MCPS BOE petition re: making student demographics the primary factor in redistricting decisions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is bad for QO which is a shame. The school has really been growing in popularity. There are enough crowding issues at Rachel Carson that this cluster seems ripe to rip apart. They already made strange splits by taking the Darnestown kids who go to Lakelands to NW instead of QO even though the denser areas that go to Darnestown ES are right down the road from QO. Splitting off one elementary school to another high school sucks for those kids who made friends in middle school and get dumped into another school with other kids that grew up together.

I don't see QO as being top of the list for schools that may be affected.

Then what do you see?

I can only speak for QO -- racially relatively balanced and relatively high FARMS (41%). So I don't see that QO really needs to be touched.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04125.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is bad for QO which is a shame. The school has really been growing in popularity. There are enough crowding issues at Rachel Carson that this cluster seems ripe to rip apart. They already made strange splits by taking the Darnestown kids who go to Lakelands to NW instead of QO even though the denser areas that go to Darnestown ES are right down the road from QO. Splitting off one elementary school to another high school sucks for those kids who made friends in middle school and get dumped into another school with other kids that grew up together.

I don't see QO as being top of the list for schools that may be affected.

Then what do you see?

I can only speak for QO -- racially relatively balanced and relatively high FARMS (41%). So I don't see that QO really needs to be touched.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04125.pdf

Yea, I think that ^PP is confusing FARMs rate with % of white students.

21% FARMS
40% white

I think QO is fairly diverse compared to Wootton though. I just don't see how they will get Wootton and Churchill diverse in terms of FARMs rate without the crazy boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is bad for QO which is a shame. The school has really been growing in popularity. There are enough crowding issues at Rachel Carson that this cluster seems ripe to rip apart. They already made strange splits by taking the Darnestown kids who go to Lakelands to NW instead of QO even though the denser areas that go to Darnestown ES are right down the road from QO. Splitting off one elementary school to another high school sucks for those kids who made friends in middle school and get dumped into another school with other kids that grew up together.

I don't see QO as being top of the list for schools that may be affected.

Then what do you see?

I can only speak for QO -- racially relatively balanced and relatively high FARMS (41%). So I don't see that QO really needs to be touched.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04125.pdf

Yea, I think that ^PP is confusing FARMs rate with % of white students.

21% FARMS
40% white

I think QO is fairly diverse compared to Wootton though. I just don't see how they will get Wootton and Churchill diverse in terms of FARMs rate without the crazy boundaries.

I was looking under Other Participation:

Students now or have in the past received FARMS: 41.4%. Not sure why that differs from the 21%. I don't know their methodology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I was looking under Other Participation:

Students now or have in the past received FARMS: 41.4%. Not sure why that differs from the 21%. I don't know their methodology.

It's the difference between now receiving FARMs and either now or in the past receiving FARMs. 21.3% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year received FARMs last year. 41.4% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year had received FARMs at some point during their years in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was looking under Other Participation:

Students now or have in the past received FARMS: 41.4%. Not sure why that differs from the 21%. I don't know their methodology.

It's the difference between now receiving FARMs and either now or in the past receiving FARMs. 21.3% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year received FARMs last year. 41.4% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year had received FARMs at some point during their years in MCPS.

Thanks. Interesting.

[Anonymous]

It's the difference between now receiving FARMs and either now or in the past receiving FARMs. 21.3% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year received FARMs last year. 41.4% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year had received FARMs at some point during their years in MCPS.

This is why I really worry about QO being one of the first targets. QO has been getting more wealthy and white, the FARMS rate keeps going down and at 21% isn't very diverse from the MCPS demographics. Rachel Carson is exploding and one if not the most over capacity ES in the county. The other schools are all full too. The next boundary study coming up involves Seneca Valley and Northwest. I'd predict that this change has A LOT to do with this and QO is on their target list.

