Should MCPS start busing or open enrollment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes, moving is certainly a royal PIA. But you could do it, if you wanted to.

Whereas people with kids on FARMS could not move to your neighborhood, even if they wanted to, because they can't afford it. Heck, I probably couldn't afford it, and my household income is right about at the median for Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Please figure this out by this time next year. We're are planning to move from DC to MoCo TJ get some certainty in schools, but if if this is the direction things are going, I will happily stay in the city and unhappily just pay for private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes, moving is certainly a royal PIA. But you could do it, if you wanted to.

Whereas people with kids on FARMS could not move to your neighborhood, even if they wanted to, because they can't afford it. Heck, I probably couldn't afford it, and my household income is right about at the median for Montgomery County.

Yes, you are correct. We could move if we wanted to. But I'm not getting into the crazy real estate market. I've been there once before and it's way too stressful. Maybe in a few years if the markets returns to some state of normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please figure this out by this time next year. We're are planning to move from DC to MoCo TJ get some certainty in schools, but if if this is the direction things are going, I will happily stay in the city and unhappily just pay for private.

Why are you moving to Mont Cty?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please figure this out by this time next year. We're are planning to move from DC to MoCo TJ get some certainty in schools, but if if this is the direction things are going, I will happily stay in the city and unhappily just pay for private.

Oh, you know, in real life, it's not so bad, for most people in the DCUM demographic. They just like to get on DCUM and complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please figure this out by this time next year. We're are planning to move from DC to MoCo TJ get some certainty in schools, but if if this is the direction things are going, I will happily stay in the city and unhappily just pay for private.

Oh, you know, in real life, it's not so bad, for most people in the DCUM demographic. They just like to get on DCUM and complain.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1

[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.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

After read through all 10 pages, I conclude that most people complained about lack of diversity in W schools because they think low income families don't have any chance, rent or buy, to live in the community. A few people who actually live in red zone said they are happy with the education their children received and the school. They don't think their kids receive less education.
There are a lot of good teachers and a few bad teachers in each school. MCPS put a lots of special programs in less affluent HS that are not available to most of the W school. There were three HS programs in my W HS five years ago but only one left now.
Erasing achievement gap between schools by busing kids around will not erase the achievement gap between the up an d low perform students academically. You need to change the culture of some family to let kids believe academic achievement is more important than become a football or basketball player, or a pop star. Math is boring but will get you a decent life if you work hard.
Not all the kids from high SES wear brand named shoes or clothes or carry a fancy bag, nor all the kids has a smart phone. If you go to a MS/HS in red zone, you may find a lot of kids wear brand named jackets/shoes and carry smart phones. I am not sure many of them came from low SES families or on FARM. It is a choice of life style, or style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, but I suggest that busing be designed so that no elementary school has more than 20% of students on FARMS. That means that some low SES kids get bused to Potomac, Chevy Chase, and Bethesda and some high SES kids get bused to Silver Spring, Wheaton, Gaithersburg.
All middle schools and high schools should either have a magnet program, immersion program, or some other special program to attract high performing students and those that have potential, but have not yet been motivated to highly perform. There should be some programs that you must test into and some that are purely lottery based.

Of course, this will never happen because high SES parents would vote out any school board members who dared suggest it. Starr would be ridden out of town on a rail for even hinting that their snowflakes might rub elbows with a poor kid.

So the gap will remain.

Given that 33 % of MCPS kids are on FARMS, what do you propose to do with that 13%?

I'm torn on this. On one hand, I'd love to see more diversity in our local school. On the other hand, having lived in DC and traipsed across the city for "school choice" and experienced living on a block where the 10 kids went to 9 different schools, I really appreciate the fact that my kid can walk to school, and walk to friends' houses, and see school friends at the local park, etc . . . I would hate to give that up.

What MoCo really needs is more scattered site low income housing. Rather than busing low income kids to our neighborhood, I wish they'd figure out a way for those families to live here.

BINGO!

It will never happen, though, because those in expensive neighborhoods will exercise influence to see that it doesn't. They don't want their kids rubbing elbows with children from poor families.

Housing, it is all about housing.

And school capacity.


But seriously folks, if MoCo keeps botching curriculum 2.0, there won't be any good students or property value left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But seriously folks, if MoCo keeps botching curriculum 2.0, there won't be any good students or property value left.

