First hearing on districtwide boundary study is tonight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rezoning that occurs based on overcrowding and geography usually has less of impact on housing values because its clear to people when buying that they are on the edge of an area likely to be rezoned. The discount is built into the housing market. Areas that have better planning and financial management also forecast ahead and new developments are sold with clear future boundaries disclosed. Its frankly bizarre to me here that new developments pop up with no hard plan as to where kids will go and then it ends up being a crap shoot which one will get rezoned to the lower school.

Property values is a tangible thing to home owners and it should be to the county as well. The type of redistricting that MCPS is pursuing will destabilize the real estate market and at a time when MOCO is not doing very well. Someone in the county needs to be forecasting what this will cost the county in the long run and how they will make up the shortfall.

The other bizarre thing about all this is that the advocates seem to be white people living in lower performing schools and AA MCPS administrators and BOE members. The opposition is white people in high performing schools and asians. The hispanics who make up the largest demographic group in the system are no where to be seen or heard in any of these discussions. If you look at the county demographics, the hispanic residents are overwhelming younger and have more kids while the majority of white and AA residents are aging out of child bearing years so MCPS in the next 5-10 years is likely to reach 60% hispanic. Someone should ask the hispanic community what they want since they will be the primary population in the future.

Very interesting observation about the Hispanic representation at the meetings. I realize that the main issue is language barrier (which is also the issue in the classroom I am sure), however, surely there are fluent Hispanic families who would want to make a statement. Perhaps they don't care, or don't even realize what's happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think the county is actually going to spend millions on buses and bus drivers? When there aren't enough teachers, and classrooms and schools are overcrowded? And for all those who think there are enough empty seats, please do send your children to Poolesville and Damascus, especially if you live down county and are going against traffic. I'd like my children to walk to school thank you.

I'll give you an example where the county does this.

My kid lives 0.7 miles from one Middle School. Sidewalks all the way, and she could easily walk to school.

She is zoned for a MS 1.8 miles away and takes the bus.

It would make much more sense for my kid to attend the closer MS. The one we're zoned for is 'better', but it's much more inconvenient, and it requires MCPS to offer a bus. Plus an activity bus three days a week.

My kid lives in part of the DCC that doesn't have a high-school near it anymore. They're bussed to the closest high-school as are the 12345 kids that live in this part of the county. The kids who live across the street from the HS are bussed to another nearby HS because there's no room in the one that's close to them. Their bus ride however is much shorter than the bus ride my kids have. The point is being assigned to the closest HS isn't always the most sensible thing the county can do. It sometimes make more sense to look at the bigger picture.

We live in Kensington near Einstein but kids get bussed halfway across the county to Walter Johnson. We love it, but if the BoE rezones us for Einstein our property values will tank!!

And this is what it comes down to, really. It's not really about what's best for ALL the kids academically. Let's be honest here.

Of COURSE that's what this is about! These ridiculous dog whistle speeches about busing and not wanting to break up school communities is the biggest bunch of BS I've ever heard. Just be honest about it.

Yep totally agree.

I don't think anyone is dog-whistling about property values...they are saying it outright.

No.. some people are not outright about it. Most people publicly won't say that outright because it makes them look bad. Some people can't even admit to it privately.

Of course, as home owners, we care about property values. I care about my property value which at the moment is about $730K according to zillow. But do I think that's the most important thing? No. I think boundaries need to change to relieve overcrowding. And if they can draw boundaries that make sense in terms of all four factors, then they should.

The issue here is that not all four factors can be met in equal measure. One of them usually gives or takes a higher priority. And, as we we are seeing in FCPS as well as HCPS, balancing out FARMs rate is a high priority since studies have shown that lower income kids do better in schools with lower FARMs rate.

The overarching goal here is to alleviate overcrowding, so boundaries will need to be redrawn. Period. End of story.

So you live in a $730K house? Why not sell your home and move to a lower income neighborhood. There are lots of places where you could go. Take the extra money you have and bolster up the PTA. You'll feel great about it, and your kids will be fine! Why do you choose to stay in your $730K home?

