.

Absolutely stunning that you follow up inappropriate use of the term "mixed metaphor" (the two metaphors presented are not incompatible) with a straw man argument

Amont the things that are missing from the options you presented are:

1) The various effects (relativve overcrowding relief, proximity to seeved populations, etc) of each option. Option 2 was, in effect, their own straw man, as the deficits noted indicate.

2) The options they didn't even allow to come to the board, if they considered them at all. For example, there are properties they/the county already own and lease out to private interests (at rates far below market). Some of these have adjacent lands that could be agglomerated to support a, yes, more expensive but better-serving solution. Sacred cows. Outside the box.

Hi, Janis.

Um, hi. Not sure who Janis is. Long-ago BOE candidate? Enlighten me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a dog in this fight because my kids are already for high school. But we are zoned for Einstein kids and both of my kids are taking advantage of programs at different DCC schools. I definitely would want to stay in the DCC and would be super upset if my kid was, say, 10, and I had to worry that he couldn't go to, say, the Wheaton STEM programs.

I am right there with you. These conversations are dominated by pearl clutchers from the Ws, but, there is very little discussion of what DCC people want. All the DCC people I know are happy in the DCC and like the different options we have for high school programs. I think there will be a significant number of people upset at the prospect of being pulled out of the DCC only to be put in a smaller cluster with few options for special programs.

I think it makes the most sense to add Woodward to the DCC, with some sort of special program or academy. MOST of the Woodward students will come from the area surrounding Woodward, and then they can fill extra space with kids applying to the special program as well as the DCC lottery. It gives MCPS a lot more flexibility in meeting demographic goals for Woodward individually as well as the DCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:/ Overwhelming majority of kids in Woodward are going to come from WJ, with a smattering from DCC /

Fixed it for ya.

That wouldn't make sense. Woodward's capacity will be 2150. WJ will be overcapacity by 800, Wheaton by 400, and Einstein by 500.

Look at current overcapacities and projections. Notice how DCC schools are rather overrepresented at the top and that W schools tend to be just under? And that the one W with a capacity problem is, poof, getting relief a half mile away? When borders could have been shifted to some currently undercapacity? When a new high school in the eastern part of the county inside the beltway that would more directly address the bulk of the need was eschewed for that new W school and a not-so-great expansion of a run-down Northwood that will still leave overcrowding in the DCC where the county has shoved higher density rezonings?

Think that is happenstance?

Just because it makes sense doesn't mean DCC will see relief.

Which site are you referring to? It seems to me that MCPS opted to reopen Woodward because it was a high-school sized plot of land that they already owned, and it had several overcrowded schools reasonably nearby.

By the way, Northwood's run-down building will be razed and replaced with a brand new one. But I agree it will not be enough space to relieve Blair's overcrowding.

They had several candidate sites, both on and off the record. None were overwhelmingly appealing, but nobody was willing to kill sacred cows to think outside the box. Two that got publicized with all their deficiencies were the Washington Adventist property and the Discovery Communications building (not the main building, but, yes, a truly urban campus without fields, etc.). That made them easy straw men, and they could then point to Woodward & Northwood as being far easier & cheaper.

But not more effective for lower-SES eastern down county. Not providing reasonably similar facility service as that seen in other areas from a school system that pays high lip service to equity. There's no reason we should expect that to change, either the rhetoric or the on-the-ground differential.

I remember those presentations about the hospital and Discovery buildings, but they were in the context of seeking a temporary holding facility for Northwood students during their construction. They ultimately decided to delay Woodward's already-approved reopening and use its partially finished building as a holding school for Northwood first. I do not think there was a proposal to open a permanent new high school at the hospital or Discovery sites (though I agree that would have been worthwhile to consider). I still don't know why they don't go ahead with an addition to Einstein. They have room to expand.

I wonder why the Einstein addition was scuttled as well. The performing arts spaces in the school need a major overhaul (the auditorium especially is horrible). Maybe it was decided that Northwood needed an overhaul first. They have added portable after portable to Einstein. I don't mind using portables to manage classroom space, but, adding portables doesn't address overcrowding in other spaces like the cafeteria and auditorium.

