Should MCPS start busing or open enrollment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You do realize that the whole country's school system, tax structure, property values, etc are based the same way. On where you live (rent or buy).

Good luck pontifying on changing the whole entire system just because you don't make as much income as someone else with and entirely different human capital earnings function.

Yes, I do realize this. I also realize that it's unjust for children to have unequal educational opportunities based on how much money their parents have.

I would disagree that Montgomery County is offering unequal educational opportunities. Please provide evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a W district and wish my kids could benefit from the small class sizes that Title 1 schools have. For elem, I would be willing to bus/drive them to a title 1 school if it meant that their class size was capped somewhere between 15-18 students.

Go for it then. As long as a school is not over-enrolled you can petition the principal to enroll your child.

Seriously? This is an option? I had no idea. Thank you for the information. My son is currently in PEP at a title 1 school. I have been so impressed with the school, the PTA, the parents involvement, and the community out reach that the school does. I would love him to be able to stay in the school for K-5. I'll look into if the school is over/enrolled in the morning.

But if I can do this, why can't parents petition the Cold Spring principal to allow their children to attend an under enrolled school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a W district and wish my kids could benefit from the small class sizes that Title 1 schools have. For elem, I would be willing to bus/drive them to a title 1 school if it meant that their class size was capped somewhere between 15-18 students.

Go for it then. As long as a school is not over-enrolled you can petition the principal to enroll your child.

Seriously? This is an option? I had no idea. Thank you for the information. My son is currently in PEP at a title 1 school. I have been so impressed with the school, the PTA, the parents involvement, and the community out reach that the school does. I would love him to be able to stay in the school for K-5. I'll look into if the school is over/enrolled in the morning.

But if I can do this, why can't parents petition the Cold Spring principal to allow their children to attend an under enrolled school?

Maybe a parent could, but for most people, I think transportation would be an issue. And if only a few parents do it, it still doesn't relieve the over-crowding. It has to be a whole neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

We are a higher SES family in the Einstein cluster. I have one in ES at a focus school and one in middle school. Many on this thread seem to assume that parents feel their children are receiving less of an education in the red zone. Myself and most of my friends are happy with our children's schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You do realize that the whole country's school system, tax structure, property values, etc are based the same way. On where you live (rent or buy).

Good luck pontifying on changing the whole entire system just because you don't make as much income as someone else with and entirely different human capital earnings function.

Yes, I do realize this. I also realize that it's unjust for children to have unequal educational opportunities based on how much money their parents have.

I would disagree that Montgomery County is offering unequal educational opportunities. Please provide evidence.

Ask the parents in the Whitman/Wootton/Churchill/Walter Johnson zones whether they think that educational opportunities in Montgomery County are equal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
How is housing a choice? It seems to me that most land has already been purchased by private owners. When the private person sells, they want what the market will bear. How could the county step in to mix housing? How would they afford it?

The county's housing policy affects housing segregation/integration in at least three ways:

1. Master plans
2. Zoning
3. Requirements for Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs)

This isn't theoretical, either. This is actual reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You do realize that the whole country's school system, tax structure, property values, etc are based the same way. On where you live (rent or buy).

Good luck pontifying on changing the whole entire system just because you don't make as much income as someone else with and entirely different human capital earnings function.

Yes, I do realize this. I also realize that it's unjust for children to have unequal educational opportunities based on how much money their parents have.

I would disagree that Montgomery County is offering unequal educational opportunities. Please provide evidence.

Ask the parents in the Whitman/Wootton/Churchill/Walter Johnson zones whether they think that educational opportunities in Montgomery County are equal.

I'm the W parent above who wants to send their child to a title 1 school. So no, I don't think that the educational opportunities are the same. My kids don't get the benefit if small class sizes in elem school. The MS magnet programs will require a 45 min drive to TPMS should my child be accepted. My child is not eligible for any of the fantastic MS programs at Argyle, Parkland, Loiderman. For HS, my kid is going to have to the cream of the crop academically to test into RM in order to have access to the IB curriculum. It's offered as a matter of course at other HS in the county.