Why should I do that? I already chose a diverse non W cluster. I don't need to do things to feel great about myself. I do think the BOE needs to alleviate over crowding, and if they can balance out FARMs across the clusters while not sacrificing the other factors too much, why is that a bad thing? There are four factors in drawing boundaries. Again, it's very difficult to address all four factors equally.

So you invested poorly in your real estate and hoping this boundary change will bail you out lol.

Sounds accurate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rezoning that occurs based on overcrowding and geography usually has less of impact on housing values because its clear to people when buying that they are on the edge of an area likely to be rezoned. The discount is built into the housing market. Areas that have better planning and financial management also forecast ahead and new developments are sold with clear future boundaries disclosed. Its frankly bizarre to me here that new developments pop up with no hard plan as to where kids will go and then it ends up being a crap shoot which one will get rezoned to the lower school.

Property values is a tangible thing to home owners and it should be to the county as well. The type of redistricting that MCPS is pursuing will destabilize the real estate market and at a time when MOCO is not doing very well. Someone in the county needs to be forecasting what this will cost the county in the long run and how they will make up the shortfall.

The other bizarre thing about all this is that the advocates seem to be white people living in lower performing schools and AA MCPS administrators and BOE members. The opposition is white people in high performing schools and asians. The hispanics who make up the largest demographic group in the system are no where to be seen or heard in any of these discussions. If you look at the county demographics, the hispanic residents are overwhelming younger and have more kids while the majority of white and AA residents are aging out of child bearing years so MCPS in the next 5-10 years is likely to reach 60% hispanic. Someone should ask the hispanic community what they want since they will be the primary population in the future.

Very interesting observation about the Hispanic representation at the meetings. I realize that the main issue is language barrier (which is also the issue in the classroom I am sure), however, surely there are fluent Hispanic families who would want to make a statement. Perhaps they don't care, or don't even realize what's happening.

We are at a lower income/high Latino school. Some parents do hear about it and some don’t. Our PTA said that our cluster is one that shouldn’t be super affected (and our newsletter goes out in Spanish, so no language barrier issues).

Some of my Latino neighbors really do not want boundary changes because they want their kids to be able to walk. They have older siblings who pick up the younger ES kids after school. Being able to walk makes life easier.

Surely some do want a change also.

Doubt there is a majority opinion. Just like not all AA families want a boundary change. And not all Asian parents oppose a boundary change.

Most families want to be at a school that is close to them because that is easier all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think the county is actually going to spend millions on buses and bus drivers? When there aren't enough teachers, and classrooms and schools are overcrowded? And for all those who think there are enough empty seats, please do send your children to Poolesville and Damascus, especially if you live down county and are going against traffic. I'd like my children to walk to school thank you.

I'll give you an example where the county does this.

My kid lives 0.7 miles from one Middle School. Sidewalks all the way, and she could easily walk to school.

She is zoned for a MS 1.8 miles away and takes the bus.

It would make much more sense for my kid to attend the closer MS. The one we're zoned for is 'better', but it's much more inconvenient, and it requires MCPS to offer a bus. Plus an activity bus three days a week.

My kid lives in part of the DCC that doesn't have a high-school near it anymore. They're bussed to the closest high-school as are the 12345 kids that live in this part of the county. The kids who live across the street from the HS are bussed to another nearby HS because there's no room in the one that's close to them. Their bus ride however is much shorter than the bus ride my kids have. The point is being assigned to the closest HS isn't always the most sensible thing the county can do. It sometimes make more sense to look at the bigger picture.

We live in Kensington near Einstein but kids get bussed halfway across the county to Walter Johnson. We love it, but if the BoE rezones us for Einstein our property values will tank!!

And this is what it comes down to, really. It's not really about what's best for ALL the kids academically. Let's be honest here.

Of COURSE that's what this is about! These ridiculous dog whistle speeches about busing and not wanting to break up school communities is the biggest bunch of BS I've ever heard. Just be honest about it.

Yep totally agree.

I don't think anyone is dog-whistling about property values...they are saying it outright.

