School Boundaries

[Anonymous]

Not Walter Johnson, which is so over capacity at the high school level that they're going to open Woodward. Not the Walter Johnson elementary schools, which are all at or overcapacity. And not the middle schools, which are near capacity as well (well, one is, and the other will be by the time it's done being built, which was supposed to happen years ago but kept getting delayed).

Churchill HS over capacity by 200;

BCC with new addition is slightly under. but will be over by 2022 (probably sooner because we all know MCPS is horrible at projecting enrollment).

Whitman HS also over capacoty by over 200, but getting an addition that will be done by 2021.

Wootton HS just about at capacity now, by 20w1 (probably sooner) 120 over capacity.

It's all published online in the CIP, so stop making stuff up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Are there any schools in MoCo that have space?


Yes but they are all further north or east in less desirable areas with lower performing scores. They probably need to move the magnets up there to rebalance things which does seem to work. Blair's magnet and possibly RM's magnet would move to one of the under-enrolled and low performing school clusters. This would alleviate the overcrowding at Blair and RM. The overcrowding situation is worst at Blair so I guess that would be the first one to go.

Nah, they just need to rebalance things around the segregated schools.

Many of the W's are also under capacity seems like the perfect place to start.

Except none of the W middle or high schools are under capacity. Too many people move there in the later grades to escape their local low performing MS/HS.. You've got under enrolled ES and overenrolled HS. There are a good number people in the W schools looking at relocating to VA or who have already made the move but they get replaced with people leaving lower performing school clusters so you don't end up freeing up space there.

The only schools with room are Seneca Valley, Kennedy, Springbrook etc that are further out and lower scoring. My money is on the magnets moving first. Its easier than full scale diversity bussing.

If so many people are moving into the W clusters for HS from their lower performing clusters which tend to be east county, why are the east county HS still over capacity? Or are you saying they are moving from up county?

Where is the source for your claim? Is it just that you know a couple of people who did this, and so this must be the cause?

My money is a lot of people sending their kids to private for K to 8 then to public in HS.

[Anonymous]

Another made up post from a bored person who wants to get people all crazed...

[Anonymous]

The "liberals" of MoCo are sweating!

[Anonymous]

I heard that all rich white kids will be paired with a poor brown kid and forced to go to their school!!!

Worse still, in the pilot program my little larla in Potomac has been forced to bus to Langley park every morning to go to school with Alejandra!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not Walter Johnson, which is so over capacity at the high school level that they're going to open Woodward. Not the Walter Johnson elementary schools, which are all at or overcapacity. And not the middle schools, which are near capacity as well (well, one is, and the other will be by the time it's done being built, which was supposed to happen years ago but kept getting delayed).

Churchill HS over capacity by 200;

BCC with new addition is slightly under. but will be over by 2022 (probably sooner because we all know MCPS is horrible at projecting enrollment).

Whitman HS also over capacoty by over 200, but getting an addition that will be done by 2021.

Wootton HS just about at capacity now, by 20w1 (probably sooner) 120 over capacity.

It's all published online in the CIP, so stop making stuff up!

TLDR Both Wootton and BCC are under capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard that all rich white kids will be paired with a poor brown kid and forced to go to their school!!!

Worse still, in the pilot program my little larla in Potomac has been forced to bus to Langley park every morning to go to school with Alejandra!!

It's part of the new bilingual+empathy initiative.

[Anonymous]

So here is a head scratcher look at the capacity projections for Seneca Valley. It is currently under capacity by 146 yet MCPS is spending money to do an expansion which will wait for it...make it under capacity by 1,280 in 2024.

How is that not complete mismanagement of funds when schools further south and east are bursting at the seems. Clearly the trend is that fewer people want to live up near Seneca Valley and use their schools so why spend precious resources making it bigger when there is so much need elsewhere. Does one of the board members live up there or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Are there any schools in MoCo that have space?


Yes but they are all further north or east in less desirable areas with lower performing scores. They probably need to move the magnets up there to rebalance things which does seem to work. Blair's magnet and possibly RM's magnet would move to one of the under-enrolled and low performing school clusters. This would alleviate the overcrowding at Blair and RM. The overcrowding situation is worst at Blair so I guess that would be the first one to go.

Nah, they just need to rebalance things around the segregated schools.

Many of the W's are also under capacity seems like the perfect place to start.

Except none of the W middle or high schools are under capacity. Too many people move there in the later grades to escape their local low performing MS/HS.. You've got under enrolled ES and overenrolled HS. There are a good number people in the W schools looking at relocating to VA or who have already made the move but they get replaced with people leaving lower performing school clusters so you don't end up freeing up space there.

The only schools with room are Seneca Valley, Kennedy, Springbrook etc that are further out and lower scoring. My money is on the magnets moving first. Its easier than full scale diversity bussing.

If so many people are moving into the W clusters for HS from their lower performing clusters which tend to be east county, why are the east county HS still over capacity? Or are you saying they are moving from up county?

Where is the source for your claim? Is it just that you know a couple of people who did this, and so this must be the cause?

My money is a lot of people sending their kids to private for K to 8 then to public in HS.

You are partly correct. Many in the western part of the county send their children to private early on, but they also send them to private later. The reason elementary schools in the western part of the county are under capacity while the high schools are over capacity is economics. You have more wealth as you get older. Since houses are expensive in that part of the county, they are more affordable to those who have accumulated more wealth—are older and thus have older children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here is a head scratcher look at the capacity projections for Seneca Valley. It is currently under capacity by 146 yet MCPS is spending money to do an expansion which will wait for it...make it under capacity by 1,280 in 2024.

