What should the regional boundaries be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has already revised the regions since that article you linked to was written. These are the new ones:

Region one: Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Walt Whitman in Bethesda, and Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein and Northwood in Silver Spring;

Region two: James Hubert Blake and Springbrook in Silver Spring, Paint Branch in Burtonsville, and Sherwood in Sandy Spring;

Region three: Walter Johnson in Bethesda, Charles W. Woodward in Rockville, and Wheaton and John F. Kennedy in Silver Spring;

Region four: Richard Montgomery, Rockville, and Thomas S. Wootton in Rockville and Winston Churchill in Potomac;

Region five: Crown and Gaithersburg in Gaithersburg, Col. Zadok Magruder in Rockville, Damascus and Watkins Mill in Wheaton; and

Region six: Northwest in Germantown and Clarksburg, Poolesville, Seneca Valley and Quince Orchard in Gaithersburg.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/25/mcps-end-countywide-program-consortia/

This is better, but it is like MCPS totally forgot that they recently did a study for the Career & Technical Education (CTE) and already had regions that made some sense. They should use this as a starting point.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/career-readiness/map-consortium/

I have spent 20 years driving kids to various schools, programs, and activities all over up-county and mid-county, and these are the groupings that I think make sense based on geography, actual commute routes, community connectedness, and existing programming.

Region 6:
Poolesville - SMACS, Humanities, Global Ecology
Seneca Valley - IB
Northwest - Middle College (MC dual enrollment)
Quince Orchard - (5 signature programs)

Region 5:
Clarksburg - P-Tech (MC dual enrollment)
Damascus - ? (maybe add Global Ecology here too?)
Watkins Mill - IB
Gaithersburg - PLTW (add more PLTW programs here)

Region 4:
Wootton - ? (add Dual enrollment business or arts focused programs to fill a gap)
RM - IB
Rockville - IB, PLTW
Magruder - (8 signature programs)

Clarksburg is closer to and more connected to Damascus and Watkins Mill than it is to the west side of 270. Magruder is much closer to Rockville HS and better connected West than North. Crown HS could be put into any of these three regions based on its location, but I think it goes best with Region 4 (add SMACS type focus), and then maybe Region 6 (add business arts type focus).

Region 3:
Churchill, WJ, Wheaton, Kennedy, Woodward

Region 2:
Sherwood, Paint Branch, Blake, Springbrook (same as above)

Region 1:
Whitman, BCC, Einstein, Blair, Northwood (same as above)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has already revised the regions since that article you linked to was written. These are the new ones:

Region one: Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Walt Whitman in Bethesda, and Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein and Northwood in Silver Spring;

Region two: James Hubert Blake and Springbrook in Silver Spring, Paint Branch in Burtonsville, and Sherwood in Sandy Spring;

Region three: Walter Johnson in Bethesda, Charles W. Woodward in Rockville, and Wheaton and John F. Kennedy in Silver Spring;

Region four: Richard Montgomery, Rockville, and Thomas S. Wootton in Rockville and Winston Churchill in Potomac;

Region five: Crown and Gaithersburg in Gaithersburg, Col. Zadok Magruder in Rockville, Damascus and Watkins Mill in Wheaton; and

Region six: Northwest in Germantown and Clarksburg, Poolesville, Seneca Valley and Quince Orchard in Gaithersburg.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/25/mcps-end-countywide-program-consortia/

This is better, but it is like MCPS totally forgot that they recently did a study for the Career & Technical Education (CTE) and already had regions that made some sense. They should use this as a starting point.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/career-readiness/map-consortium/

I have spent 20 years driving kids to various schools, programs, and activities all over up-county and mid-county, and these are the groupings that I think make sense based on geography, actual commute routes, community connectedness, and existing programming.

Region 6:
Poolesville - SMACS, Humanities, Global Ecology
Seneca Valley - IB
Northwest - Middle College (MC dual enrollment)
Quince Orchard - (5 signature programs)

Region 5:
Clarksburg - P-Tech (MC dual enrollment)
Damascus - ? (maybe add Global Ecology here too?)
Watkins Mill - IB
Gaithersburg - PLTW (add more PLTW programs here)

Region 4:
Wootton - ? (add Dual enrollment business or arts focused programs to fill a gap)
RM - IB
Rockville - IB, PLTW
Magruder - (8 signature programs)

Clarksburg is closer to and more connected to Damascus and Watkins Mill than it is to the west side of 270. Magruder is much closer to Rockville HS and better connected West than North. Crown HS could be put into any of these three regions based on its location, but I think it goes best with Region 4 (add SMACS type focus), and then maybe Region 6 (add business arts type focus).