So you're right, I don't think there are equal educational opportunities in Mont. County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You do realize that the whole country's school system, tax structure, property values, etc are based the same way. On where you live (rent or buy).

Good luck pontifying on changing the whole entire system just because you don't make as much income as someone else with and entirely different human capital earnings function.

Yes, I do realize this. I also realize that it's unjust for children to have unequal educational opportunities based on how much money their parents have.

I would disagree that Montgomery County is offering unequal educational opportunities. Please provide evidence.

Ask the parents in the Whitman/Wootton/Churchill/Walter Johnson zones whether they think that educational opportunities in Montgomery County are equal.

I'm the W parent above who wants to send their child to a title 1 school. So no, I don't think that the educational opportunities are the same. My kids don't get the benefit if small class sizes in elem school. The MS magnet programs will require a 45 min drive to TPMS should my child be accepted. My child is not eligible for any of the fantastic MS programs at Argyle, Parkland, Loiderman. For HS, my kid is going to have to the cream of the crop academically to test into RM in order to have access to the IB curriculum. It's offered as a matter of course at other HS in the county.

So you're right, I don't think there are equal educational opportunities in Mont. County.

Kids in RM have to test into IB upper years, as well. It's not automatic for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
How is housing a choice? It seems to me that most land has already been purchased by private owners. When the private person sells, they want what the market will bear. How could the county step in to mix housing? How would they afford it?

The county's housing policy affects housing segregation/integration in at least three ways:

1. Master plans
2. Zoning
3. Requirements for Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDUs)

This isn't theoretical, either. This is actual reality.

Ok. But that still doesn't answer how the county is going to create affordable housing in areas where there is no land to be purchased. Where in Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Potomac, can the county buy a parcel of land and zone it for affordable housing? There's no land for sale except for individuals selling their homes. The exception to that would be the White Flint redevelopment. I know there is supposed to be a new elem school built, but if have no idea what the percentage of affordable housing is going to be or what HS that community will be zoned for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm the W parent above who wants to send their child to a title 1 school. So no, I don't think that the educational opportunities are the same. My kids don't get the benefit if small class sizes in elem school. The MS magnet programs will require a 45 min drive to TPMS should my child be accepted. My child is not eligible for any of the fantastic MS programs at Argyle, Parkland, Loiderman. For HS, my kid is going to have to the cream of the crop academically to test into RM in order to have access to the IB curriculum. It's offered as a matter of course at other HS in the county.

So you're right, I don't think there are equal educational opportunities in Mont. County.

Good news! You can move to an area zoned for a Title 1 school! You can move to Germantown and send your child to Seneca Valley HS!

(Also, your child actually is eligible for the lottery for the MS programs at Argyle, Parkland, and Loiedeman.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok. But that still doesn't answer how the county is going to create affordable housing in areas where there is no land to be purchased. Where in Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Potomac, can the county buy a parcel of land and zone it for affordable housing? There's no land for sale except for individuals selling their homes. The exception to that would be the White Flint redevelopment. I know there is supposed to be a new elem school built, but if have no idea what the percentage of affordable housing is going to be or what HS that community will be zoned for.

You're assuming that the only way that the county can create affordable housing is by buying land. This assumption is incorrect. Neither master plans, nor zoning, nor MPDUs require the county to buy so much as a square inch of land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. But that still doesn't answer how the county is going to create affordable housing in areas where there is no land to be purchased. Where in Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Potomac, can the county buy a parcel of land and zone it for affordable housing? There's no land for sale except for individuals selling their homes. The exception to that would be the White Flint redevelopment. I know there is supposed to be a new elem school built, but if have no idea what the percentage of affordable housing is going to be or what HS that community will be zoned for.

You're assuming that the only way that the county can create affordable housing is by buying land. This assumption is incorrect. Neither master plans, nor zoning, nor MPDUs require the county to buy so much as a square inch of land.

