Concerned about buying in WJ cluster because of re-zoning

[Anonymous]

The overenthusiastic growth in WJ is because of neighborhood turnover to date. However, there is tons of development in White Flint, Grosvenor Strathmore, WMAL, the Pooks Hill Marriott apartments (2 15 story high rises) and more, that are all within the WJ boundary. Those of us who live here and see the turnover, teardown and new builds believe MCPS is lowballing the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The overenthusiastic growth in WJ is because of neighborhood turnover to date. However, there is tons of development in White Flint, Grosvenor Strathmore, WMAL, the Pooks Hill Marriott apartments (2 15 story high rises) and more, that are all within the WJ boundary. Those of us who live here and see the turnover, teardown and new builds believe MCPS is lowballing the numbers.

Boundary decisions will be made based on the same numbers. That's the way it's always done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all seems like such an illogical way of dealing with the overcrowding issue. Enrollments are going to continue to grow. Are they going to continue to bus thousands of kids half way across the county? It just seems like it would be a disaster. I can see how it would make sense to take some kids from the closer high schools like Einstein and maybe Wheaton, but the other DCC schools seem too far away to make sense. At some point, BCC and Whitman, and probably other closer high schools will be overcrowded. Then what? And what happens when you get into sports, clubs, and other school activities. Do parents really want to have to schlep 45+ minutes to pick up their kid? I'm not sure what the answer is, and I know it all comes down to funding, but it seems like they'd be better off building another new high school to accommodate the overcrowding at the schools that are further away.

Wheaton had a recent renovation and is under capacity. There is no reason to rezone from Wheaton. If anything, a couple ES schools in the Einstein cluster will be rezoned to Woodward, but these will most likely be schools that are relatively good for the DCC (Flora Singer, Oakland Terrace and Woodlin).

Wheaton Boundary can become Woodward and it will allow Wheaton to help other over crowded DCC schools. Entire DCC boundary is likely to adjust here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It all seems like such an illogical way of dealing with the overcrowding issue. Enrollments are going to continue to grow. Are they going to continue to bus thousands of kids half way across the county? It just seems like it would be a disaster. I can see how it would make sense to take some kids from the closer high schools like Einstein and maybe Wheaton, but the other DCC schools seem too far away to make sense. At some point, BCC and Whitman, and probably other closer high schools will be overcrowded. Then what? And what happens when you get into sports, clubs, and other school activities. Do parents really want to have to schlep 45+ minutes to pick up their kid? I'm not sure what the answer is, and I know it all comes down to funding, but it seems like they'd be better off building another new high school to accommodate the overcrowding at the schools that are further away.

You don't need to bus everyone long distance. Wheaton and Einstein will contribute for WJ/Woodward. This will leave space in those two schools to help other DCC schools. Slight change in Whitman and BCC is expected.

[Anonymous]

BCC boundary may also be shifted to include Woodlin and in turn give a BCC elementary to WJ or Woodward.

At the Woodward meeting I attended, mcps planning staff mentioned redrawing boundaries for most HS in the lower part of the county. The only HS not mentioned for boundary changes was Churchill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BCC boundary may also be shifted to include Woodlin and in turn give a BCC elementary to WJ or Woodward.

At the Woodward meeting I attended, mcps planning staff mentioned redrawing boundaries for most HS in the lower part of the county. The only HS not mentioned for boundary changes was Churchill.

Northwood's expansion can handle its overcrowding and a good amount of Blairs, but the DCC boundaries are completely nuts. People who literally live across the street from Blair go to Northwood, and many people who live in SS end up at Einstein or BCC. A lot of this crazyness started when they moved Blair from SS to otuside the beltway without changing the boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all seems like such an illogical way of dealing with the overcrowding issue. Enrollments are going to continue to grow. Are they going to continue to bus thousands of kids half way across the county? It just seems like it would be a disaster. I can see how it would make sense to take some kids from the closer high schools like Einstein and maybe Wheaton, but the other DCC schools seem too far away to make sense. At some point, BCC and Whitman, and probably other closer high schools will be overcrowded. Then what? And what happens when you get into sports, clubs, and other school activities. Do parents really want to have to schlep 45+ minutes to pick up their kid? I'm not sure what the answer is, and I know it all comes down to funding, but it seems like they'd be better off building another new high school to accommodate the overcrowding at the schools that are further away.