No.. some people are not outright about it. Most people publicly won't say that outright because it makes them look bad. Some people can't even admit to it privately.

Of course, as home owners, we care about property values. I care about my property value which at the moment is about $730K according to zillow. But do I think that's the most important thing? No. I think boundaries need to change to relieve overcrowding. And if they can draw boundaries that make sense in terms of all four factors, then they should.

The issue here is that not all four factors can be met in equal measure. One of them usually gives or takes a higher priority. And, as we we are seeing in FCPS as well as HCPS, balancing out FARMs rate is a high priority since studies have shown that lower income kids do better in schools with lower FARMs rate.

The overarching goal here is to alleviate overcrowding, so boundaries will need to be redrawn. Period. End of story.

So you live in a $730K house? Why not sell your home and move to a lower income neighborhood. There are lots of places where you could go. Take the extra money you have and bolster up the PTA. You'll feel great about it, and your kids will be fine! Why do you choose to stay in your $730K home?

Why should I do that? I already chose a diverse non W cluster. I don't need to do things to feel great about myself. I do think the BOE needs to alleviate over crowding, and if they can balance out FARMs across the clusters while not sacrificing the other factors too much, why is that a bad thing? There are four factors in drawing boundaries. Again, it's very difficult to address all four factors equally.

So you invested poorly in your real estate and hoping this boundary change will bail you out lol.

NP here - but we also chose a diverse non-W cluster and I don't feel it was a bad investment at all. Additionally, doubtful we would be redistricted to a W or anything like it. So I don't expect changes in boundaries to really affect my home price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think the county is actually going to spend millions on buses and bus drivers? When there aren't enough teachers, and classrooms and schools are overcrowded? And for all those who think there are enough empty seats, please do send your children to Poolesville and Damascus, especially if you live down county and are going against traffic. I'd like my children to walk to school thank you.

I'll give you an example where the county does this.

My kid lives 0.7 miles from one Middle School. Sidewalks all the way, and she could easily walk to school.

She is zoned for a MS 1.8 miles away and takes the bus.

It would make much more sense for my kid to attend the closer MS. The one we're zoned for is 'better', but it's much more inconvenient, and it requires MCPS to offer a bus. Plus an activity bus three days a week.

My kid lives in part of the DCC that doesn't have a high-school near it anymore. They're bussed to the closest high-school as are the 12345 kids that live in this part of the county. The kids who live across the street from the HS are bussed to another nearby HS because there's no room in the one that's close to them. Their bus ride however is much shorter than the bus ride my kids have. The point is being assigned to the closest HS isn't always the most sensible thing the county can do. It sometimes make more sense to look at the bigger picture.

We live in Kensington near Einstein but kids get bussed halfway across the county to Walter Johnson. We love it, but if the BoE rezones us for Einstein our property values will tank!!

And this is what it comes down to, really. It's not really about what's best for ALL the kids academically. Let's be honest here.

Of COURSE that's what this is about! These ridiculous dog whistle speeches about busing and not wanting to break up school communities is the biggest bunch of BS I've ever heard. Just be honest about it.

Yep totally agree.

I don't think anyone is dog-whistling about property values...they are saying it outright.

No.. some people are not outright about it. Most people publicly won't say that outright because it makes them look bad. Some people can't even admit to it privately.

Of course, as home owners, we care about property values. I care about my property value which at the moment is about $730K according to zillow. But do I think that's the most important thing? No. I think boundaries need to change to relieve overcrowding. And if they can draw boundaries that make sense in terms of all four factors, then they should.

The issue here is that not all four factors can be met in equal measure. One of them usually gives or takes a higher priority. And, as we we are seeing in FCPS as well as HCPS, balancing out FARMs rate is a high priority since studies have shown that lower income kids do better in schools with lower FARMs rate.

The overarching goal here is to alleviate overcrowding, so boundaries will need to be redrawn. Period. End of story.

So you live in a $730K house? Why not sell your home and move to a lower income neighborhood. There are lots of places where you could go. Take the extra money you have and bolster up the PTA. You'll feel great about it, and your kids will be fine! Why do you choose to stay in your $730K home?

