B-CC/WJ capacity cluster meeting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Somerset is so severely under capacity?

It's great for the kids/parents who live/attend that school, it's just such a different dynamic than all of the other schools on this list.

Sorry, meant to type Westbrook!

It’s catchment area is all SFHs, so there is very low density in that part of the cluster. It would make sense to move some of the high rise buildings in Friendship Heights that are now in Somerset into Westbrook. Then you could move some of the crowding in the Bethesda ES catchment into Somerset.

Why does Westbrook even go to BCC? It should go to Whitman based on geography.

It's 3.3 miles vs. 3.2 miles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know much about the new plans for Woodward, but it seems like you could easily fill up a new cluster by siphoning off the excess from the already overcrowded Whitman, BCC, WJ, and possibly Einstein and Richard Montgomery clusters. If you shifted one ES east in each cluster, you could then redistribute the other ES boundaries. It doesn’t seem practical to keep stuffing more kids into the existing elementary schools just to overcrowd the MS and HS.

What a good thing that MCPS is doing a boundary analysis to assess the feasibility of ideas just like this one!

But, it seems like they aren’t really doing this. If you keep looking at adding additions to existing ES buildings and also won’t consider returning the BCC elementary schools to neighborhood K-5 buildings, you are not really focusing on getting each kid into a right-sized, non-overcrowded school with a reasonable commute all the way through HS.

Decoupling BCC elementaries does not address capacity at all - you are merely moving kids around. It’s like re-areanging deck chairs on the Titanic. The longest commutes are between Chevy Chase East of wisc and RHPS. Also kids from RHPS get home late because the school starts later - around 9:30. Some buses have a 20 minute commute time from first pick up to school door. Others are as long as 40 minutes, but these are the buses which have many stops. Lobby to change that rather than use it as your Trojan Horse to re-segregate. Your family can’t spend 20 minutes in the service of integration? Mine was happy to. I was happy as a child when the cluster desegregated. I had many friends of all backgrounds and that experience served me well in college and career.

Your assumption that every person’s biggest focus is segregation is counterproductive. I’m from a part of the country that has a much higher minority population, so the concern between relatively small differences in FARMS rates between these schools needs to be kept in perspective.

My kids are little and are in a Westland-zoned elementary school, so I am also not complaining about the busing from a personal perspective. However, we deliberately avoided house hunting in neighborhoods with split articulation because we have three kids close in age and two different schools would have been a logistical hardship on us. I can personally attest to the benefits to my entire family of a close-by neighborhood school. To flip your argument on its head, I don’t see why only rich white people should be allowed the positive benefits of convenience and community.

Personally, my biggest concern is overcrowding. I have been a high school teacher at a very diverse school with many challenges. All of these challenges are made more difficult by overcrowding and the accompanying class sizes. Returning the Silver Lake elementary schools to neighborhood schools has the dual outcome of giving those neighborhoods local community schools and allowing at least one of them to be moved into the new Woodward district to reduce the size of BCC.

But none of the Silver Creek elementary schools are particularly close to Woodward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should send all of Kensington to Einstein. And all of Rosemary hills to Northwood.

That would help BCC crowding, WJ crowding and add middle class families to those two lower performing clusters

and make BCC and WJ even less diverse.

But all 4 schools would get better, isn’t that what’s important?

None of the families zoned to WJ or BCC in Kensington are particularly diverse. They are white people for the most part that couldn’t quite afford / or afford as much in Bethesda. BCC would get less SES diverse but it would still lag behind Whitman and Churchill in terms of wealth concentration. Many of the richest parts of BCC don’t send many kids to BCC

That pattern would change. If BCC because 75% white, the wealth concentration would be ridiculous. Suddenly little Johnny wouldn't need to go to Landon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Somerset is so severely under capacity?

It's great for the kids/parents who live/attend that school, it's just such a different dynamic than all of the other schools on this list.

Sorry, meant to type Westbrook!

It’s catchment area is all SFHs, so there is very low density in that part of the cluster. It would make sense to move some of the high rise buildings in Friendship Heights that are now in Somerset into Westbrook. Then you could move some of the crowding in the Bethesda ES catchment into Somerset.

Why does Westbrook even go to BCC? It should go to Whitman based on geography.

It's 3.3 miles vs. 3.2 miles.

3.5 miles (to BCC) vs 2.9 (to Whitman) by my count. 10 minutes to Whitman vs 20 minutes to BCC. And BCC is already very crowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should send all of Kensington to Einstein. And all of Rosemary hills to Northwood.

That would help BCC crowding, WJ crowding and add middle class families to those two lower performing clusters

Chevy Chase should really be going to Gaithersburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Somerset is so severely under capacity?

It's great for the kids/parents who live/attend that school, it's just such a different dynamic than all of the other schools on this list.

Sorry, meant to type Westbrook!

It’s catchment area is all SFHs, so there is very low density in that part of the cluster. It would make sense to move some of the high rise buildings in Friendship Heights that are now in Somerset into Westbrook. Then you could move some of the crowding in the Bethesda ES catchment into Somerset.