Region 3:
Churchill, WJ, Wheaton, Kennedy, Woodward

Region 2:
Sherwood, Paint Branch, Blake, Springbrook (same as above)

Region 1:
Whitman, BCC, Einstein, Blair, Northwood (same as above)

Actually Clarksburg is more connected with Poolesville, Damascus, and Seneca Valley.

[Anonymous]

Thank you to the PP that shared the CTE regions. Based on the NEC and DCC being intact in the CTE clusters I imagine these were designed with input from the Transportation department. However, the BoE should ask for updated CRE regions for each of the 5 regional options presented at the 7/24 meeting. MCPS sort of brushed off this question when the BOE asked at the meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has already revised the regions since that article you linked to was written. These are the new ones:

Region one: Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Walt Whitman in Bethesda, and Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein and Northwood in Silver Spring;

Region two: James Hubert Blake and Springbrook in Silver Spring, Paint Branch in Burtonsville, and Sherwood in Sandy Spring;

Region three: Walter Johnson in Bethesda, Charles W. Woodward in Rockville, and Wheaton and John F. Kennedy in Silver Spring;

Region four: Richard Montgomery, Rockville, and Thomas S. Wootton in Rockville and Winston Churchill in Potomac;

Region five: Crown and Gaithersburg in Gaithersburg, Col. Zadok Magruder in Rockville, Damascus and Watkins Mill in Wheaton; and

Region six: Northwest in Germantown and Clarksburg, Poolesville, Seneca Valley and Quince Orchard in Gaithersburg.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/25/mcps-end-countywide-program-consortia/

This is better, but it is like MCPS totally forgot that they recently did a study for the Career & Technical Education (CTE) and already had regions that made some sense. They should use this as a starting point.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/career-readiness/map-consortium/

I have spent 20 years driving kids to various schools, programs, and activities all over up-county and mid-county, and these are the groupings that I think make sense based on geography, actual commute routes, community connectedness, and existing programming.

Region 6:
Poolesville - SMACS, Humanities, Global Ecology
Seneca Valley - IB
Northwest - Middle College (MC dual enrollment)
Quince Orchard - (5 signature programs)

Region 5:
Clarksburg - P-Tech (MC dual enrollment)
Damascus - ? (maybe add Global Ecology here too?)
Watkins Mill - IB
Gaithersburg - PLTW (add more PLTW programs here)

Region 4:
Wootton - ? (add Dual enrollment business or arts focused programs to fill a gap)
RM - IB
Rockville - IB, PLTW
Magruder - (8 signature programs)

Clarksburg is closer to and more connected to Damascus and Watkins Mill than it is to the west side of 270. Magruder is much closer to Rockville HS and better connected West than North. Crown HS could be put into any of these three regions based on its location, but I think it goes best with Region 4 (add SMACS type focus), and then maybe Region 6 (add business arts type focus).

Region 3:
Churchill, WJ, Wheaton, Kennedy, Woodward

Region 2:
Sherwood, Paint Branch, Blake, Springbrook (same as above)

Region 1:
Whitman, BCC, Einstein, Blair, Northwood (same as above)

Actually Clarksburg is more connected with Poolesville, Damascus, and Seneca Valley.

I think Clarksburg would fit in either region 5 or 6: there’s an element of Clarksburg that fits with 5 and another that would fit with 6. It would be the 5th school for either region, so whichever would result in less overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to the PP that shared the CTE regions. Based on the NEC and DCC being intact in the CTE clusters I imagine these were designed with input from the Transportation department. However, the BoE should ask for updated CRE regions for each of the 5 regional options presented at the 7/24 meeting. MCPS sort of brushed off this question when the BOE asked at the meeting.

I think the CTE programs have yo be considered along side the individual school signature programs and any choice programs currently being offered.

IMO each region should have at least one IB program, one SMACS type program, and one dual enrollment program. Then, each school should have an AP Scholars type of program (if they don’t have IB) and a couple of CTE/signature programs with a variety of focuses.

[Anonymous]

When will this be settled and everyone will know what regions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When will this be settled and everyone will know what regions?