You don't need to bus everyone long distance. Wheaton and Einstein will contribute for WJ/Woodward. This will leave space in those two schools to help other DCC schools. Slight change in Whitman and BCC is expected.

Wheaton isn't anywhere near Woodward. It makes more sense to shift the boundaies for the nearby adjacent schools than bus a bunch of kids from the other side of the county. It would make more sense to bus kids from nearby Whitman which will aslo be overcrowded, but there are better solutions like moving a couple hundred kids from Whitman into WJ and shifting a few hundred more kids from WJ into Woodward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all seems like such an illogical way of dealing with the overcrowding issue. Enrollments are going to continue to grow. Are they going to continue to bus thousands of kids half way across the county? It just seems like it would be a disaster. I can see how it would make sense to take some kids from the closer high schools like Einstein and maybe Wheaton, but the other DCC schools seem too far away to make sense. At some point, BCC and Whitman, and probably other closer high schools will be overcrowded. Then what? And what happens when you get into sports, clubs, and other school activities. Do parents really want to have to schlep 45+ minutes to pick up their kid? I'm not sure what the answer is, and I know it all comes down to funding, but it seems like they'd be better off building another new high school to accommodate the overcrowding at the schools that are further away.

You don't need to bus everyone long distance. Wheaton and Einstein will contribute for WJ/Woodward. This will leave space in those two schools to help other DCC schools. Slight change in Whitman and BCC is expected.

Wheaton isn't anywhere near Woodward. It makes more sense to shift the boundaies for the nearby adjacent schools than bus a bunch of kids from the other side of the county. It would make more sense to bus kids from nearby Whitman which will aslo be overcrowded, but there are better solutions like moving a couple hundred kids from Whitman into WJ and shifting a few hundred more kids from WJ into Woodward.

Moving Whitman boundaries are the third rail of MCPS. The process will be contentious enough as it is without adding groups who will grind it to a halt. I bet the changes will be done to WJ and Einstein and a little Blair to back fill the Einstein created vacancies. That is the most likely

[Anonymous]

Einstein is also slated for an expansion and has a big piece of property. I would build it big and add a county-wide test in magnet (maybe both stem and humanities).

[Anonymous]

Randolph Hills (next door to Garrett Park) neighborhood currently feeds to Wheaton, but back in the day was assigned to old Woodward.

If any DCC neighborhood is moving to Woodward it’s this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Einstein is also slated for an expansion and has a big piece of property. I would build it big and add a county-wide test in magnet (maybe both stem and humanities).

Einstein is only getting a small expansion. The campus can’t support anything major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Einstein is also slated for an expansion and has a big piece of property. I would build it big and add a county-wide test in magnet (maybe both stem and humanities).

Einstein is only getting a small expansion. The campus can’t support anything major.

Woodward's site is located between B-CC, Einstein, and WJ.

Woodward has room for 2700 seats, but I seriously doubt they'd fill it to capacity on day 1.

I'd imagine WJ will contribute 800-1000 students to Woodward. Around 700 to address it's overcrowding directly and shift a few hundred from Whitman to WJ to address overcrowding there too.

That still leaves 1700-1900 seats to fill at Woodward. The simplest solution is to fill them from the adjacent schools.

Since Einstein is around 700 over capacity it would likely contribute the lions share. I'd wager B-CC ends up giving 400-500 too, but 200 minimum to offset future overcrowding at B-CC.