Why does Westbrook even go to BCC? It should go to Whitman based on geography.

It's 3.3 miles vs. 3.2 miles.

3.5 miles (to BCC) vs 2.9 (to Whitman) by my count. 10 minutes to Whitman vs 20 minutes to BCC. And BCC is already very crowded.

Everywhere is crowded That's a little bit of an overstatement, but people in their BCC bubble who think only BCC is "very crowded" well, BCC is currently within the capacity of the addition and WJ is about 200 students over capacity, expected to be close to 700 over capacity in 5-6 years. I think Einstein is not over capacity yet, but it's not like there's tons of room there either. Northwood will have space when it's addition/rev/ex opens in 2025, which is also when Woodward is supposed to open. Current schools do not have capacity to just move kids around. There will not be a solution to overcrowding until Northwood/Woodward open if then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Somerset is so severely under capacity?

It's great for the kids/parents who live/attend that school, it's just such a different dynamic than all of the other schools on this list.

Sorry, meant to type Westbrook!

It’s catchment area is all SFHs, so there is very low density in that part of the cluster. It would make sense to move some of the high rise buildings in Friendship Heights that are now in Somerset into Westbrook. Then you could move some of the crowding in the Bethesda ES catchment into Somerset.

Why does Westbrook even go to BCC? It should go to Whitman based on geography.

It's 3.3 miles vs. 3.2 miles.

3.5 miles (to BCC) vs 2.9 (to Whitman) by my count. 10 minutes to Whitman vs 20 minutes to BCC. And BCC is already very crowded.

Everywhere is crowded That's a little bit of an overstatement, but people in their BCC bubble who think only BCC is "very crowded" well, BCC is currently within the capacity of the addition and WJ is about 200 students over capacity, expected to be close to 700 over capacity in 5-6 years. I think Einstein is not over capacity yet, but it's not like there's tons of room there either. Northwood will have space when it's addition/rev/ex opens in 2025, which is also when Woodward is supposed to open. Current schools do not have capacity to just move kids around. There will not be a solution to overcrowding until Northwood/Woodward open if then.

The difference is BCC cannot be expanded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Somerset is so severely under capacity?

It's great for the kids/parents who live/attend that school, it's just such a different dynamic than all of the other schools on this list.

Sorry, meant to type Westbrook!

It’s catchment area is all SFHs, so there is very low density in that part of the cluster. It would make sense to move some of the high rise buildings in Friendship Heights that are now in Somerset into Westbrook. Then you could move some of the crowding in the Bethesda ES catchment into Somerset.

Why does Westbrook even go to BCC? It should go to Whitman based on geography.

It's 3.3 miles vs. 3.2 miles.

3.5 miles (to BCC) vs 2.9 (to Whitman) by my count. 10 minutes to Whitman vs 20 minutes to BCC. And BCC is already very crowded.

Everywhere is crowded That's a little bit of an overstatement, but people in their BCC bubble who think only BCC is "very crowded" well, BCC is currently within the capacity of the addition and WJ is about 200 students over capacity, expected to be close to 700 over capacity in 5-6 years. I think Einstein is not over capacity yet, but it's not like there's tons of room there either. Northwood will have space when it's addition/rev/ex opens in 2025, which is also when Woodward is supposed to open. Current schools do not have capacity to just move kids around. There will not be a solution to overcrowding until Northwood/Woodward open if then.

And now there's the whole question of whether Woodward will be opened with full high school facilities ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Somerset is so severely under capacity?

It's great for the kids/parents who live/attend that school, it's just such a different dynamic than all of the other schools on this list.

Sorry, meant to type Westbrook!

It’s catchment area is all SFHs, so there is very low density in that part of the cluster. It would make sense to move some of the high rise buildings in Friendship Heights that are now in Somerset into Westbrook. Then you could move some of the crowding in the Bethesda ES catchment into Somerset.

Why does Westbrook even go to BCC? It should go to Whitman based on geography.

It's 3.3 miles vs. 3.2 miles.

3.5 miles (to BCC) vs 2.9 (to Whitman) by my count. 10 minutes to Whitman vs 20 minutes to BCC. And BCC is already very crowded.

Everywhere is crowded That's a little bit of an overstatement, but people in their BCC bubble who think only BCC is "very crowded" well, BCC is currently within the capacity of the addition and WJ is about 200 students over capacity, expected to be close to 700 over capacity in 5-6 years. I think Einstein is not over capacity yet, but it's not like there's tons of room there either. Northwood will have space when it's addition/rev/ex opens in 2025, which is also when Woodward is supposed to open. Current schools do not have capacity to just move kids around. There will not be a solution to overcrowding until Northwood/Woodward open if then.

And now there's the whole question of whether Woodward will be opened with full high school facilities ...

Will this hurt home values? We just bought a house in Chevy Chase. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Somerset is so severely under capacity?

