Second round options for Woodward boundary study

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Was there this much split articulation in the first set of options? So many elementary schools getting split up under all 4 scenarios.

My sneaking suspicion is that this will leave them optionality on adjusting clusters at a later date based on how demographics shift over time.

What do you mean?

They will have more flexibility regarding adjusting the boundaries of these clusters in the future as they see how enrollment changes. Once they’ve gone to split articulation, do you really think they won’t consider moving one group to the alternate school in the future? It seems perfectly set up for this in places where there is a large group of split articulated schools.

They said something in the presentation about ES splits possibly being addressed in future boundary studies.

You mean elementary school boundary studies?

Yes, I think that's what they meant. (Though no elementary school boundary studies are currently proposed.)

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Not clear whether the data sets include new programs or not. They did not address that on the webinar.

+1 or how and with what money they are adding 500 seats to Wheaton

They should not call this community engagement if they aren't actually hearing from the community. They should just send out the powerpoint with the script they are READING instead of wasting people's time.

I don't think they are adding 500 seats to Wheaton. They are just combining the existing Wheaton + Edison capacity and the projected Wheaton + Edison enrollment.

No

Where does it say anything about adding seats to Wheaton? The data table footnotes just say "Wheaton HS includes the capacity at Edison HS" and "Assumes 500 students attend Wheaton HS for CTE."

You are putting a lot of trust in the consultants while ignoring one obvious fact - Wheaton HS is currently overcrowded. Why is that if there is all this space at Edison? Because there isn't. They haven't built it out yet and won't tell us how much that would cost or how long it would take. Or are they reducing capacity for the Edison programs to fit the Wheaton HS? They aren't saying and there is a reason for it - they know the capacity isn't currently there but it makes their job easier to pretend that it is.

For 2024-25, Wheaton HS had a capacity of 2251 and enrollment of 2794 https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/MP26_Chapter4DCC.pdf

500 seats don't magically appear.

Edison is a completely seperate school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the problem just that Woodward (the new school with the space) is too far from the schools with overcrowding?

No, it's less than 4 miles away from Wheaton HS and even closer to the western edges of the Wheaton attendance area but they decided families would rather have their kids walk 1.9 miles to school rather than send them to Woodward.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It's very unfair to Whitman families.

More diversity should be added in Whitman. Leaving it untouched is a missed oppurtunity.

But do non-white, lower income folks even want to go to Whitman?

I am high income and non-white - I don't want my kids to attend Whitman.

I am high-income and white, and purposefully didn't buy in the Whitman or Churchill districts.

Me too

Us too and I didn't want my kids at a W school for a variety of reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Not clear whether the data sets include new programs or not. They did not address that on the webinar.

+1 or how and with what money they are adding 500 seats to Wheaton

They should not call this community engagement if they aren't actually hearing from the community. They should just send out the powerpoint with the script they are READING instead of wasting people's time.

I don't think they are adding 500 seats to Wheaton. They are just combining the existing Wheaton + Edison capacity and the projected Wheaton + Edison enrollment.

No

Where does it say anything about adding seats to Wheaton? The data table footnotes just say "Wheaton HS includes the capacity at Edison HS" and "Assumes 500 students attend Wheaton HS for CTE."

You are putting a lot of trust in the consultants while ignoring one obvious fact - Wheaton HS is currently overcrowded. Why is that if there is all this space at Edison? Because there isn't. They haven't built it out yet and won't tell us how much that would cost or how long it would take. Or are they reducing capacity for the Edison programs to fit the Wheaton HS? They aren't saying and there is a reason for it - they know the capacity isn't currently there but it makes their job easier to pretend that it is.

For 2024-25, Wheaton HS had a capacity of 2251 and enrollment of 2794 https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/MP26_Chapter4DCC.pdf

500 seats don't magically appear.

Edison is a completely seperate school.

But aren't there a significant number of students in the Wheaton-Edison partnership? "Students are Wheaton HS students and will go to Thomas Edison in their 11th and/or 12th grade years for part of the school day." My understanding is that program will continue after the new regional system starts.

https://sites.google.com/mcpsmd.net/whsopenhouse2020/wheatonedison-partnership

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Can some one share the regional magnet programs in Woodward region?

Art, Design, Performing Arts, Communication.

So with 30% FARMS + these programs ---> Very little numbers left for higher level STEM classes. Woodward may not offer good STEM courses.

WJ with 15% FARMS rate should be able to offer good STEM courses despite school size going down.

Wheaton and Blair have well over 30% FARMS currently and offer higher level STEM classes. Those things are not mutually exclusive.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Can some one share the regional magnet programs in Woodward region?

Art, Design, Performing Arts, Communication.

So with 30% FARMS + these programs ---> Very little numbers left for higher level STEM classes. Woodward may not offer good STEM courses.

WJ with 15% FARMS rate should be able to offer good STEM courses despite school size going down.

Every school will offer STEM but Woodward will also be able to go to Wheaton for Engineering. Impressive program.

Yes, STEM oriented kids in Woodward will have no other option than to attend Wheaton, but WJ is likely to have better STEM courses allowing kids to be in home school and get good STEM courses. It's simply due to making twos chools within a mile drastically different in FARMS. A poor job by consultants.

Honestly I am livid we are paying these clowns so much

The fact that Woodward and WJ appear to have such different FARMS rates is definitely a problem.

Maybe the consultants really whiffed it in the first round to purposefully get a muted reaction to this problem in the second round.

I don’t know how they could equalize between schools. It becomes impossible.

As to Wheaton’s 500 seats, is that for 2030?

[Anonymous]

I actually think Woodward becomes a very nice school, in time, with this plan.

[Anonymous]

When Woodward opens in 2027, only 9th graders will attend? or higher grades from WJ and Wheaton will transfer to Woodward?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When Woodward opens in 2027, only 9th graders will attend? or higher grades from WJ and Wheaton will transfer to Woodward?

TBD, but probably 9th and 10th will attend.

[Anonymous]

32% or Wheaton students are chronically absent.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2024/06/21/mcps-chronic-absenteeism-dips-slightly-in-2023-2024-school-year/

[Anonymous]

That means Wheaton is in fact under enrolled f 32% of the population are ghost students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how do the people newly zoned for Woodward feel? Is it about right? Which options are preferable?

WJ FAMS goes down in most potions.

Poverty will be concentrated in Woodward. Woodward will have around twice the FARMS rate of WJ.

Not a good outcome but better than earlier proposed options.

There is a lot of new buildings slated to open around the Rockville Pike. WJ will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That means Wheaton is in fact under enrolled f 32% of the population are ghost students.

Sounds like the issue is working itself out. I wonder how often this is the case at other schools where there is alleged overcrowding?

[Anonymous]

Edison is a school that students attend for 2.5 hours of their school day. I believe the thought is that the IT Academy students could attend classes at Edison but that doesn’t move them out of Wheaton. They have to have electives, English and math classes too.