Now Northwood is right next to Blair and it's expansion creates 1200 additional seats there. Roughly 700 are needed to address Northwood's overcrowding by 2022. That means 400-500 will likely go to address Blair's overcrowding. Now Blair will need around 700 total seats so they'll a couple hundred short. Those seats will likely come from the two schools directly adjacent to its West. Those schools are also adjacent to Woodward so it's easy to make the room. Sure the County could put the burden entirely on Einstein but why wouldn't B-CC get a pass?

It's all total speculation so I wouldn't get worked up over it. Do you remember those puzzle games you played as a kid that you solve by shifting the blocks? If your goal is to optimally fill these schools, make minimal changes to the overall map without busing people across the county that's how it could play out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all seems like such an illogical way of dealing with the overcrowding issue. Enrollments are going to continue to grow. Are they going to continue to bus thousands of kids half way across the county? It just seems like it would be a disaster. I can see how it would make sense to take some kids from the closer high schools like Einstein and maybe Wheaton, but the other DCC schools seem too far away to make sense. At some point, BCC and Whitman, and probably other closer high schools will be overcrowded. Then what? And what happens when you get into sports, clubs, and other school activities. Do parents really want to have to schlep 45+ minutes to pick up their kid? I'm not sure what the answer is, and I know it all comes down to funding, but it seems like they'd be better off building another new high school to accommodate the overcrowding at the schools that are further away.

You don't need to bus everyone long distance. Wheaton and Einstein will contribute for WJ/Woodward. This will leave space in those two schools to help other DCC schools. Slight change in Whitman and BCC is expected.

Wheaton isn't anywhere near Woodward. It makes more sense to shift the boundaies for the nearby adjacent schools than bus a bunch of kids from the other side of the county. It would make more sense to bus kids from nearby Whitman which will aslo be overcrowded, but there are better solutions like moving a couple hundred kids from Whitman into WJ and shifting a few hundred more kids from WJ into Woodward.

Moving Whitman boundaries are the third rail of MCPS. The process will be contentious enough as it is without adding groups who will grind it to a halt. I bet the changes will be done to WJ and Einstein and a little Blair to back fill the Einstein created vacancies. That is the most likely

because the affluent shoudn't be inconvenienced by peons? They need to get real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all seems like such an illogical way of dealing with the overcrowding issue. Enrollments are going to continue to grow. Are they going to continue to bus thousands of kids half way across the county? It just seems like it would be a disaster. I can see how it would make sense to take some kids from the closer high schools like Einstein and maybe Wheaton, but the other DCC schools seem too far away to make sense. At some point, BCC and Whitman, and probably other closer high schools will be overcrowded. Then what? And what happens when you get into sports, clubs, and other school activities. Do parents really want to have to schlep 45+ minutes to pick up their kid? I'm not sure what the answer is, and I know it all comes down to funding, but it seems like they'd be better off building another new high school to accommodate the overcrowding at the schools that are further away.

You don't need to bus everyone long distance. Wheaton and Einstein will contribute for WJ/Woodward. This will leave space in those two schools to help other DCC schools. Slight change in Whitman and BCC is expected.

Wheaton isn't anywhere near Woodward. It makes more sense to shift the boundaies for the nearby adjacent schools than bus a bunch of kids from the other side of the county. It would make more sense to bus kids from nearby Whitman which will aslo be overcrowded, but there are better solutions like moving a couple hundred kids from Whitman into WJ and shifting a few hundred more kids from WJ into Woodward.

Moving Whitman boundaries are the third rail of MCPS. The process will be contentious enough as it is without adding groups who will grind it to a halt. I bet the changes will be done to WJ and Einstein and a little Blair to back fill the Einstein created vacancies. That is the most likely

because the affluent shoudn't be inconvenienced by peons? They need to get real.

If Whitman enjoys being severely overcrowded, then just leave them be. They can add a couple trailers or just increase class sizes to accomodate the parents wishes.

[Anonymous]

New to this issue - are they redistricting maps available? I couldn't seem to find a map online. I've got a 2 year old and we are looking to buy in Bethesda or CCMD given our jobs are in DC and Bethesda and want short commutes.