Overcrowding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid had a math class at RM where there are not enough chairs and some kids sat on floor. But I think it was more that one class was oversubscribed but they couldn’t open a second class for whatever reason. A lot of the HS are over capacity but I think it shows up more and less in different classes. No one is sitting on the floor in the Latin class, for instance.

Overcrowding shows up more in the playgrounds, buses, cafeterias and bathrooms. For the little kids, the overcrowded playgrounds are just so sad — you hear kids saying they waited in line 15 minutes to do the monkey bars, or waited all recess in line to play nine square. Or that there are 60 kids trying to play one game of soccer. Our ES expanded classroom space so was not over capacity but they did it by cutting the field space in half — so you had twice as many kids with half as much space to run around. Not a good solution.

Same. We lost a substantial portion of our playground to portables.

[Anonymous]

There is a map referenced in this piece that shows the 2030 projects for over and under capacity elementary schools -- spoiler, each school that is severely over capacity is literally adjacent to a school under capacity. MCPS doesn't have a overcrowding problem, they have a boundary problem.

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/02/19/how-mcps-can-save-tens-of-millions-of-dollars-or-more/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wonder how many Ashburton parents would support redistricting?

This is a 2-way street. Bethesda area parents wouldn’t want their kids moved to other schools AND/BUT the school system doesn’t see any of the needs of any of the Bethesda area schools as legit as long as the kids are high performers whose parents are perceived to be wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wonder how many Ashburton parents would support redistricting?

This is a 2-way street. Bethesda area parents wouldn’t want their kids moved to other schools AND/BUT the school system doesn’t see any of the needs of any of the Bethesda area schools as legit as long as the kids are high performers whose parents are perceived to be wealthy.

They did do a boundary study and moved kids around a few Bethesda area schools 4 years ago.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/bethesdasomersetwestbrookboundarystudy/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overcrowding has kids sitting on the floor at MCPS school, parents demand action. This was the title with a photo of Ashburton ES. Is this true at ES or more likely in the high schools where student populations closer to 2000+?

Eastern MS is technically under capacity, but academic classes of 31 students are common. This is because of tiny classes for reading interventions and special education. We need more staffing.

I wish my kid had classes of 31 kids. Two of his classes have 34 kids. There is barely enough room for every kid to have a desk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Overcrowding has kids sitting on the floor at MCPS school, parents demand action. This was the title with a photo of Ashburton ES. Is this true at ES or more likely in the high schools where student populations closer to 2000+?

Is there a link or article about this? I thought Ashburton was okay!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had a math class at RM where there are not enough chairs and some kids sat on floor. But I think it was more that one class was oversubscribed but they couldn’t open a second class for whatever reason. A lot of the HS are over capacity but I think it shows up more and less in different classes. No one is sitting on the floor in the Latin class, for instance.

Overcrowding shows up more in the playgrounds, buses, cafeterias and bathrooms. For the little kids, the overcrowded playgrounds are just so sad — you hear kids saying they waited in line 15 minutes to do the monkey bars, or waited all recess in line to play nine square. Or that there are 60 kids trying to play one game of soccer. Our ES expanded classroom space so was not over capacity but they did it by cutting the field space in half — so you had twice as many kids with half as much space to run around. Not a good solution.

Same. We lost a substantial portion of our playground to portables.

And the smaller playgrounds in higher-density areas all end up as dirt/mud with the overuse per square foot.. They need to account for that until they are as serviceable as those in lower-density areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overcrowding has kids sitting on the floor at MCPS school, parents demand action. This was the title with a photo of Ashburton ES. Is this true at ES or more likely in the high schools where student populations closer to 2000+?

Eastern MS is technically under capacity, but academic classes of 31 students are common. This is because of tiny classes for reading interventions and special education. We need more staffing.

I wish my kid had classes of 31 kids. Two of his classes have 34 kids. There is barely enough room for every kid to have a desk.

Same. My MS is technically ‘under capacity’ but my DS has 33-34 kids in some of his classes. Not enough desks in his History class and in Science they are actually even short a Chromebook (we use the cart model).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overcrowding has kids sitting on the floor at MCPS school, parents demand action. This was the title with a photo of Ashburton ES. Is this true at ES or more likely in the high schools where student populations closer to 2000+?

Eastern MS is technically under capacity, but academic classes of 31 students are common. This is because of tiny classes for reading interventions and special education. We need more staffing.

I wish my kid had classes of 31 kids. Two of his classes have 34 kids. There is barely enough room for every kid to have a desk.

Same. My MS is technically ‘under capacity’ but my DS has 33-34 kids in some of his classes. Not enough desks in his History class and in Science they are actually even short a Chromebook (we use the cart model).

