Rosemary Hills/Bethesda/CC/NCC Boundry study - Superintendent's Recommendation

[Anonymous]

You have to know the history of this unique "mini-cluster" to fully understand the ramifications of making decisions outside of historical context that will start unraveling integration plans for the area.

In the 60s and 70s, Rosemary Hills was a poor, minority school. By the 1980s, it was 85% minority, even after Chevy Chase stepped up to integrate by creating a mini-cluster. CC didn't offer enough socio-economic and racial mixing to truly integrate and diversify the area, and there was a significant amount of "white flight" from what was called a "failed experiment".

Successful integration wasn't fully achieved until after Lynnbrook Elementary (East Bethesda) and Rollingwood Elementary (the Chevy Chase community near Candy Cane City) were closed and those neighborhoods added to the mini-cluster. It took those white children and their parental involvement and wealth to mix with the children from low income housing in Rosemary Hills/Lyttonsville and create the wonderful schools we have today.

Rosemary Hills/Lyttonsville is still a predominantly minority community, with several low income apartments and modest houses compared to surrounding neighborhoods. The demographics of the area have shifted a little, but not by any statistically significant measure.

All this so East Bethesda can claim Bethesda Elementary as their "neighborhood school" for more community cohesion and what they refer to as a desired "social network" west of Wisconsin. No one east of Wisconsin has a K-5 neighborhood school except Rock Creek Forest (which, by the way, has the highest FARMS rate of all).

Talk about repellant and sickening! I thought we lived in a progressive area that cared about social justice and appreciated diversity. Where in those values does it makes sense to take a wealthy white school and make it more so (going from 6% to 3% poverty at Bethesda Elementary) at the expense of making a mixed-race school with a relative large poor population poorer (going from 19% to 22% poverty at Rosemary Hills). We know from history that at some point, the balance will tip, and the white wealthier families will opt for private school, leading to further declines.

Given the historical context, how can anyone support this shift? We all know the FARMS families contribute less parental involvement and financial contribution to schools. Many of them do require extra classroom support because they are ESOL students, their parents can't afford after school tutoring like the rest of us, and they often don't get the same level of parental oversight and nutrition as wealthier kids.

As the saying goes, "It takes a village..." We need our whole village to maintain our excellent schools. Starr's recommendation moves us in the wrong direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can assure the previous poster that I know very well these communities and that there are no people there of blue color, that our kids play together very well and add that house cleaners and blue collars is not really accurate.

You are saying the kids who livei in Paddington Sq or other subsidized apartment complexes in the RHPS & BE district don't work blue collar or low paying jobs?

[Anonymous]

You are asking if I am saying that the kids don't work blue collar jobs? I sure hope the kids are not working and are going to school.
What I am saying is that this generalization may not be correct and may be a simplification, but that is besides the point and certainly not the focus of this discussion.

[Anonymous]

It takes a village only if everyone is willing to do their part, thsoe who need the village never give back take take take

You can live in your dream world of everyone working together in a village but when it gets down to having your kid do well or go to a crappy school for moral jsutice, i think you will want your kid to do well.

Is wasn't Dr. Starr's suggestion, it was Weast's he is just going along with it. It was in the works for many years and there is no way the new guy could have digested it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are asking if I am saying that the kids don't work blue collar jobs? I sure hope the kids are not working and are going to school.
What I am saying is that this generalization may not be correct and may be a simplification, but that is besides the point and certainly not the focus of this discussion.

BS, people will hide behind this "diversity" thing but they want Johnnie and Suzy to go to the perfect little school and they do not want distractions of kids who can't keep up becuase of language barriers or need for additional help.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe you can equate blue collar and low paying jobs to language barriers and needing additional help, but if that is your perception, you may not want to assume it is the one of others.

[Anonymous]

A proponent of the Starr recommendation is calling our schools crappy while the recommendation itself seems to insist that "all these schools are good schools".

[Anonymous]

We are prime candidates for white flight, but I don't think a shift from 19 percent to 22 percent is going to be the tipping point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to know the history of this unique "mini-cluster" to fully understand the ramifications of making decisions outside of historical context that will start unraveling integration plans for the area.

