Can you switch elementary schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving this summer, and have two children that are currently daycare age but the older will enter elementary next year. Our new house is zoned for an Elementary School 2 miles away, across a major road. Meanwhile, we are between two other elementary schools that are each 0.5 miles away and not across major roads. Not only that, but we pass ANOTHER elementary school when we cross that major road before we get to the assigned school. It seems very strange.

I'm just curious if there is a process for contesting your assigned school based on information like this? They are more or less all similarly rated schools, although the two that are 0.5 miles away are perhaps slightly better.

I stumped seeing anywhere on the map that meets this description. You're saying there are two elementary schools one mile apart from each other, and your house is in between them, and there are no major roads to cross to get to either...and you're not zoned for either? There are a bunch of very-close-together elementary schools, especially in the more populated areas, but almost all of them are separated by a major road, and of those that don't I don't see any weird looking boundaries...

If PPs are right and OP is describing New Hampsire Estates, the important missing piece of information in the post is that NHE is only K-2 and then kids all move to Oak View for 3-5.

So, there's the hypothetical. I have no idea if this is OP's situation but check out this scenario.

OP is buying a house relatively near Oak View. So Highland View is .5 miles away, and Sligo Creek ES is not much further. Those two schools are roughly equally ranked.

Then, OP describes crossing a big road (Piney Branch) and going past ANOTHER school (Rolling Terrace) to get to the zoned school (NHE).

So, their child will go to the further away school for three years (K-2), and then a very close school for another three (3-5).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving this summer, and have two children that are currently daycare age but the older will enter elementary next year. Our new house is zoned for an Elementary School 2 miles away, across a major road. Meanwhile, we are between two other elementary schools that are each 0.5 miles away and not across major roads. Not only that, but we pass ANOTHER elementary school when we cross that major road before we get to the assigned school. It seems very strange.

I'm just curious if there is a process for contesting your assigned school based on information like this? They are more or less all similarly rated schools, although the two that are 0.5 miles away are perhaps slightly better.

I stumped seeing anywhere on the map that meets this description. You're saying there are two elementary schools one mile apart from each other, and your house is in between them, and there are no major roads to cross to get to either...and you're not zoned for either? There are a bunch of very-close-together elementary schools, especially in the more populated areas, but almost all of them are separated by a major road, and of those that don't I don't see any weird looking boundaries...

If PPs are right and OP is describing New Hampsire Estates, the important missing piece of information in the post is that NHE is only K-2 and then kids all move to Oak View for 3-5.

So, there's the hypothetical. I have no idea if this is OP's situation but check out this scenario.

OP is buying a house relatively near Oak View. So Highland View is .5 miles away, and Sligo Creek ES is not much further. Those two schools are roughly equally ranked.

Then, OP describes crossing a big road (Piney Branch) and going past ANOTHER school (Rolling Terrace) to get to the zoned school (NHE).

So, their child will go to the further away school for three years (K-2), and then a very close school for another three (3-5).

I'm the PP, back to add a map: https://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/NewHampshireEstatesOakViewES.pdf

You can see that a person could live near Oak View and be equidistant to Highland View and Montgomery Knolls, and then cross Piney Branch and pass Rolling Terrace to get to Rolling Terrace.

OR you could live at the outer edge of the NHE/OVES zone, and be close to Highland View and Sligo Creek.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:COSAs are for hardship. Wanting to go to a closer school is not a hardship.

Our COSA request was approved so that my DC could catch bus to and from school from my mom’s house in a neighboring district. We provided proof that doing so would save us money in aftercare costs, while our jobs required us to be at work. Notably, the two schools’ capacity were similar so I know that made our request easier to approve. Certainly COSA requests can’t be flippant but they don’t necessarily have to reflect extreme hardship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving this summer, and have two children that are currently daycare age but the older will enter elementary next year. Our new house is zoned for an Elementary School 2 miles away, across a major road. Meanwhile, we are between two other elementary schools that are each 0.5 miles away and not across major roads. Not only that, but we pass ANOTHER elementary school when we cross that major road before we get to the assigned school. It seems very strange.

I'm just curious if there is a process for contesting your assigned school based on information like this? They are more or less all similarly rated schools, although the two that are 0.5 miles away are perhaps slightly better.