My guess is that it fell to the philosophy and political reality of spreading the wealth for capital projects across communities. The problem with this is that any area with a greater deficit, like eastern down county, never is brought up to the standard of those inheriting a lesser deficit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:/ Overwhelming majority of kids in Woodward are going to come from WJ, with a smattering from DCC /

Fixed it for ya.

That wouldn't make sense. Woodward's capacity will be 2150. WJ will be overcapacity by 800, Wheaton by 400, and Einstein by 500.

Look at current overcapacities and projections. Notice how DCC schools are rather overrepresented at the top and that W schools tend to be just under? And that the one W with a capacity problem is, poof, getting relief a half mile away? When borders could have been shifted to some currently undercapacity? When a new high school in the eastern part of the county inside the beltway that would more directly address the bulk of the need was eschewed for that new W school and a not-so-great expansion of a run-down Northwood that will still leave overcrowding in the DCC where the county has shoved higher density rezonings?

Think that is happenstance?

Just because it makes sense doesn't mean DCC will see relief.

Which site are you referring to? It seems to me that MCPS opted to reopen Woodward because it was a high-school sized plot of land that they already owned, and it had several overcrowded schools reasonably nearby.

By the way, Northwood's run-down building will be razed and replaced with a brand new one. But I agree it will not be enough space to relieve Blair's overcrowding.

They had several candidate sites, both on and off the record. None were overwhelmingly appealing, but nobody was willing to kill sacred cows to think outside the box. Two that got publicized with all their deficiencies were the Washington Adventist property and the Discovery Communications building (not the main building, but, yes, a truly urban campus without fields, etc.). That made them easy straw men, and they could then point to Woodward & Northwood as being far easier & cheaper.

But not more effective for lower-SES eastern down county. Not providing reasonably similar facility service as that seen in other areas from a school system that pays high lip service to equity. There's no reason we should expect that to change, either the rhetoric or the on-the-ground differential.

I understand the distrust of the BOE, but financial and time constraints are a reality that has to be accounted for when deciding how to address the overcrowding issues. Especially since the most overcrowded schools are WJ, Blair, Einstein, and Wheaton, the expansion of Northwood and the re-opening of Woodward were the options that would best service those particular schools. Blair and Northwood are only a mile and a half apart, and there are Wheaton feeders that used to be zoned for Woodward in its prior life. You can’t please everyone, but they picked the locations that made the most financial and logistical sense. I don’t think these posters who are advocating for making adjustments to a bunch of boundaries realize what a logistical nightmare it would be to do that, it’s going to be difficult enough to do even for the 4 schools that need it.

And, right on cue, we have it: the dual excuse that will keep the Ws happy and the DCC overcrowded.

I’m the poster you’re responding to and my kid is zoned for Einstein and is 10, so we will be squarely impacted by this. Extreme overcrowding is extreme overcrowding regardless of whether it’s a W school or a DCC school. They had to kill multiple birds with these 2 stones. I get the skepticism but that’s just the reality of the situation. I think it’s easier for people with no skin in the game to throw out these fantastical plans because the logistics have no impact on them.

Not saying ot won't impact you. But that's the world we live in.

Ok, but as a DCC parent with a kid zoned for one of the overcrowded schools, this option was the best and I’m not seeing how it is going to keep the DCC overcrowded. If my kid is attending school in a trailer and Wheaton is also still overcrowded while Woodward is only housing kids from Bethesda, then I will be the first to admit I was wrong. I just don’t see the current plan as having been crafted to keep the overcrowded DCC schools down while helping WJ. No, it doesn’t completely screw over the WJ kids, but maybe that is what you were looking for, to right past wrongs or something.

We can hope, but we'll see if there is real relief for DCC overcrowding or only token, with monied interests relying on the dual excuse pointed out to defend the homeland from the barbarian hordes.

Righting past wrongs, properly, doesn't involve screwing over Ws, just not screwing over others any more than Ws. And, preferably, with enough put into the system so that nobody gets screwed over. Ideally with a social benefit for those previously impacted -- that's even trickier, though.