They'll have updates throughout the fall, and the board is supposed to vote on the regional model December, and the new boundaries in March.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/06/25/mcps-leaning-toward-regional-programming-model/


The proposed regions include the following high schools [Watkins Mill is missing from the listing]:


Region one:
Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Walt Whitman in Bethesda,
and Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein and Northwood in Silver Spring;

Region two:
James Hubert Blake and Springbrook in Silver Spring,
Paint Branch in Burtonsville,
and Sherwood in Sandy Spring;

Region three:
Winston Churchill in Potomac, Walter Johnson in Bethesda, Charles W. Woodward in Rockville, and Wheaton;

Region four: John F. Kennedy in Silver Spring,
and Col. Zadok Magruder, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, and Thomas S. Wootton in Rockville;

Region five:
Northwest in Germantown, and Crown, Gaithersburg and Seneca Valley in Gaithersburg; and

Region six:
Clarksburg, Damascus, Poolesville, and Quince Orchard in Gaithersburg.

------------

Gemini says:

Based on a computational analysis designed to minimize the driving distance between schools within a group, here is an optimized clustering

***

## Optimized School Regions

### Region A: Bethesda and Potomac.
* **Schools (5):**
* Bethesda-Chevy Chase
* Charles W. Woodward
* Walter Johnson
* Walt Whitman
* Winston Churchill
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **3.8 miles**

### Region B: Inner Silver Spring Cluster
* **Schools (4):**
* Albert Einstein
* Montgomery Blair
* Northwood
* Wheaton
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **3.9 miles**

### Region C: East County

* **Schools (5):**
* James Hubert Blake
* John F. Kennedy
* Paint Branch
* Sherwood
* Springbrook
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **6.1 miles**

### Region D: Rockville


* **Schools (4):**
* Col. Zadok Magruder
* Richard Montgomery
* Rockville
* Thomas S. Wootton
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **3.9 miles**

### Region E: Gaithersburg/Germantown

* **Schools (4):**
* Crown
* Gaithersburg
* Northwest
* Seneca Valley
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **3.7 miles**

### Region F: Upcounty Cluster

* **Schools (4):**
* Clarksburg
* Damascus
* Poolesville
* Quince Orchard
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **10.3 miles**

They should switch Whitman with something else. Having it in the DCC schools makes zero sense and the wealthier families choose the DCC and not in Potomac so we wouldn'd send our kids there even if we had the opportunity. Plus the commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to the PP that shared the CTE regions. Based on the NEC and DCC being intact in the CTE clusters I imagine these were designed with input from the Transportation department. However, the BoE should ask for updated CRE regions for each of the 5 regional options presented at the 7/24 meeting. MCPS sort of brushed off this question when the BOE asked at the meeting.

I think the CTE programs have yo be considered along side the individual school signature programs and any choice programs currently being offered.

IMO each region should have at least one IB program, one SMACS type program, and one dual enrollment program. Then, each school should have an AP Scholars type of program (if they don’t have IB) and a couple of CTE/signature programs with a variety of focuses.

All schools have dual enrollment. Each school needs more AP and higher level classes so kids can choose their home schools. They need to look at how many are graduating with IB diploma's and talk to families on if they want IB. Very few from our school graduate with IB degrees so it shouldn't be an IB school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When will this be settled and everyone will know what regions?

They'll have updates throughout the fall, and the board is supposed to vote on the regional model December, and the new boundaries in March.

Don't buy or sell house just yet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to the PP that shared the CTE regions. Based on the NEC and DCC being intact in the CTE clusters I imagine these were designed with input from the Transportation department. However, the BoE should ask for updated CRE regions for each of the 5 regional options presented at the 7/24 meeting. MCPS sort of brushed off this question when the BOE asked at the meeting.

I think the CTE programs have yo be considered along side the individual school signature programs and any choice programs currently being offered.

IMO each region should have at least one IB program, one SMACS type program, and one dual enrollment program. Then, each school should have an AP Scholars type of program (if they don’t have IB) and a couple of CTE/signature programs with a variety of focuses.

All schools have dual enrollment. Each school needs more AP and higher level classes so kids can choose their home schools. They need to look at how many are graduating with IB diploma's and talk to families on if they want IB. Very few from our school graduate with IB degrees so it shouldn't be an IB school.

About how many?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to the PP that shared the CTE regions. Based on the NEC and DCC being intact in the CTE clusters I imagine these were designed with input from the Transportation department. However, the BoE should ask for updated CRE regions for each of the 5 regional options presented at the 7/24 meeting. MCPS sort of brushed off this question when the BOE asked at the meeting.