Why should I do that? I already chose a diverse non W cluster. I don't need to do things to feel great about myself. I do think the BOE needs to alleviate over crowding, and if they can balance out FARMs across the clusters while not sacrificing the other factors too much, why is that a bad thing? There are four factors in drawing boundaries. Again, it's very difficult to address all four factors equally.

So you invested poorly in your real estate and hoping this boundary change will bail you out lol.

Sounds accurate

Nope, not accurate. More than likely, we won't be impacted by boundary changes since our neighborhood is more affluent in the cluster. If I wanted my house value to go up, I'd be advocating for boundary changes based purely on location, which I am not, because we are closer to a W school. But, even so, home values around that cluster may also change -- up or down since no one knows what the boundary will look like. Either way, I'm not advocating changes or not based purely on my home value, unlike some people. I am advocating for boundary changes to alleviate over crowding, which means that some folks will have to move boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rezoning that occurs based on overcrowding and geography usually has less of impact on housing values because its clear to people when buying that they are on the edge of an area likely to be rezoned. The discount is built into the housing market. Areas that have better planning and financial management also forecast ahead and new developments are sold with clear future boundaries disclosed. Its frankly bizarre to me here that new developments pop up with no hard plan as to where kids will go and then it ends up being a crap shoot which one will get rezoned to the lower school.

Property values is a tangible thing to home owners and it should be to the county as well. The type of redistricting that MCPS is pursuing will destabilize the real estate market and at a time when MOCO is not doing very well. Someone in the county needs to be forecasting what this will cost the county in the long run and how they will make up the shortfall.

The other bizarre thing about all this is that the advocates seem to be white people living in lower performing schools and AA MCPS administrators and BOE members. The opposition is white people in high performing schools and asians. The hispanics who make up the largest demographic group in the system are no where to be seen or heard in any of these discussions. If you look at the county demographics, the hispanic residents are overwhelming younger and have more kids while the majority of white and AA residents are aging out of child bearing years so MCPS in the next 5-10 years is likely to reach 60% hispanic. Someone should ask the hispanic community what they want since they will be the primary population in the future.

Of course this all makes sense. A lot of the people advocating for major ‘equity-based’ changes seem to have a white savior complex.

Very interesting observation about the Hispanic representation at the meetings. I realize that the main issue is language barrier (which is also the issue in the classroom I am sure), however, surely there are fluent Hispanic families who would want to make a statement. Perhaps they don't care, or don't even realize what's happening.

We are at a lower income/high Latino school. Some parents do hear about it and some don’t. Our PTA said that our cluster is one that shouldn’t be super affected (and our newsletter goes out in Spanish, so no language barrier issues).

Some of my Latino neighbors really do not want boundary changes because they want their kids to be able to walk. They have older siblings who pick up the younger ES kids after school. Being able to walk makes life easier.

Surely some do want a change also.

Doubt there is a majority opinion. Just like not all AA families want a boundary change. And not all Asian parents oppose a boundary change.

Most families want to be at a school that is close to them because that is easier all around.

[Anonymous]

I just talked to my Hispanic friend today. She is not aware of boundary analysis, she has children attending ES and MS in Gaithersburg cluster, she wants her kids able to walk to school. Her only concern right now is that her son has to cross muddy branch road if he walks to school. Muddy Branch is a busy road with lots of traffic. She hopes someone can help them with the safety issue. She doesn’t need a wealthier school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rezoning that occurs based on overcrowding and geography usually has less of impact on housing values because its clear to people when buying that they are on the edge of an area likely to be rezoned. The discount is built into the housing market. Areas that have better planning and financial management also forecast ahead and new developments are sold with clear future boundaries disclosed. Its frankly bizarre to me here that new developments pop up with no hard plan as to where kids will go and then it ends up being a crap shoot which one will get rezoned to the lower school.

Property values is a tangible thing to home owners and it should be to the county as well. The type of redistricting that MCPS is pursuing will destabilize the real estate market and at a time when MOCO is not doing very well. Someone in the county needs to be forecasting what this will cost the county in the long run and how they will make up the shortfall.