It's great for the kids/parents who live/attend that school, it's just such a different dynamic than all of the other schools on this list.

Sorry, meant to type Westbrook!

It’s catchment area is all SFHs, so there is very low density in that part of the cluster. It would make sense to move some of the high rise buildings in Friendship Heights that are now in Somerset into Westbrook. Then you could move some of the crowding in the Bethesda ES catchment into Somerset.

Why does Westbrook even go to BCC? It should go to Whitman based on geography.

It's 3.3 miles vs. 3.2 miles.

3.5 miles (to BCC) vs 2.9 (to Whitman) by my count. 10 minutes to Whitman vs 20 minutes to BCC. And BCC is already very crowded.

Everywhere is crowded That's a little bit of an overstatement, but people in their BCC bubble who think only BCC is "very crowded" well, BCC is currently within the capacity of the addition and WJ is about 200 students over capacity, expected to be close to 700 over capacity in 5-6 years. I think Einstein is not over capacity yet, but it's not like there's tons of room there either. Northwood will have space when it's addition/rev/ex opens in 2025, which is also when Woodward is supposed to open. Current schools do not have capacity to just move kids around. There will not be a solution to overcrowding until Northwood/Woodward open if then.

The difference is BCC cannot be expanded.

WJ is built to 2300, Woodward is apparently going to be built to 2700 and I think Northwood's rehaul is going to take it to 2700 as well. There is a limit to how big these schools can be built, though they don't have the same site constraints as BCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The difference is BCC cannot be expanded.

BCC can't be expanded within MCPS's current parameters. But the parameters could be changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And now there's the whole question of whether Woodward will be opened with full high school facilities ...

Will this hurt home values? We just bought a house in Chevy Chase. Thanks!

Yes! Sell now!

Or, alternatively - welcome to Montgomery County, I hope you settle in well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Everywhere is crowded That's a little bit of an overstatement, but people in their BCC bubble who think only BCC is "very crowded" well, BCC is currently within the capacity of the addition and WJ is about 200 students over capacity, expected to be close to 700 over capacity in 5-6 years. I think Einstein is not over capacity yet, but it's not like there's tons of room there either. Northwood will have space when it's addition/rev/ex opens in 2025, which is also when Woodward is supposed to open. Current schools do not have capacity to just move kids around. There will not be a solution to overcrowding until Northwood/Woodward open if then.

Uh, yes, Einstein is already overcapacity by 150 kids, and projected to be 490 overcapacity by 2025.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should send all of Kensington to Einstein. And all of Rosemary hills to Northwood.

That would help BCC crowding, WJ crowding and add middle class families to those two lower performing clusters

and make BCC and WJ even less diverse.

But all 4 schools would get better, isn’t that what’s important?

None of the families zoned to WJ or BCC in Kensington are particularly diverse. They are white people for the most part that couldn’t quite afford / or afford as much in Bethesda. BCC would get less SES diverse but it would still lag behind Whitman and Churchill in terms of wealth concentration. Many of the richest parts of BCC don’t send many kids to BCC

That pattern would change. If BCC because 75% white, the wealth concentration would be ridiculous. Suddenly little Johnny wouldn't need to go to Landon.

Pro-tip:. A lot of people who send their kids to places like Landon are so loaded that it doesn't really matter to them. They're buying a Landon education the same way they are buying their beach house and Porsche. They want it and can afford it. No redistricting is going to change that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should send all of Kensington to Einstein. And all of Rosemary hills to Northwood.

That would help BCC crowding, WJ crowding and add middle class families to those two lower performing clusters

and make BCC and WJ even less diverse.

But all 4 schools would get better, isn’t that what’s important?

None of the families zoned to WJ or BCC in Kensington are particularly diverse. They are white people for the most part that couldn’t quite afford / or afford as much in Bethesda. BCC would get less SES diverse but it would still lag behind Whitman and Churchill in terms of wealth concentration. Many of the richest parts of BCC don’t send many kids to BCC

That pattern would change. If BCC because 75% white, the wealth concentration would be ridiculous. Suddenly little Johnny wouldn't need to go to Landon.

Pro-tip:. A lot of people who send their kids to places like Landon are so loaded that it doesn't really matter to them. They're buying a Landon education the same way they are buying their beach house and Porsche. They want it and can afford it. No redistricting is going to change that.

Chevy Chase resident — some very wealthy ChCh parents send their kids to bCC and some to private. There are plenty of Porsches, Range Rovers, Mercedes, etc. Wealthy parents who send their kids to private school do so mostly as a matter of family tradition, social prestige, professional social networking, a belief that there are few “troublemakers” at these schools (ha!) and need/desire to place kids in an all inclusive environment. Parents who send their kids to the major privates aren’t runnung around piecing together sports, after school activities, social events, tutoring, college counseling, etc. A small minority revprobably consciously or unconsciously racist.

Anyway, I’m not sure what the top posters point is - we should re-segregate and reclaim the lily-white days of yore so that racist, wealthy white families feel comfortable sending their kids to public school?