In the 60s and 70s, Rosemary Hills was a poor, minority school. By the 1980s, it was 85% minority, even after Chevy Chase stepped up to integrate by creating a mini-cluster. CC didn't offer enough socio-economic and racial mixing to truly integrate and diversify the area, and there was a significant amount of "white flight" from what was called a "failed experiment".

Successful integration wasn't fully achieved until after Lynnbrook Elementary (East Bethesda) and Rollingwood Elementary (the Chevy Chase community near Candy Cane City) were closed and those neighborhoods added to the mini-cluster. It took those white children and their parental involvement and wealth to mix with the children from low income housing in Rosemary Hills/Lyttonsville and create the wonderful schools we have today.

Rosemary Hills/Lyttonsville is still a predominantly minority community, with several low income apartments and modest houses compared to surrounding neighborhoods. The demographics of the area have shifted a little, but not by any statistically significant measure.

All this so East Bethesda can claim Bethesda Elementary as their "neighborhood school" for more community cohesion and what they refer to as a desired "social network" west of Wisconsin. No one east of Wisconsin has a K-5 neighborhood school except Rock Creek Forest (which, by the way, has the highest FARMS rate of all).

Talk about repellant and sickening! I thought we lived in a progressive area that cared about social justice and appreciated diversity. Where in those values does it makes sense to take a wealthy white school and make it more so (going from 6% to 3% poverty at Bethesda Elementary) at the expense of making a mixed-race school with a relative large poor population poorer (going from 19% to 22% poverty at Rosemary Hills). We know from history that at some point, the balance will tip, and the white wealthier families will opt for private school, leading to further declines.

Given the historical context, how can anyone support this shift? We all know the FARMS families contribute less parental involvement and financial contribution to schools. Many of them do require extra classroom support because they are ESOL students, their parents can't afford after school tutoring like the rest of us, and they often don't get the same level of parental oversight and nutrition as wealthier kids.

As the saying goes, "It takes a village..." We need our whole village to maintain our excellent schools. Starr's recommendation moves us in the wrong direction.

I appreciate this history, thank you. It sounds as if you are saying that it would have been better for all the children if the schools had been evened out demographically. Still, though, I'm having a hard time not hearing this as RH parents saying they just don't want any more poor children. These children are not to blame for the fact that their parents were laid off or single parenting or whatever. My child goes to a school with a significantly higher FARMS rate than 22% and I have to say -- unless you are making assumptions about ethnicities -- you can't tell who gets FARMS by looking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are prime candidates for white flight, but I don't think a shift from 19 percent to 22 percent is going to be the tipping point.

And to be fair, it shouldn't be Starr's job to pre-empt white flight with his redistricting. Parents should just have a little faith in their schools and in other people's children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And to be fair, it shouldn't be Starr's job to pre-empt white flight with his redistricting. Parents should just have a little faith in their schools and in other people's children.

Not his job, perhaps, but a possible long term consequence to be considered.

[Anonymous]

I was poor as a child and the only way I was disruptive to the wealthier students in my classes was by getting better grades than most of them. I went on to win scholarships that helped me pay my way through college and graduate school. I now live in in Chevy Chase Village and have no problems with FARMS students attending class with my children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was poor as a child and the only way I was disruptive to the wealthier students in my classes was by getting better grades than most of them. I went on to win scholarships that helped me pay my way through college and graduate school. I now live in in Chevy Chase Village and have no problems with FARMS students attending class with my children.

Thank you for this.

[Anonymous]

The best part of the report is how over crowding is described as "overutilization" and schools having "space deficits." Is overutilization even a word? Not a buzz word but an actual word?

[Anonymous]

If I understand some of these posts correctly, us on the East, are being accused of not embracing the very same FARMS and ESOL students being kicked out of the West as a result of this? How is it then that we end up with a more homogenous East Bethesda, a good social network as quoted previously and manage to cut the rate of Esol or Farms in half in Bethesda? If that section of the cluster does not have issues with FARMS and ESOL, why are they ending up reducing these rates in the entire West of the cluster?