MCPS tends to lump QO in around NW and doesn't look fondly on or really care about QO parents-especially RC ones. QO parents, with the exception of a small group of RC parents, tend to be less ready to organize and fight for anything. QO has only started to be recognized as a strong school recently. QO would be seen as an easy target with less push back than going further south into Wootton or Churchill where the entire area would jump on them in a second. Plus the Wootton ES schools are almost all under capacity so while tearing down Wootton would be a huge feather in the BOE's cap, it would mean bussing all the kids who live in Wootton somewhere north passing the busses of kids coming down from the north which would look ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It's the difference between now receiving FARMs and either now or in the past receiving FARMs. 21.3% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year received FARMs last year. 41.4% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year had received FARMs at some point during their years in MCPS.

This is why I really worry about QO being one of the first targets. QO has been getting more wealthy and white, the FARMS rate keeps going down and at 21% isn't very diverse from the MCPS demographics. Rachel Carson is exploding and one if not the most over capacity ES in the county. The other schools are all full too. The next boundary study coming up involves Seneca Valley and Northwest. I'd predict that this change has A LOT to do with this and QO is on their target list.

MCPS tends to lump QO in around NW and doesn't look fondly on or really care about QO parents-especially RC ones. QO parents, with the exception of a small group of RC parents, tend to be less ready to organize and fight for anything. QO has only started to be recognized as a strong school recently. QO would be seen as an easy target with less push back than going further south into Wootton or Churchill where the entire area would jump on them in a second. Plus the Wootton ES schools are almost all under capacity so while tearing down Wootton would be a huge feather in the BOE's cap, it would mean bussing all the kids who live in Wootton somewhere north passing the busses of kids coming down from the north which would look ridiculous.

based on what? the whole area is getting less white as we speak. maybe not the kentlands but other areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It's the difference between now receiving FARMs and either now or in the past receiving FARMs. 21.3% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year received FARMs last year. 41.4% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year had received FARMs at some point during their years in MCPS.

This is why I really worry about QO being one of the first targets. QO has been getting more wealthy and white, the FARMS rate keeps going down and at 21% isn't very diverse from the MCPS demographics. Rachel Carson is exploding and one if not the most over capacity ES in the county. The other schools are all full too. The next boundary study coming up involves Seneca Valley and Northwest. I'd predict that this change has A LOT to do with this and QO is on their target list.

MCPS tends to lump QO in around NW and doesn't look fondly on or really care about QO parents-especially RC ones. QO parents, with the exception of a small group of RC parents, tend to be less ready to organize and fight for anything. QO has only started to be recognized as a strong school recently. QO would be seen as an easy target with less push back than going further south into Wootton or Churchill where the entire area would jump on them in a second. Plus the Wootton ES schools are almost all under capacity so while tearing down Wootton would be a huge feather in the BOE's cap, it would mean bussing all the kids who live in Wootton somewhere north passing the busses of kids coming down from the north which would look ridiculous.

They should send Twinbrook ES to Wootton. They basically need to push westward and south more in that area to even out FARMS rate better.

[Anonymous]

based on what? the whole area is getting less white as we speak. maybe not the kentlands but other areas.

That's the point why QO is more at risk. QO is one of the few schools that is getting more white and UMC. Combination of growth around the Kentlands/Lakelands and families deciding to stay rather than go to private school or move south into Wootton or Churchill districts. The rest of the county is getting poorer but QO is on track to become a top ranked school like the Ws in 5-10 years unless MCPS intervenes.

[Anonymous]

Compare QO to its close partner high school Gaithersburg HS and you see the boards concern. Two relatively close schools vastly different demographics. The board was right on with their vote and concerns raised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This is why I really worry about QO being one of the first targets. QO has been getting more wealthy and white, the FARMS rate keeps going down and at 21% isn't very diverse from the MCPS demographics. Rachel Carson is exploding and one if not the most over capacity ES in the county. The other schools are all full too. The next boundary study coming up involves Seneca Valley and Northwest. I'd predict that this change has A LOT to do with this and QO is on their target list.