I am a longtime DCC parent, and I don't appreciate you perpetuating this us vs them argument re DCC vs the Ws. There are new schools in the DCC, and there are crappy schools in the DCC. The same is true for the "W" schools. I don't want to be rezoned to Woodward, but I understand that some DCC neighborhoods will need to be, and that is a reasonable way to address some of the overcrowding. The downcounty areas just don't have that many plots of land available that could fit a new high school, or even a middle school, and given that, I can see why MCPS went with the option to reopen Woodward. But I still would like them to expand Einstein too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a dog in this fight because my kids are already for high school. But we are zoned for Einstein kids and both of my kids are taking advantage of programs at different DCC schools. I definitely would want to stay in the DCC and would be super upset if my kid was, say, 10, and I had to worry that he couldn't go to, say, the Wheaton STEM programs.

I am right there with you. These conversations are dominated by pearl clutchers from the Ws, but, there is very little discussion of what DCC people want. All the DCC people I know are happy in the DCC and like the different options we have for high school programs. I think there will be a significant number of people upset at the prospect of being pulled out of the DCC only to be put in a smaller cluster with few options for special programs.

I think it makes the most sense to add Woodward to the DCC, with some sort of special program or academy. MOST of the Woodward students will come from the area surrounding Woodward, and then they can fill extra space with kids applying to the special program as well as the DCC lottery. It gives MCPS a lot more flexibility in meeting demographic goals for Woodward individually as well as the DCC.

So let's say that they adjust a few DCC neighborhoods to Woodward. Maybe 100 kids? Maybe 200, max? And add a magnet program, maybe drawing another 100? Even 300 shifted from DCC and the extra capacity of Northwood coming online doesn't come close to addressing the relative overcrowding.

Hoping I'm wrong, and that redrawing more lines will happe -- it's not like there is anything else that's going to be available in the next 5+ years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:/ Overwhelming majority of kids in Woodward are going to come from WJ, with a smattering from DCC /

Fixed it for ya.

That wouldn't make sense. Woodward's capacity will be 2150. WJ will be overcapacity by 800, Wheaton by 400, and Einstein by 500.

Look at current overcapacities and projections. Notice how DCC schools are rather overrepresented at the top and that W schools tend to be just under? And that the one W with a capacity problem is, poof, getting relief a half mile away? When borders could have been shifted to some currently undercapacity? When a new high school in the eastern part of the county inside the beltway that would more directly address the bulk of the need was eschewed for that new W school and a not-so-great expansion of a run-down Northwood that will still leave overcrowding in the DCC where the county has shoved higher density rezonings?

Think that is happenstance?

Just because it makes sense doesn't mean DCC will see relief.

Which site are you referring to? It seems to me that MCPS opted to reopen Woodward because it was a high-school sized plot of land that they already owned, and it had several overcrowded schools reasonably nearby.

By the way, Northwood's run-down building will be razed and replaced with a brand new one. But I agree it will not be enough space to relieve Blair's overcrowding.

They had several candidate sites, both on and off the record. None were overwhelmingly appealing, but nobody was willing to kill sacred cows to think outside the box. Two that got publicized with all their deficiencies were the Washington Adventist property and the Discovery Communications building (not the main building, but, yes, a truly urban campus without fields, etc.). That made them easy straw men, and they could then point to Woodward & Northwood as being far easier & cheaper.

But not more effective for lower-SES eastern down county. Not providing reasonably similar facility service as that seen in other areas from a school system that pays high lip service to equity. There's no reason we should expect that to change, either the rhetoric or the on-the-ground differential.

I understand the distrust of the BOE, but financial and time constraints are a reality that has to be accounted for when deciding how to address the overcrowding issues. Especially since the most overcrowded schools are WJ, Blair, Einstein, and Wheaton, the expansion of Northwood and the re-opening of Woodward were the options that would best service those particular schools. Blair and Northwood are only a mile and a half apart, and there are Wheaton feeders that used to be zoned for Woodward in its prior life. You can’t please everyone, but they picked the locations that made the most financial and logistical sense. I don’t think these posters who are advocating for making adjustments to a bunch of boundaries realize what a logistical nightmare it would be to do that, it’s going to be difficult enough to do even for the 4 schools that need it.