How is that not complete mismanagement of funds when schools further south and east are bursting at the seems. Clearly the trend is that fewer people want to live up near Seneca Valley and use their schools so why spend precious resources making it bigger when there is so much need elsewhere. Does one of the board members live up there or something?

The expansion at Seneca Valley is to handle the overcrowding at Northwest and Clarksburg. The numbers look like that because the boundaries have not yet been redrawn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here is a head scratcher look at the capacity projections for Seneca Valley. It is currently under capacity by 146 yet MCPS is spending money to do an expansion which will wait for it...make it under capacity by 1,280 in 2024.

How is that not complete mismanagement of funds when schools further south and east are bursting at the seems. Clearly the trend is that fewer people want to live up near Seneca Valley and use their schools so why spend precious resources making it bigger when there is so much need elsewhere. Does one of the board members live up there or something?

The expansion at Seneca Valley is to handle the overcrowding at Northwest and Clarksburg. The numbers look like that because the boundaries have not yet been redrawn.

Yup, there is massive overcrowding in the Clarksburg Elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here is a head scratcher look at the capacity projections for Seneca Valley. It is currently under capacity by 146 yet MCPS is spending money to do an expansion which will wait for it...make it under capacity by 1,280 in 2024.

How is that not complete mismanagement of funds when schools further south and east are bursting at the seems. Clearly the trend is that fewer people want to live up near Seneca Valley and use their schools so why spend precious resources making it bigger when there is so much need elsewhere. Does one of the board members live up there or something?

The expansion at Seneca Valley is to handle the overcrowding at Northwest and Clarksburg. The numbers look like that because the boundaries have not yet been redrawn.

Also, just recently announced:

Expanding Access to Career-Ready Programs

MCPS is committed to providing students with access to career readiness programs regardless of where they live in the county. Thomas Edison High School of Technology, located in Silver Spring, currently serves as the only hub for the county and can be a burden for upcounty students to reach. To provide greater access to career programs upcounty, Superintendent Smith is recommending additional funding for the Seneca Valley High School revitalization/expansion project that would allow the facility to serve as an upcounty hub for career programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another made up post from a bored person who wants to get people all crazed...

Yes, I don't get it. What goal is this person trying to achieve? Especially now that the election is over?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here is a head scratcher look at the capacity projections for Seneca Valley. It is currently under capacity by 146 yet MCPS is spending money to do an expansion which will wait for it...make it under capacity by 1,280 in 2024.

How is that not complete mismanagement of funds when schools further south and east are bursting at the seems. Clearly the trend is that fewer people want to live up near Seneca Valley and use their schools so why spend precious resources making it bigger when there is so much need elsewhere. Does one of the board members live up there or something?

The answer to your question is not difficult to find, PP. It's right here in the CIP:

Seneca Valley High School
Capital Project: A revitalization/expansion project is scheduled
for this school with a completion date of September 2020.
An FY 2018 appropriation was approved to begin construction
for the project. Recently, a Career Readiness External Review
was conducted and provided recommendations to increase
the number of students prepared for employment
in high demand fields. Given this school
is under construction, there is an opportunity to
expand career technology education for students
living in the upcounty area. Therefore, the master
planned shell on the fourth floor was approved
for construction to accommodate additional career
technology education programs in this facility. An
FY 2019 appropriation was approved to continue
this revitalization/expansion project. An FY 2020
appropriation is recommended for construction
to accommodate the additional career technology
education programs. In order for this program to
remain on schedule, county and state funding must
be provided at the levels recommended in this CIP.

Planning Issue: Although a classroom addition
opened in September 2015 to accommodate the
overutilization at Clarksburg High School, student
enrollment at Clarksburg High School will continue
to exceed capacity by almost 800 students
by the end of the six-year CIP planning period.
Enrollment also is projected to exceed capacity at
Northwest High School by nearly 700 students.
The Seneca Valley High School service area is
adjacent to the Clarksburg and Northwest high
school service areas. A revitalization/expansion
project of Seneca Valley High School, scheduled for
completion in September 2020, will be designed
and constructed with a capacity for 2,581 students.
The enrollment at Seneca Valley High School
is projected to be 1,301 students by the end of
the six-year planning period. With a capacity of
2,581 seats, there will be approximately 1,280
seats available to accommodate students from Clarksburg
and Northwest high schools when the project is complete.
Planning Study: A boundary study is approved to explore
the reassignment of Clarksburg and Northwest high school
students to Seneca Valley High School. As part of the boundary
study, middle school articulation patterns in the Seneca
Valley Cluster will be reviewed in order to evaluate utilizations
and articulation patterns, therefore Roberto Clemente
and Martin Luther King, Jr. middle schools will participate in
the boundary study. In order to minimize split articulations
among the three clusters, the superintendent recommends
expanding the scope of the boundary study to include all of
the middle schools in the Clarksburg and Northwest clusters
in addition to the middle schools in the Seneca Valley Cluster.
The boundary study will begin in late fall/early winter 2018
with Board action scheduled in November 2019.

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP20_Chap4_SenecaValley.pdf

[Anonymous]

They can relieve the overcrowding South and East by bussing to less crowded nearby schools. For example, the extra capacity at BCC can easily accommodate a few neighborhoods just east of Chevy Chase currently zoned for Einstein and Blair.