Baltimore Sun article about Howard County rezoning

[Anonymous]

It just seems like those who cannot succeed academically are trying to claim a political victory by screwing over other people in the name of “equity.” It’s mostly about transferring housing equity from one group to another and reducing the achievement gap by bringing the top down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like those who cannot succeed academically are trying to claim a political victory by screwing over other people in the name of “equity.” It’s mostly about transferring housing equity from one group to another and reducing the achievement gap by bringing the top down.

Whom, specifically, are you referring to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like those who cannot succeed academically are trying to claim a political victory by screwing over other people in the name of “equity.” It’s mostly about transferring housing equity from one group to another and reducing the achievement gap by bringing the top down.

Whom, specifically, are you referring to?

Read the article. It makes it plainly clear.

In other words, bussing mostly AA/Latino students to richer mostly Asian/South Asian/White schools.

The parent in the article who commented that most of the redistricted parents will move to stay in the right schools is probably right. Ironically it will be Asian/South Asians who will be more likely to move.

[Anonymous]

Howard County regularly moves boundaries. Why so much fuss this time? Be glad the moves are not to an over 70 percent FARMS school. There are plenty with rates that high in MCPS. It looks like Howard County tries to have a balance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Howard County regularly moves boundaries. Why so much fuss this time? Be glad the moves are not to an over 70 percent FARMS school. There are plenty with rates that high in MCPS. It looks like Howard County tries to have a balance.

Because they are proposing RHHS kids go to WLHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like those who cannot succeed academically are trying to claim a political victory by screwing over other people in the name of “equity.” It’s mostly about transferring housing equity from one group to another and reducing the achievement gap by bringing the top down.

BINGO! This is exactly what is going on in Howard County.

Also, our county executive wants to handout Section 8 vouchers to Baltimore City residents and lure them into the county. Oh, it is nothing but good times in Howard County. Delusional Howard County residents voted for extreme liberals at all levels and now we are all going to suffer the consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Balanced article that seems to understand all sides.

I think the proposal embodies all the right ideas, although I do have some questions about individual details. I'd like to see it go further, actually, to provide greater relief to certain high schools. Also, some schools have profiles that change significantly, while others (River Hill High School rushes to mind) have very little change to their overall profile. That does feel a little uneven.

Since River Hill stands to send some students to Wilde Lake (which will only be 38 percent FARMs under the proposal - which really shouldn't scare people so badly - but I digress), there's ample yelling from people who imagined they were safely tucked within a very expensive new development and all but guaranteed a place at River Hill. I get it, I really do, but at the same time: cry me a river. I have a hard time being totally sympathetic with "don't break up our 'community'," when your community is defined by a single socio-economic profile. Maybe the boundaries of community need to be revised.

I agree.

However, as someone who made the reverse commute from Wilde Lake to River Hill for two years, I am rolling my eyes at the parent complaining about reduced sleep and family time. Cut me a break: you’re not sending your kid across the county (and even then, it’s not a big county).

I was also impressed by how fairly the article captured both sides.

As a resident of the Eastern part of the county, it is hard to hear River Hill parents complain about longer school bus rides for their kids or trouble picking up from after school activities. Really? Try living in the most densely populated part of the county where most of the population is not wealthy and where there isn't a high school within 7-8 miles because one one has bothered to build one, despite the extensive high density development. We moved to our community because we wanted more diversity than River Hill offers. Even though it inconveniences our family, we recognize the need for low to moderate income housing in the county, so we have welcomed the developement. But people can only take so much.

It is funny that no one from River Hill has cared about those of us in the East who have been either redistricted with small feeds or threatened with redistricting almost every year for what seems like forever. I have neighbors who may wind up having kids attend three different high schools. No one from River Hill cared about disruptions, long bus rides, established communities , or our severely overcrowded schools when their own kids were not involved.

Having lived with the threat of redistricting for so long, I now wish more comprehensive moves had been made years ago, even if it meant moving my kids to what would be considered a "lower performing" school. River Hill can't continue to be all high SES with no FARMs forever. Something is going to have to change. This process is so painful for all involved; it is time to rip the bandaid off and make necessary changes that have countywide impact.

+1. The eastern part of the county should have been addressed years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like those who cannot succeed academically are trying to claim a political victory by screwing over other people in the name of “equity.” It’s mostly about transferring housing equity from one group to another and reducing the achievement gap by bringing the top down.

BINGO! This is exactly what is going on in Howard County.

Also, our county executive wants to handout Section 8 vouchers to Baltimore City residents and lure them into the county. Oh, it is nothing but good times in Howard County. Delusional Howard County residents voted for extreme liberals at all levels and now we are all going to suffer the consequences.

Where did you hear this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like those who cannot succeed academically are trying to claim a political victory by screwing over other people in the name of “equity.” It’s mostly about transferring housing equity from one group to another and reducing the achievement gap by bringing the top down.

Whom, specifically, are you referring to?

Read the article. It makes it plainly clear.

In other words, bussing mostly AA/Latino students to richer mostly Asian/South Asian/White schools.

The parent in the article who commented that most of the redistricted parents will move to stay in the right schools is probably right. Ironically it will be Asian/South Asians who will be more likely to move.

...you just said that "those who cannot succeed academically" means "black and Hispanic students"...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like those who cannot succeed academically are trying to claim a political victory by screwing over other people in the name of “equity.” It’s mostly about transferring housing equity from one group to another and reducing the achievement gap by bringing the top down.