And, right on cue, we have it: the dual excuse that will keep the Ws happy and the DCC overcrowded.

I’m the poster you’re responding to and my kid is zoned for Einstein and is 10, so we will be squarely impacted by this. Extreme overcrowding is extreme overcrowding regardless of whether it’s a W school or a DCC school. They had to kill multiple birds with these 2 stones. I get the skepticism but that’s just the reality of the situation. I think it’s easier for people with no skin in the game to throw out these fantastical plans because the logistics have no impact on them.

Not saying ot won't impact you. But that's the world we live in.

Ok, but as a DCC parent with a kid zoned for one of the overcrowded schools, this option was the best and I’m not seeing how it is going to keep the DCC overcrowded. If my kid is attending school in a trailer and Wheaton is also still overcrowded while Woodward is only housing kids from Bethesda, then I will be the first to admit I was wrong. I just don’t see the current plan as having been crafted to keep the overcrowded DCC schools down while helping WJ. No, it doesn’t completely screw over the WJ kids, but maybe that is what you were looking for, to right past wrongs or something.

We can hope, but we'll see if there is real relief for DCC overcrowding or only token, with monied interests relying on the dual excuse pointed out to defend the homeland from the barbarian hordes.

Righting past wrongs, properly, doesn't involve screwing over Ws, just not screwing over others any more than Ws. And, preferably, with enough put into the system so that nobody gets screwed over. Ideally with a social benefit for those previously impacted -- that's even trickier, though.

I am a longtime DCC parent, and I don't appreciate you perpetuating this us vs them argument re DCC vs the Ws. There are new schools in the DCC, and there are crappy schools in the DCC. The same is true for the "W" schools. I don't want to be rezoned to Woodward, but I understand that some DCC neighborhoods will need to be, and that is a reasonable way to address some of the overcrowding. The downcounty areas just don't have that many plots of land available that could fit a new high school, or even a middle school, and given that, I can see why MCPS went with the option to reopen Woodward. But I still would like them to expand Einstein too.

Don't want to perpetuate it, just pointing out the reality on the ground and the probable political outcome.

How about this? Delay Woodward reopening with its own catchment for an additional 2 years to allow Einstein to occupy it during an expansion after Northwood does. Meanwhile, use the relative extra capacity at Whitman to begin the performing arts magnet, preferentially drawing from WJ for that time to alleviate it's own overcrowding before shifting it to Woodward. Then both the WJ overcrowding and DCC overcrowding are addressed at the same time.

[Anonymous]

One of the four factors for boundary changes is stability of assignment. Without some overwhelming reason, MCPS isn't going to drag other cluster boundaries into the Woodward discussion. So far, no one has offered that overwhelming reason. It's just WJ and the DCC.

Someday the BoE may get around to a county-wide reset, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards just yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the four factors for boundary changes is stability of assignment. Without some overwhelming reason, MCPS isn't going to drag other cluster boundaries into the Woodward discussion. So far, no one has offered that overwhelming reason. It's just WJ and the DCC.

Someday the BoE may get around to a county-wide reset, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards just yet.

"Stability of assignment" is about not rezoning kids who were already part of a different rezoning. For example, so that you don't get assigned to 3 different schools while you're in elementary school.

However, I agree that MCPS/BoE tend to be parsimonious about involving schools/clusters within the scope of a boundary study. Understandably, in my opinion. The more schools in the boundary study, the more potential options there are to consider and decide on, and the more people will be upset about the impact to their children (and their property values ).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the four factors for boundary changes is stability of assignment. Without some overwhelming reason, MCPS isn't going to drag other cluster boundaries into the Woodward discussion. So far, no one has offered that overwhelming reason. It's just WJ and the DCC.

Someday the BoE may get around to a county-wide reset, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards just yet.

And we're back to the land of Oz, where the Wizard will make it all better. Don't look behind the curtain!

DCC Dorothy's going to have to save herself.