I stumped seeing anywhere on the map that meets this description. You're saying there are two elementary schools one mile apart from each other, and your house is in between them, and there are no major roads to cross to get to either...and you're not zoned for either? There are a bunch of very-close-together elementary schools, especially in the more populated areas, but almost all of them are separated by a major road, and of those that don't I don't see any weird looking boundaries...

If PPs are right and OP is describing New Hampsire Estates, the important missing piece of information in the post is that NHE is only K-2 and then kids all move to Oak View for 3-5.

So, there's the hypothetical. I have no idea if this is OP's situation but check out this scenario.

OP is buying a house relatively near Oak View. So Highland View is .5 miles away, and Sligo Creek ES is not much further. Those two schools are roughly equally ranked.

Then, OP describes crossing a big road (Piney Branch) and going past ANOTHER school (Rolling Terrace) to get to the zoned school (NHE).

So, their child will go to the further away school for three years (K-2), and then a very close school for another three (3-5).

I'm the PP, back to add a map: https://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/NewHampshireEstatesOakViewES.pdf

You can see that a person could live near Oak View and be equidistant to Highland View and Montgomery Knolls, and then cross Piney Branch and pass Rolling Terrace to get to Rolling Terrace.

OR you could live at the outer edge of the NHE/OVES zone, and be close to Highland View and Sligo Creek.

Possible, but OP described their zoned school as "2 miles away," so I don't think they live in the NHE/OV area.

[Anonymous]

Now I want to hear from OP to see if y'all guessed the right schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now I want to hear from OP to see if y'all guessed the right schools.

No - assigned school is Thurgood Marshall. House is between Jones Lane and Dufief. Pass Rachel Carson on the way to TM. And not to mention Travilah. Definitely an odd boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:COSAs are for hardship. Wanting to go to a closer school is not a hardship.

Our COSA request was approved so that my DC could catch bus to and from school from my mom’s house in a neighboring district. We provided proof that doing so would save us money in aftercare costs, while our jobs required us to be at work. Notably, the two schools’ capacity were similar so I know that made our request easier to approve. Certainly COSA requests can’t be flippant but they don’t necessarily have to reflect extreme hardship.

I mean the other solution would have been for your mom to come watch him at your house and put him on the bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like the NHE/Oakview catchment area. If so, at least in the past, several families have gotten COSA to Highland View.

The NHE/Oakview split is indeed weird since the schools are so far from one another, but it's a relic of an earlier era when many schools were bifurcated K-2 and 3-5. Highland View is badly overcrowded so I'd be surprised if MCPS allowed COSAs on the commute alone, since school buses exist.

I would be curious to know the history my suspicions were that a lot of these bifurcated schools were a solution to low enrollment? I am pretty sure that the Montgomery Knolls/Pine Crest split was in part because Pinecrest is in a neighborhood that used to primarily send all their children to Catholic school so the enrollment declined. I'm sure there is a certain level of social engineering to combine students with different economic backgrounds too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now I want to hear from OP to see if y'all guessed the right schools.

No - assigned school is Thurgood Marshall. House is between Jones Lane and Dufief. Pass Rachel Carson on the way to TM. And not to mention Travilah. Definitely an odd boundary.

Ah. Yeah, that's a strange boundary with three separate areas.

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/ThurgoodMarshallES.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like the NHE/Oakview catchment area. If so, at least in the past, several families have gotten COSA to Highland View.

The NHE/Oakview split is indeed weird since the schools are so far from one another, but it's a relic of an earlier era when many schools were bifurcated K-2 and 3-5. Highland View is badly overcrowded so I'd be surprised if MCPS allowed COSAs on the commute alone, since school buses exist.

I would be curious to know the history my suspicions were that a lot of these bifurcated schools were a solution to low enrollment? I am pretty sure that the Montgomery Knolls/Pine Crest split was in part because Pinecrest is in a neighborhood that used to primarily send all their children to Catholic school so the enrollment declined. I'm sure there is a certain level of social engineering to combine students with different economic backgrounds too

Some were filled when large new housing came online and the kids had to be assigned where there was space. Just look at Tuckerman Lane between Rockville Pike and Old G'town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like the NHE/Oakview catchment area. If so, at least in the past, several families have gotten COSA to Highland View.

The NHE/Oakview split is indeed weird since the schools are so far from one another, but it's a relic of an earlier era when many schools were bifurcated K-2 and 3-5. Highland View is badly overcrowded so I'd be surprised if MCPS allowed COSAs on the commute alone, since school buses exist.

