Initial boundary options for Crown/Damascus study

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a thread in which people seem to complain about social engineering, it seems odd to have so many proposals trying to keep FARMs rates fixed. It seems like the simplest solution is to assign the closest elementary schools to their respective high schools subject to the availability of space. Seems odd to think that we must keep the demographics constant.

I think the plurality of MCPS voters would agree that students should just attend the schools closest to their house.

I mean, sure, we’d all love neighborhood schools…but it’s just not a reality. So in the absence of that reality, having balanced demographics is the next best solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a thread in which people seem to complain about social engineering, it seems odd to have so many proposals trying to keep FARMs rates fixed. It seems like the simplest solution is to assign the closest elementary schools to their respective high schools subject to the availability of space. Seems odd to think that we must keep the demographics constant.

I think the plurality of MCPS voters would agree that students should just attend the schools closest to their house.

I mean, sure, we’d all love neighborhood schools…but it’s just not a reality. So in the absence of that reality, having balanced demographics is the next best solution.

It doesn't have to be an either/or. They should be looking for ways to make marginal improvements in several areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geez. I remember when upcounty redistricting happened we asked lower county families to get involved and help us fight because whatever happened to us would eventually happen to you when Crown opened. No support given. Well, our ES is now split articulated AND our MS is split articulated. Kids have to adjust friend groups twice. We got sent from Rocky Hill MS (back then an outstanding school) and Clarksburg HS (good enough) to Neelsville (the old building called “the prison on the hill”) which no one wanted their kid in and Seneca Valley HS (the new building at least which is beautiful but is definitely not as good a school as Clarksburg - at least back then). And the first year fights were happening in the halls of SV on the daily. It was ridiculous. Your time has come. We have survived, our kids are doing well, yours will too. Are some people really complaining about moving from fabulous Churchill to fabulous Wooten? Please 🙄

It's puzzling.

Question for you. Which is the harder transition? I hate all of these split articulations but was thinking that if they absolutely need to do them, they might be better at the ES level than the MS level. Thoughts?

Def preferred to split from ES since in most cases ES class is 60-120 kids joining another 200-300 kids. Being one of 30 out of 300 instead of 60 of 300 isn’t much of a difference. Alternative to that would be keeping ES to MS but then having ES split for HS so long as it was an even split of MS to HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who should move out of Churchill if not wayside?

Looking at the maps, this would be easier if the studies weren’t separated. Avenel goes to Seven Locks ES but it’s surrounded by Carderock which goes to Whitman. Makes more sense to do that.

The northwest part of Churchill goes to Potomac ES. It’s roughly the same distance/time from that area to Wootton or Churchill about 15 minutes each way for either school. Probably closer to Wootton. Not sure if that’s closer to QO.

Then the breaking of Wootton and Churchill is funky due to so much of the southern part of Wayside being 1.5-2 miles from Churchill vs 4 from Wootton. So I’d probably say those items something goes to Whitman and then splitting Wayside and Potomac ES for geography standpoint with the northern half going to Wootton and southern half going to Churchill.

Honestly this would have been better if they adjusted elementary school boundaries. All of Churchill and most of Wootton ES are so under crowded now. Cold Spring is 50+ years old.

I’d move Avenel to Carderock/Whitman, then move a big portion of Wayide to either Potomac ES or Beverly Farms ES. Part of Potomac could move to Seven Locks.

Now Wayside is only consisting of the northern part which originally was supposed to go to Travilah but was added to Wayside since Wootton was overcrowded. Anyway at this point Wayside absorbs Cold Spring and the magnet program and Cold Spring is shut down. Its local population is like 220 kids from what I can tell. No sense paying $25M to build a new ES when all the capacity exists.

That solves Churchill. Then figuring out Wootton would become next challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yeah now it’s about $200k drop but it’s forbidden to complain about it. And kids are resilient and just move to a half done brand new school under construction with another 5 kids from the same school.

I care more about the property value than anything. A 200k hit to my home value is likely (Wootton - Crown) and will be devastating. I should be allowed to complain about it and the BOE should have to consider it. I'm not rich enough to act like it doesnt matter.

Problem is BOE doesn’t care about this as they just focus on schools. The elected council should care if they start to decrease tax revenue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:QO’s overcrowding probably will be resolved in the next few years without any intervention. Rachel Carson was at 150% capacity (thanks mostly to the Lakelands neighborhood) almost a decade ago, but now it’s below capacity. Then Lakelands Park was briefly over capacity, but now it’s below capacity. Once the current QO cohort graduates, QO will probably be below capacity. Is MCPS planning to bus current neighborhoods that are walkers (like Lakelands) away from QO, while also busing a new mix of neighborhoods to QO? It seems ridiculous.