Oh? Are property values in Montgomery County declining? Is enrollment in MCPS declining?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL!

Because I paid several million dollars to live in Potomac, and I don't want some illegal ESOL kid intermingling with my precious snowflake.


(I'm with you OP, I think they should either do a lottery, or let kids choose. Or level the playing field by making sure ALL schools are the same across the county, at least facility-wise. None of this crap where one school looks like a beautiful college campus, and another a depressing wasteland.)

Agree. And while they're at it, even out the overcrowding. If a school is under enrolled, bus some kids from one of the trailer park elementary schools. But as a PP said, elites in MoCo would scream to their "elected" officials to stop this.

This would be Cold Spring ES. They have empty classrooms and had to let some teachers go due to low enrollment. Projected enrollment is not much better. Meanwhile, next door at Ritchie Park ES (literally like a mile away), there are 2 portables. Is this rocket science?

What prompts the county to redistrict? I know they did this about 20 yrs ago. Have they redistricted since then?

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE if they could redistrict Horizon Hill to Cold Spring. LOVE LOVE. Ritchie Park is awful and once they added Fallsgrove it was so overcrowded. And don't get me started on Julius West. My daughter is there right now and it is so overcrowded and lackluster at best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After read through all 10 pages, I conclude that most people complained about lack of diversity in W schools because they think low income families don't have any chance, rent or buy, to live in the community. A few people who actually live in red zone said they are happy with the education their children received and the school. They don't think their kids receive less education.
There are a lot of good teachers and a few bad teachers in each school. MCPS put a lots of special programs in less affluent HS that are not available to most of the W school. There were three HS programs in my W HS five years ago but only one left now.
Erasing achievement gap between schools by busing kids around will not erase the achievement gap between the up an d low perform students academically. You need to change the culture of some family to let kids believe academic achievement is more important than become a football or basketball player, or a pop star. Math is boring but will get you a decent life if you work hard.
Not all the kids from high SES wear brand named shoes or clothes or carry a fancy bag, nor all the kids has a smart phone. If you go to a MS/HS in red zone, you may find a lot of kids wear brand named jackets/shoes and carry smart phones. I am not sure many of them came from low SES families or on FARM. It is a choice of life style, or style.

Last time I checked the SES families all have smartphone, brand new sneakers, north face and more. But yet, we pay for their kids meals. Like you said, it is a lifestyle. If you are taught that you don't have to work hard to succeed, you never will. Welfare will help you get the things you need so you can have your money for things that you "want." The system is broke. That is the issue. Kids mimic their families, families are attached to a system that caters to them and never forces them off or watches what they do/spend with the money they do have. That will never ever change unless government assistance starts to offer mandatory volunteering or educational training for assistance received. See that you have applied to x amount of places and follow up. If these are done, your assistance starts going down off a sliding scale. Then maybe there will be more people accountable for themselves and start teaching their kids the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Correction:

^^^If these things are NOT done, you assistance starts going down off a sliding scale

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL!

Because I paid several million dollars to live in Potomac, and I don't want some illegal ESOL kid intermingling with my precious snowflake.


(I'm with you OP, I think they should either do a lottery, or let kids choose. Or level the playing field by making sure ALL schools are the same across the county, at least facility-wise. None of this crap where one school looks like a beautiful college campus, and another a depressing wasteland.)

Agree. And while they're at it, even out the overcrowding. If a school is under enrolled, bus some kids from one of the trailer park elementary schools. But as a PP said, elites in MoCo would scream to their "elected" officials to stop this.

This would be Cold Spring ES. They have empty classrooms and had to let some teachers go due to low enrollment. Projected enrollment is not much better. Meanwhile, next door at Ritchie Park ES (literally like a mile away), there are 2 portables. Is this rocket science?

What prompts the county to redistrict? I know they did this about 20 yrs ago. Have they redistricted since then?

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE if they could redistrict Horizon Hill to Cold Spring. LOVE LOVE. Ritchie Park is awful and once they added Fallsgrove it was so overcrowded. And don't get me started on Julius West. My daughter is there right now and it is so overcrowded and lackluster at best.

Another poster stated that the bus from Fallsgrove passes by 3 ES on the way to RP. They should get redistricted to a closer school that is under capacity. And they will probably never redistrict HH to CS because they redistricted that area to RM 20+ yrs ago.