MCPS tends to lump QO in around NW and doesn't look fondly on or really care about QO parents-especially RC ones. QO parents, with the exception of a small group of RC parents, tend to be less ready to organize and fight for anything. QO has only started to be recognized as a strong school recently. QO would be seen as an easy target with less push back than going further south into Wootton or Churchill where the entire area would jump on them in a second. Plus the Wootton ES schools are almost all under capacity so while tearing down Wootton would be a huge feather in the BOE's cap, it would mean bussing all the kids who live in Wootton somewhere north passing the busses of kids coming down from the north which would look ridiculous.

"Targets"? Really?

Quince Orchard will be, and should be, part of the rezoning when the high school at Crown is built.

Quince Orchard High School
Capital Project: Projections indicate that enrollment at
Quince Orchard High School will exceed capacity by 200
seats or more by the end of the six-year planning period. An
FY 2018 appropriation was approved for a facility planning
to conduct a capacity study. Expenditures are approved in
the six-year period to open a new high school on the Crown
Farm site to address overutilization in the mid-county region.
Although an FY 2019 appropriation for planning was recommended
by the Board of Education to begin the architectural
design for this new school, the County Council delayed the
funds by one year to begin in FY 2020. Once the planning
is complete, a recommendation will be included in the next
full CIP regarding the phasing and completion date for the
opening of this new high school.

That's not "targeting" Quince Orchard HS. That's addressing capacity issues in the high schools in the area, including Quince Orchard HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's the difference between now receiving FARMs and either now or in the past receiving FARMs. 21.3% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year received FARMs last year. 41.4% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year had received FARMs at some point during their years in MCPS.

This is why I really worry about QO being one of the first targets. QO has been getting more wealthy and white, the FARMS rate keeps going down and at 21% isn't very diverse from the MCPS demographics. Rachel Carson is exploding and one if not the most over capacity ES in the county. The other schools are all full too. The next boundary study coming up involves Seneca Valley and Northwest. I'd predict that this change has A LOT to do with this and QO is on their target list.

MCPS tends to lump QO in around NW and doesn't look fondly on or really care about QO parents-especially RC ones. QO parents, with the exception of a small group of RC parents, tend to be less ready to organize and fight for anything. QO has only started to be recognized as a strong school recently. QO would be seen as an easy target with less push back than going further south into Wootton or Churchill where the entire area would jump on them in a second. Plus the Wootton ES schools are almost all under capacity so while tearing down Wootton would be a huge feather in the BOE's cap, it would mean bussing all the kids who live in Wootton somewhere north passing the busses of kids coming down from the north which would look ridiculous.

They should send Twinbrook ES to Wootton. They basically need to push westward and south more in that area to even out FARMS rate better.

Wooton with 5% FARMS will definitely receive some lower income ES. They definitely need to be evened our. Perhaps they can bus some kids from Wooton to Gaithersburg High to even it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's the difference between now receiving FARMs and either now or in the past receiving FARMs. 21.3% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year received FARMs last year. 41.4% of students at Quince Orchard HS last year had received FARMs at some point during their years in MCPS.

Does MCPS move students from Northern to Southern half of the county? Wootton is in South GT programs (Takoma Park / Blair), whereas GHS is in the North (Clemente / Poolesville). I thought those don't mix. Please clarify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

based on what? the whole area is getting less white as we speak. maybe not the kentlands but other areas.

That's the point why QO is more at risk. QO is one of the few schools that is getting more white and UMC. Combination of growth around the Kentlands/Lakelands and families deciding to stay rather than go to private school or move south into Wootton or Churchill districts. The rest of the county is getting poorer but QO is on track to become a top ranked school like the Ws in 5-10 years unless MCPS intervenes.

No I mean the QO area is getting less white except kentlands. Take a look at Brown Station, Jones Lane, and Fields Road. Only the kentlands is staying white, so I disagree that QO is getting whiter. No way.

[Anonymous]

Wooten can be integrated somewhat without radically shifting borders or having crazy bus rides. But what, if anything, do you do about Whitman?

Given the geography, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to increase the FARMS rate there. If Westbard gets some low income housing with the development that would provide some, but I can't imagine that would be too many student.