Yeah crown is really not needed. There are also plenty of space in Magruder/sherwood. MCPS just wastes everyone’s tax dollars while causing so much disruption.

Sherwood has 473 available space, Magruder has 226, Wootton has 254, RM needs 122, QO needs 314, Gaithersburg is right at capacity. There is enough space to accommodate all the overcrowding. But now we’re in this mess of building this expensive brand new school with not enough students to fill. And everyone’s property tax increases with income tax increasing soon (they already tried once and it’s because MCPS budget is so high). Still there is no money to renovate Wootton for indefinite amount of time. When are we going to keep county councils and MCPS fiscally responsible for these?

Churchill is over crowded as well. Also, RM and Woodward/WJ area is seeing high growth. I doubt that extra seats won't be needed by county.

Woodward is sufficient to relieve WJ and other overcrowding at down county. MCPS projected QO/RM/gaithersburg to have like 1500 students overcrowding couple years back but now it’s projecting only like less than 500. I doubt in another couple years it would be any overcrowding even without crown. The enrollment trend is going down, not up.

Nah, Lots of schools will be around 100% despite Woodward opening and Woodward/WJ area is going to keep growing. Tons of constructions. There is no space to add Churchill kids on top of this. I would have liked entire study to be one but MCPS opted to keep them separate, but capacity wise it's not possible for Woodward to absorb everything.

Churchill needs 246 seats, but could well resolve the overcapacity in a few years with immersion students leaving. Montgomery county is losing people, not gaining. People are fed up and fleeing from this high tax trap to other counties. It’s only getting worse.

100% it’s one thing after another slamming the UMC families between this and the MD insane tax increases passed a few months ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who should move out of Churchill if not wayside?

Looking at the maps, this would be easier if the studies weren’t separated. Avenel goes to Seven Locks ES but it’s surrounded by Carderock which goes to Whitman. Makes more sense to do that.

The northwest part of Churchill goes to Potomac ES. It’s roughly the same distance/time from that area to Wootton or Churchill about 15 minutes each way for either school. Probably closer to Wootton. Not sure if that’s closer to QO.

Then the breaking of Wootton and Churchill is funky due to so much of the southern part of Wayside being 1.5-2 miles from Churchill vs 4 from Wootton. So I’d probably say those items something goes to Whitman and then splitting Wayside and Potomac ES for geography standpoint with the northern half going to Wootton and southern half going to Churchill.

Honestly this would have been better if they adjusted elementary school boundaries. All of Churchill and most of Wootton ES are so under crowded now. Cold Spring is 50+ years old.

I’d move Avenel to Carderock/Whitman, then move a big portion of Wayide to either Potomac ES or Beverly Farms ES. Part of Potomac could move to Seven Locks.

Now Wayside is only consisting of the northern part which originally was supposed to go to Travilah but was added to Wayside since Wootton was overcrowded. Anyway at this point Wayside absorbs Cold Spring and the magnet program and Cold Spring is shut down. Its local population is like 220 kids from what I can tell. No sense paying $25M to build a new ES when all the capacity exists.

That solves Churchill. Then figuring out Wootton would become next challenge.

Part of the issue or why families are unhappy is that Wootton was never an issue.

Current projections show Wootton at 98% capacity.

If they move Wayside over it will likely have them go overcapacity. But in all of the options proposed, Wootton is predicted to be at 85% capacity.

I agree that first any programs at Churchill that includes out of area students, should probably be moved to another school. Crown HS and it's feeder schools?

Then they can look into moving some parts of Bethesda that goes to Churchill to Whitman. Not just Avenel but some of the Seven Locks Road area too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who should move out of Churchill if not wayside?

Looking at the maps, this would be easier if the studies weren’t separated. Avenel goes to Seven Locks ES but it’s surrounded by Carderock which goes to Whitman. Makes more sense to do that.

The northwest part of Churchill goes to Potomac ES. It’s roughly the same distance/time from that area to Wootton or Churchill about 15 minutes each way for either school. Probably closer to Wootton. Not sure if that’s closer to QO.

Then the breaking of Wootton and Churchill is funky due to so much of the southern part of Wayside being 1.5-2 miles from Churchill vs 4 from Wootton. So I’d probably say those items something goes to Whitman and then splitting Wayside and Potomac ES for geography standpoint with the northern half going to Wootton and southern half going to Churchill.

Honestly this would have been better if they adjusted elementary school boundaries. All of Churchill and most of Wootton ES are so under crowded now. Cold Spring is 50+ years old.