Yes, class sizes aren't directly connected with whether the total enrollment is over or under the building's capacity. You can still have larger class sizes at an under capacity school or smaller class sizes at an over capacity school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overcrowding has kids sitting on the floor at MCPS school, parents demand action. This was the title with a photo of Ashburton ES. Is this true at ES or more likely in the high schools where student populations closer to 2000+?

Eastern MS is technically under capacity, but academic classes of 31 students are common. This is because of tiny classes for reading interventions and special education. We need more staffing.

I wish my kid had classes of 31 kids. Two of his classes have 34 kids. There is barely enough room for every kid to have a desk.

Same. My MS is technically ‘under capacity’ but my DS has 33-34 kids in some of his classes. Not enough desks in his History class and in Science they are actually even short a Chromebook (we use the cart model).

Yes, class sizes aren't directly connected with whether the total enrollment is over or under the building's capacity. You can still have larger class sizes at an under capacity school or smaller class sizes at an over capacity school.

This is true, it has to do with teacher resourcing which principles have a lot of control over. Its the facilities that get taxed with over enrolment. That said most enrolment goes up and down in cyclical fashion and it isn't realistic to redo boundaries and ship kids around every year for little blips. Ashburton problem is a little different as it was zoned to pick up all the cheap apts by the mall and is one of if not the cheapest level of entry for Bethesda schools causing families to flood there. Rosemary hills has an argument but that is a silver spring school that is zoned to BCC to boost their numbers a generation ago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overcrowding has kids sitting on the floor at MCPS school, parents demand action. This was the title with a photo of Ashburton ES. Is this true at ES or more likely in the high schools where student populations closer to 2000+?

Eastern MS is technically under capacity, but academic classes of 31 students are common. This is because of tiny classes for reading interventions and special education. We need more staffing.

I wish my kid had classes of 31 kids. Two of his classes have 34 kids. There is barely enough room for every kid to have a desk.

Same. My MS is technically ‘under capacity’ but my DS has 33-34 kids in some of his classes. Not enough desks in his History class and in Science they are actually even short a Chromebook (we use the cart model).

Yes, class sizes aren't directly connected with whether the total enrollment is over or under the building's capacity. You can still have larger class sizes at an under capacity school or smaller class sizes at an over capacity school.

This is true, it has to do with teacher resourcing which principles have a lot of control over. Its the facilities that get taxed with over enrolment. That said most enrolment goes up and down in cyclical fashion and it isn't realistic to redo boundaries and ship kids around every year for little blips. Ashburton problem is a little different as it was zoned to pick up all the cheap apts by the mall and is one of if not the cheapest level of entry for Bethesda schools causing families to flood there. Rosemary hills has an argument but that is a silver spring school that is zoned to BCC to boost their numbers a generation ago

The closest high school to Rosemary Hills is BCC.

[Anonymous]

MCPS needs to do a whole system boundary realignment. This has been needed for decades. The upcoming Woodward/Crown study is the closest they’ve come.

Not only that it needs to commit to review the whole systems boundaries and needs at a regular interval. Reminding people that a particular school is not conveyed with the house, and that this is not a political or individual choice process but one done in the interest of ensuring all students and quality education and best use of resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Overcrowding has kids sitting on the floor at MCPS school, parents demand action. This was the title with a photo of Ashburton ES. Is this true at ES or more likely in the high schools where student populations closer to 2000+?

Eastern MS is technically under capacity, but academic classes of 31 students are common. This is because of tiny classes for reading interventions and special education. We need more staffing.

I wish my kid had classes of 31 kids. Two of his classes have 34 kids. There is barely enough room for every kid to have a desk.

Same. My MS is technically ‘under capacity’ but my DS has 33-34 kids in some of his classes. Not enough desks in his History class and in Science they are actually even short a Chromebook (we use the cart model).

Yes, class sizes aren't directly connected with whether the total enrollment is over or under the building's capacity. You can still have larger class sizes at an under capacity school or smaller class sizes at an over capacity school.

This is true, it has to do with teacher resourcing which principles have a lot of control over. Its the facilities that get taxed with over enrolment. That said most enrolment goes up and down in cyclical fashion and it isn't realistic to redo boundaries and ship kids around every year for little blips. Ashburton problem is a little different as it was zoned to pick up all the cheap apts by the mall and is one of if not the cheapest level of entry for Bethesda schools causing families to flood there. Rosemary hills has an argument but that is a silver spring school that is zoned to BCC to boost their numbers a generation ago

The closest high school to Rosemary Hills is BCC.

Blair is an option but its overcrowded and not an actual option.