I think the CTE programs have yo be considered along side the individual school signature programs and any choice programs currently being offered.

IMO each region should have at least one IB program, one SMACS type program, and one dual enrollment program. Then, each school should have an AP Scholars type of program (if they don’t have IB) and a couple of CTE/signature programs with a variety of focuses.

All schools have dual enrollment. Each school needs more AP and higher level classes so kids can choose their home schools. They need to look at how many are graduating with IB diploma's and talk to families on if they want IB. Very few from our school graduate with IB degrees so it shouldn't be an IB school.

About how many?

How many graduate with IB diploma?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to the PP that shared the CTE regions. Based on the NEC and DCC being intact in the CTE clusters I imagine these were designed with input from the Transportation department. However, the BoE should ask for updated CRE regions for each of the 5 regional options presented at the 7/24 meeting. MCPS sort of brushed off this question when the BOE asked at the meeting.

I think the CTE programs have yo be considered along side the individual school signature programs and any choice programs currently being offered.

IMO each region should have at least one IB program, one SMACS type program, and one dual enrollment program. Then, each school should have an AP Scholars type of program (if they don’t have IB) and a couple of CTE/signature programs with a variety of focuses.

All schools have dual enrollment. Each school needs more AP and higher level classes so kids can choose their home schools. They need to look at how many are graduating with IB diploma's and talk to families on if they want IB. Very few from our school graduate with IB degrees so it shouldn't be an IB school.

I should have been clearer. When I said dual enrollment I meant a specific program targeted to earn an associates degree, but with courses at the high school 9-11th grade. This what the middle college and P-Tech programs do at Northwood, Northwest, and Clarksburg. Each region should have one as an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/06/25/mcps-leaning-toward-regional-programming-model/


The proposed regions include the following high schools [Watkins Mill is missing from the listing]:


Region one:
Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Walt Whitman in Bethesda,
and Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein and Northwood in Silver Spring;

Region two:
James Hubert Blake and Springbrook in Silver Spring,
Paint Branch in Burtonsville,
and Sherwood in Sandy Spring;

Region three:
Winston Churchill in Potomac, Walter Johnson in Bethesda, Charles W. Woodward in Rockville, and Wheaton;

Region four: John F. Kennedy in Silver Spring,
and Col. Zadok Magruder, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, and Thomas S. Wootton in Rockville;

Region five:
Northwest in Germantown, and Crown, Gaithersburg and Seneca Valley in Gaithersburg; and

Region six:
Clarksburg, Damascus, Poolesville, and Quince Orchard in Gaithersburg.

------------

Gemini says:

Based on a computational analysis designed to minimize the driving distance between schools within a group, here is an optimized clustering

***

## Optimized School Regions

### Region A: Bethesda and Potomac.
* **Schools (5):**
* Bethesda-Chevy Chase
* Charles W. Woodward
* Walter Johnson
* Walt Whitman
* Winston Churchill
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **3.8 miles**

### Region B: Inner Silver Spring Cluster
* **Schools (4):**
* Albert Einstein
* Montgomery Blair
* Northwood
* Wheaton
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **3.9 miles**

### Region C: East County

* **Schools (5):**
* James Hubert Blake
* John F. Kennedy
* Paint Branch
* Sherwood
* Springbrook
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **6.1 miles**

### Region D: Rockville


* **Schools (4):**
* Col. Zadok Magruder
* Richard Montgomery
* Rockville
* Thomas S. Wootton
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **3.9 miles**

### Region E: Gaithersburg/Germantown

* **Schools (4):**
* Crown
* Gaithersburg
* Northwest
* Seneca Valley
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **3.7 miles**

### Region F: Upcounty Cluster

* **Schools (4):**
* Clarksburg
* Damascus
* Poolesville
* Quince Orchard
* **Average Interschool Distance:** **10.3 miles**

They should switch Whitman with something else. Having it in the DCC schools makes zero sense and the wealthier families choose the DCC and not in Potomac so we wouldn'd send our kids there even if we had the opportunity. Plus the commute.

QO is further that SV, NW, or WM. Did your AI computation analysis account for morning and afternoon traffic and reduced use of the highway?

All this seems to prove is that a HS should have been built further upcounty and at the very least the Damascus expansion prioritized.

[Anonymous]

What are the odds, OP?

*Bethesda-Chevy Chase
* Charles W. Woodward
* Walter Johnson
* Walt Whitman
* Winston Churchill

It was never about long rides to Blair, or RM.
Or proximity. Gerrymandering.