Then explain to me how the housing is created? Obviously I don't understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You do realize that the whole country's school system, tax structure, property values, etc are based the same way. On where you live (rent or buy).

Good luck pontifying on changing the whole entire system just because you don't make as much income as someone else with and entirely different human capital earnings function.

Yes, I do realize this. I also realize that it's unjust for children to have unequal educational opportunities based on how much money their parents have.

I would disagree that Montgomery County is offering unequal educational opportunities. Please provide evidence.

Ask the parents in the Whitman/Wootton/Churchill/Walter Johnson zones whether they think that educational opportunities in Montgomery County are equal.

I'm the W parent above who wants to send their child to a title 1 school. So no, I don't think that the educational opportunities are the same. My kids don't get the benefit if small class sizes in elem school. The MS magnet programs will require a 45 min drive to TPMS should my child be accepted. My child is not eligible for any of the fantastic MS programs at Argyle, Parkland, Loiderman. For HS, my kid is going to have to the cream of the crop academically to test into RM in order to have access to the IB curriculum. It's offered as a matter of course at other HS in the county.

So you're right, I don't think there are equal educational opportunities in Mont. County.

If you can afford to live in boundary for a W school, then you also could move further east. Do it. Send your kid to a title 1 school that feeds into a highschool with an IB curriculum. I went to a recent presentation about the focus programs at Argyle, Parkland, and Loiderman. If you enter the lottery, your kids have a good shot at getting in. It is not a truly random lottery. They take SES of sending school into account and want more kids from high SES schools. Personally I would look at the programs carefully. I did not really get the value-added. Most of the opportunities seemed to be things you could do at any middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm the W parent above who wants to send their child to a title 1 school. So no, I don't think that the educational opportunities are the same. My kids don't get the benefit if small class sizes in elem school. The MS magnet programs will require a 45 min drive to TPMS should my child be accepted. My child is not eligible for any of the fantastic MS programs at Argyle, Parkland, Loiderman. For HS, my kid is going to have to the cream of the crop academically to test into RM in order to have access to the IB curriculum. It's offered as a matter of course at other HS in the county.

So you're right, I don't think there are equal educational opportunities in Mont. County.

Good news! You can move to an area zoned for a Title 1 school! You can move to Germantown and send your child to Seneca Valley HS!

(Also, your child actually is eligible for the lottery for the MS programs at Argyle, Parkland, and Loiedeman.)

The reality is, moving is a royal PIA. No one wants to do it. Yes, we could move but we have no desire to. And given what I read on the real estate forum, buying a house is crazy right now. Thanks for the info about MS.....that's great to hear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. But that still doesn't answer how the county is going to create affordable housing in areas where there is no land to be purchased. Where in Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Potomac, can the county buy a parcel of land and zone it for affordable housing? There's no land for sale except for individuals selling their homes. The exception to that would be the White Flint redevelopment. I know there is supposed to be a new elem school built, but if have no idea what the percentage of affordable housing is going to be or what HS that community will be zoned for.

You're assuming that the only way that the county can create affordable housing is by buying land. This assumption is incorrect. Neither master plans, nor zoning, nor MPDUs require the county to buy so much as a square inch of land.

Then explain to me how the housing is created? Obviously I don't understand.

Master plans say, "This stuff will go here, and that stuff will go there." Zoning says, "You can build/do this here; you can't build/do that here." MPDUs say that 12.5% (or more) of new housing units in construction with 20 or more units has to be MPDUs.

Basically, the county says what people can and can't build (or do, with existing buildings). Then people do or don't build it (or do or don't do it, with existing buildings).

One very easy way that the county could use to create affordable housing is by allowing owners of houses to have accessory apartments. For example, the owner would live on the main floor and rent out an apartment in the basement to a tenant. This wouldn't even require any building (except for some remodeling of existing buildings). This would make the house more affordable, because the owner would be able to apply the rent to the mortgage payment. And it would add to the supply of apartments for people to rent. The county did recently have a proposal to change zoning to allow accessory apartments. People screamed bloody murder.