I would be curious to know the history my suspicions were that a lot of these bifurcated schools were a solution to low enrollment? I am pretty sure that the Montgomery Knolls/Pine Crest split was in part because Pinecrest is in a neighborhood that used to primarily send all their children to Catholic school so the enrollment declined. I'm sure there is a certain level of social engineering to combine students with different economic backgrounds too

The history of the NHE/OV arrangement is described in this report (Appendix E)

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/planning/NewHampshireEstatesOakView_FinalApprovedSupRecommendation10142013.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now I want to hear from OP to see if y'all guessed the right schools.

No - assigned school is Thurgood Marshall. House is between Jones Lane and Dufief. Pass Rachel Carson on the way to TM. And not to mention Travilah. Definitely an odd boundary.

DuFief is underenrolled. You could probably get a COSA there if you're persistent. It'll be denied the first time, then you appeal (probably denied again), then appeal one more time and they'll either dig in (prob not) or just approve to move on to more important matters.

I have a COSA for my kids to attend the school where I teach, which is now an approved reason for Focus and Title I schools, but at the time it wasn't. Our COSA was denied and the appeal process was lengthy, but we were ultimately approved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:COSAs are for hardship. Wanting to go to a closer school is not a hardship.

Our COSA request was approved so that my DC could catch bus to and from school from my mom’s house in a neighboring district. We provided proof that doing so would save us money in aftercare costs, while our jobs required us to be at work. Notably, the two schools’ capacity were similar so I know that made our request easier to approve. Certainly COSA requests can’t be flippant but they don’t necessarily have to reflect extreme hardship.

I mean the other solution would have been for your mom to come watch him at your house and put him on the bus.

She runs a daycare out of her home so that wasn’t an option. But thanks for helping to brainstorm alternatives!

OP, try a COSA request if you want. If it gets denied so be it. But let the COSA board make that decision, rather than DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:COSAs are for hardship. Wanting to go to a closer school is not a hardship.

Our COSA request was approved so that my DC could catch bus to and from school from my mom’s house in a neighboring district. We provided proof that doing so would save us money in aftercare costs, while our jobs required us to be at work. Notably, the two schools’ capacity were similar so I know that made our request easier to approve. Certainly COSA requests can’t be flippant but they don’t necessarily have to reflect extreme hardship.

I mean the other solution would have been for your mom to come watch him at your house and put him on the bus.

She runs a daycare out of her home so that wasn’t an option. But thanks for helping to brainstorm alternatives!

OP, try a COSA request if you want. If it gets denied so be it. But let the COSA board make that decision, rather than DCUM.

Isn't it too late for a COSA request for next year?
"Request forms must be submitted no earlier than the first school day in February 2022, and no later than the first school day of April 2022, for the 2022–2023 school year. In the absence of extenuating circumstances, late applications will not be processed."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/transfers/2022/COSA_ChangeOfSchoolAssignment_ENGLISH_Web.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:COSAs are for hardship. Wanting to go to a closer school is not a hardship.

Our COSA request was approved so that my DC could catch bus to and from school from my mom’s house in a neighboring district. We provided proof that doing so would save us money in aftercare costs, while our jobs required us to be at work. Notably, the two schools’ capacity were similar so I know that made our request easier to approve. Certainly COSA requests can’t be flippant but they don’t necessarily have to reflect extreme hardship.

I mean the other solution would have been for your mom to come watch him at your house and put him on the bus.

She runs a daycare out of her home so that wasn’t an option. But thanks for helping to brainstorm alternatives!

OP, try a COSA request if you want. If it gets denied so be it. But let the COSA board make that decision, rather than DCUM.

Isn't it too late for a COSA request for next year?
"Request forms must be submitted no earlier than the first school day in February 2022, and no later than the first school day of April 2022, for the 2022–2023 school year. In the absence of extenuating circumstances, late applications will not be processed."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/transfers/2022/COSA_ChangeOfSchoolAssignment_ENGLISH_Web.pdf

The deadline has passed but there really is no deadline. COSAs are submitted, approved, denied, and appealed at any time of the year. Kindergarten registration just opened, so that alone has to put many parents late with COSA requests, since you have to register at your assigned school first, then apply to change.