I’d move Avenel to Carderock/Whitman, then move a big portion of Wayide to either Potomac ES or Beverly Farms ES. Part of Potomac could move to Seven Locks.

Now Wayside is only consisting of the northern part which originally was supposed to go to Travilah but was added to Wayside since Wootton was overcrowded. Anyway at this point Wayside absorbs Cold Spring and the magnet program and Cold Spring is shut down. Its local population is like 220 kids from what I can tell. No sense paying $25M to build a new ES when all the capacity exists.

That solves Churchill. Then figuring out Wootton would become next challenge.

Part of the issue or why families are unhappy is that Wootton was never an issue.

Current projections show Wootton at 98% capacity.

If they move Wayside over it will likely have them go overcapacity. But in all of the options proposed, Wootton is predicted to be at 85% capacity.

I agree that first any programs at Churchill that includes out of area students, should probably be moved to another school. Crown HS and it's feeder schools?

Then they can look into moving some parts of Bethesda that goes to Churchill to Whitman. Not just Avenel but some of the Seven Locks Road area too.

If the option has a neighborhood moving out of Wootton, then the capacity would be under 98%. Adding Wayside would probably not make it over capacity.

[Anonymous]

Crown should be a holding school while they renovate Wootton. Then it gives them time to do an elementary study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Crown should be a holding school while they renovate Wootton. Then it gives them time to do an elementary study.

MCPS consistently prioritizes DEI initiatives over student safety and well-being. Instead of investing in building Crown, they should have prioritized on renovating Wootton to address serious issues like mold and asbestos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crown should be a holding school while they renovate Wootton. Then it gives them time to do an elementary study.

MCPS consistently prioritizes DEI initiatives over student safety and well-being. Instead of investing in building Crown, they should have prioritized on renovating Wootton to address serious issues like mold and asbestos.

+1

As soon as they finish the moves they will need to immediately move the school to a holding school. So shortsighted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crown should be a holding school while they renovate Wootton. Then it gives them time to do an elementary study.

MCPS consistently prioritizes DEI initiatives over student safety and well-being. Instead of investing in building Crown, they should have prioritized on renovating Wootton to address serious issues like mold and asbestos.

+1

As soon as they finish the moves they will need to immediately move the school to a holding school. So shortsighted.

Wootton is one school. Over crowding exists at several schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crown should be a holding school while they renovate Wootton. Then it gives them time to do an elementary study.

MCPS consistently prioritizes DEI initiatives over student safety and well-being. Instead of investing in building Crown, they should have prioritized on renovating Wootton to address serious issues like mold and asbestos.

+1

As soon as they finish the moves they will need to immediately move the school to a holding school. So shortsighted.

Wootton is one school. Over crowding exists at several schools.

There are numerous analyses in this post pointing out that there are many high schools are under capacity. QO/RM/gaithersburg together have less than 500 seats overcapacity. But school like Sherwood has almost 500 seats open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crown should be a holding school while they renovate Wootton. Then it gives them time to do an elementary study.

MCPS consistently prioritizes DEI initiatives over student safety and well-being. Instead of investing in building Crown, they should have prioritized on renovating Wootton to address serious issues like mold and asbestos.

+1

As soon as they finish the moves they will need to immediately move the school to a holding school. So shortsighted.

Wootton is one school. Over crowding exists at several schools.

I am not talking about overcrowding, but about the schools that need to be renovated. And I think this is a good time to look at plans for any school that desperately needs renovations- I only mention Wootton as that is our home school (now and following districting). I think they should use the new schools smartly, not haphazardly as it appears they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crown should be a holding school while they renovate Wootton. Then it gives them time to do an elementary study.

MCPS consistently prioritizes DEI initiatives over student safety and well-being. Instead of investing in building Crown, they should have prioritized on renovating Wootton to address serious issues like mold and asbestos.

+1

As soon as they finish the moves they will need to immediately move the school to a holding school. So shortsighted.

Wootton is one school. Over crowding exists at several schools.

I am not talking about overcrowding, but about the schools that need to be renovated. And I think this is a good time to look at plans for any school that desperately needs renovations- I only mention Wootton as that is our home school (now and following districting). I think they should use the new schools smartly, not haphazardly as it appears they are.

Yeah I only know about some of the issues at Wootton based on some students talking about it at board meetings.

But Magruder has had issues with it's boiler system not working and I think they had a water main break within the last several years too.

They're both due for renovations.

With Howard County's major redistricting back around 2019 there were a lot of angry families too. To the point where they had to have police present at the board meetings. But that didn't stop them from looking at the majority of the school system. (this is in reference to another comment further back about how MCPS decided not to look at the school system as a whole for these studies due to fear of backlash)