BINGO! This is exactly what is going on in Howard County.

Also, our county executive wants to handout Section 8 vouchers to Baltimore City residents and lure them into the county. Oh, it is nothing but good times in Howard County. Delusional Howard County residents voted for extreme liberals at all levels and now we are all going to suffer the consequences.

Dude, that's not how it works. Speaking of delusional.

https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-authority/Maryland/Howard-County-Housing-Commission/MD023

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like those who cannot succeed academically are trying to claim a political victory by screwing over other people in the name of “equity.” It’s mostly about transferring housing equity from one group to another and reducing the achievement gap by bringing the top down.

Whom, specifically, are you referring to?

Read the article. It makes it plainly clear.

In other words, bussing mostly AA/Latino students to richer mostly Asian/South Asian/White schools.

The parent in the article who commented that most of the redistricted parents will move to stay in the right schools is probably right. Ironically it will be Asian/South Asians who will be more likely to move.

...you just said that "those who cannot succeed academically" means "black and Hispanic students"...

If you read the article it is the implication. I don't live in Howard so I have no stakes in the matter but this is still the uncomfortable elephant in the room. It is not about redistricting poor white kids.

The irony is that the "worst" school in Howard is so much better than almost all of DC or Baltimore schools so I'm not sure if there is a real problem here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just seems like those who cannot succeed academically are trying to claim a political victory by screwing over other people in the name of “equity.” It’s mostly about transferring housing equity from one group to another and reducing the achievement gap by bringing the top down.

Whom, specifically, are you referring to?

Read the article. It makes it plainly clear.

In other words, bussing mostly AA/Latino students to richer mostly Asian/South Asian/White schools.

The parent in the article who commented that most of the redistricted parents will move to stay in the right schools is probably right. Ironically it will be Asian/South Asians who will be more likely to move.

...you just said that "those who cannot succeed academically" means "black and Hispanic students"...

If you read the article it is the implication. I don't live in Howard so I have no stakes in the matter but this is still the uncomfortable elephant in the room. It is not about redistricting poor white kids.

The irony is that the "worst" school in Howard is so much better than almost all of DC or Baltimore schools so I'm not sure if there is a real problem here.

I read the article. That's not what it says.

And no, that's not ironic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Balanced article that seems to understand all sides.

I think the proposal embodies all the right ideas, although I do have some questions about individual details. I'd like to see it go further, actually, to provide greater relief to certain high schools. Also, some schools have profiles that change significantly, while others (River Hill High School rushes to mind) have very little change to their overall profile. That does feel a little uneven.

Since River Hill stands to send some students to Wilde Lake (which will only be 38 percent FARMs under the proposal - which really shouldn't scare people so badly - but I digress), there's ample yelling from people who imagined they were safely tucked within a very expensive new development and all but guaranteed a place at River Hill. I get it, I really do, but at the same time: cry me a river. I have a hard time being totally sympathetic with "don't break up our 'community'," when your community is defined by a single socio-economic profile. Maybe the boundaries of community need to be revised.

Maybe these counties need to do more mixed development housing instead of building rich single family with a 3% sprinkle of HUD home and then bussing them further away to schools with more FARMS. The counties are wasting money bussing kids further. The traffic is already terrible and some of the zoning is already so far away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I stated this in another thread, how MoCo parents threatening to move to HoCo or FFX because MoCo dared to hire a consultant to look at how MCPS draws school boundaries made me chuckle. And where are they going to threaten to move to now. The response was that people were now moving to Frederick, and how much happier they are. That made me chuckle too. I'm sure Frederick county schools are fine, but their top schools are more like the mediocre ones in MoCo and HoCo. Of course, mediocre schools are fine, too. It's not like I live in a W school cluster. But if mediocrity is fine, not sure why moving to Frederick for the schools makes one happier.

Montgomery County is ALREADY far more extreme in zoning based on race and demographics than what Howard County is proposing. Plus MCPS is discussing more extreme bussing. They have been screwing Darnestown kids for years bussing them farther away to NW to make sure that QO isn't too white and now they are considering bussing them to an even worse school SV that is even farther away. The MCPS nuts are chomping to take down the W schools and the Silver Spring idiots are dreaming of the demise of Bethesda.

Howard and Frederick are still far better bets. Plus MCPS has dropped precipitously in the past decade. They lost the top spot years ago.

So, isn't it good that they hired a consultant to look at a better way to draw boundaries?

By what metric do you think Frederick and HoCo are "still far better" bets than MCPS? The top Frederick county high school is about the same level as Sherwood or NWHS, not exactly high performing MCPS HS, though I'm sure it's perfectly fine. Again, we don't live in a W cluster.

In the new PARCC report card, MCPS ranked 7th in its 3-8 ELA and Math. MCPS ranked ever lower in Algebra and ELA-10. Yes, both Ferdericc and Howard county PS are ranked higher than MCPS. MCPS is relying its white and Asian students to stay above state average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Baltimore Sun has a long article about the proposed Howard County Public Schools rezoning: https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-howard-school-redistricting-20190906-xhzkmkf2zvgcxdkbd3vqdanblm-story.html (I don't know who wrote it because the journalists are withholding their bylines this week.)

I don't know enough about Howard County to evaluate the proposals, but I do know enough about Montgomery County to be able to say with authority that anybody who is thinking of moving from MCPS to HCPS, in order to try to avoid boundary changes for school capacity and desegregation, should read this article.

They'll just send their kids to private schools and pretend to be forward thinking and accepting of all.