The other bizarre thing about all this is that the advocates seem to be white people living in lower performing schools and AA MCPS administrators and BOE members. The opposition is white people in high performing schools and asians. The hispanics who make up the largest demographic group in the system are no where to be seen or heard in any of these discussions. If you look at the county demographics, the hispanic residents are overwhelming younger and have more kids while the majority of white and AA residents are aging out of child bearing years so MCPS in the next 5-10 years is likely to reach 60% hispanic. Someone should ask the hispanic community what they want since they will be the primary population in the future.

Very interesting observation about the Hispanic representation at the meetings. I realize that the main issue is language barrier (which is also the issue in the classroom I am sure), however, surely there are fluent Hispanic families who would want to make a statement. Perhaps they don't care, or don't even realize what's happening.

This is a good observation. I’m Hispanic and I absolutely cannot speak for everybody but there’s a whole lot more than a language barrier. It’s a transportation issue, it is A time issue, it is a fear of going to a public meeting and speaking out (for or against), A general feeling of your voice doesn’t matter so why are you gonna bother speaking up? I also don’t believe this has been reported in the Latin news as much as it has been in American English speaking news outlets. However, I don’t watch so maybe somebody who does can fill me in.

[Anonymous]

Talking about property values, most working poor don’t own a property, they rent. Imagine all a sudden, you can be buzzed to Walt Whitman HS, will your rent increase?

Who is the one that benefits most? Middle class white who own properties in not so decent school clusters with potential to be bussed to a better school cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just talked to my Hispanic friend today. She is not aware of boundary analysis, she has children attending ES and MS in Gaithersburg cluster, she wants her kids able to walk to school. Her only concern right now is that her son has to cross muddy branch road if he walks to school. Muddy Branch is a busy road with lots of traffic. She hopes someone can help them with the safety issue. She doesn’t need a wealthier school.

Okay let's base boundary decisions on your neighbor. ??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just talked to my Hispanic friend today. She is not aware of boundary analysis, she has children attending ES and MS in Gaithersburg cluster, she wants her kids able to walk to school. Her only concern right now is that her son has to cross muddy branch road if he walks to school. Muddy Branch is a busy road with lots of traffic. She hopes someone can help them with the safety issue. She doesn’t need a wealthier school.

You could let her know there's a meeting at GHS in December:

Multiple Regional Open Meetings across the County - RSVP for one of the meetings

Wednesday, December 4, 2019, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Gaithersburg High School
101 Education Blvd, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Wednesday, December 11, 2019, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Julius West Middle School
651 Great Falls Rd, Rockville, MD 20850

Saturday, December 14, 2019, 10:00am - 12:00pm
White Oak Middle School
12201 New Hampshire Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20904

Tuesday, January 7, 2020, 7:00pm- 9:00pm
Walter Johnson High School
6400 Rock Spring Drive, Bethesda, MD 20814

Saturday, January 11, 2020, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Blair High School
51 University Blvd E, Silver Spring, MD 209010

Tuesday, January 14, 2020, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Northwest High School
13501 Richter Farm Road, Germantown, MD 20874

[Anonymous]

I am 10:03 going to a school that was not in my community would’ve been in a burden to my family. As it was they could barely make any events (nor could I), I couldn’t even do after school activities because of transportation issues at our home school. I can’t begin to imagine how much harder it would’ve been if I was bussed to a school outside of my district.

[Anonymous]

https://bklyner.com/nyc-delays-controversial-rezoning-of-7-brooklyn-elementary-schools/

For people who are familiar with Brooklyn 15, did the study recommend to remove boundaries using a lottery system to assign schools? I'm sure the W parents would love that.

[Anonymous]

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-diversity-integration-brooklyn-district-15-20191114-pnykcguo5fcpnifex5bamstl6i-story.html

If these are the same consultants this is what we have to look forward to... FUN!

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/11/15/what-happened-when-brooklyn-tried-integrate-its-middle-schools/?arc404=true

Here's one more