MCPS Somerset and Westbrook ES boundary study

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the concern here? They are both top-performing schools with less than 5% FARMS in the same school pyramid. What does the boundary matter? It seems like Oxford vs. Cambridge.

Westbrook parents are elitist snobs. Some of them are horrible complainers who like to blame others for their own kids’ failures. This is most notable amongst the international parents. They will fight tooth and nail for what they want no matter how bigoted they are.

What in the world are you talking about? Pleas give some examples.

Suffice it to say they like to scream, and I mean scream, at wonderful teachers during meetings if they don’t get what they want when what they want is misguided. And it is more than one person. It is a group of them. Horrible people.

There is no meaningful difference between the average parent at the two schools. The demographics are essentially identical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the concern here? They are both top-performing schools with less than 5% FARMS in the same school pyramid. What does the boundary matter? It seems like Oxford vs. Cambridge.

Westbrook parents are elitist snobs. Some of them are horrible complainers who like to blame others for their own kids’ failures. This is most notable amongst the international parents. They will fight tooth and nail for what they want no matter how bigoted they are.

What in the world are you talking about? Pleas give some examples.

Suffice it to say they like to scream, and I mean scream, at wonderful teachers during meetings if they don’t get what they want when what they want is misguided. And it is more than one person. It is a group of them. Horrible people.

There is no meaningful difference between the average parent at the two schools. The demographics are essentially identical.

Yup. Sounds like a disgruntled “wonderful teacher” complaining about parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the concern here? They are both top-performing schools with less than 5% FARMS in the same school pyramid. What does the boundary matter? It seems like Oxford vs. Cambridge.

One is more crowded than the other.

+1 Somerset is enrolled at 130% of capacity and Westbrook is underenrolled. My kid attends one of these schools and I don't think there's any particular acrimony about changing the boundaries.

Agree. The only wrinkle is that now that the Save Westbard lunatics have finally lost, that development will go forward. I have a suspicion that it is planned for Westbrook/Westland, rather than Wood Acres/Pyle (where it's currently zoned). That, plus the apartments on Willard that likely will switch to Westbrook, would put a strain Westbrook. Of course, that won't be for years, and it may be that they just deal with that at the time to alleviste the crowding at Somerset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the concern here? They are both top-performing schools with less than 5% FARMS in the same school pyramid. What does the boundary matter? It seems like Oxford vs. Cambridge.

One is more crowded than the other.

+1 Somerset is enrolled at 130% of capacity and Westbrook is underenrolled. My kid attends one of these schools and I don't think there's any particular acrimony about changing the boundaries.

Agree. The only wrinkle is that now that the Save Westbard lunatics have finally lost, that development will go forward. I have a suspicion that it is planned for Westbrook/Westland, rather than Wood Acres/Pyle (where it's currently zoned). That, plus the apartments on Willard that likely will switch to Westbrook, would put a strain Westbrook. Of course, that won't be for years, and it may be that they just deal with that at the time to alleviste the crowding at Somerset.

It's not a suspicion. It's a dead lock certainty that the Willard high-rises and [future] Westbard will be moved over to Westbrook before a single house in the Town of Somerset is moved. It makes sense to do that in terms of keeping that community/town together, but it clearly also is the path of least resistance for the county. Even though you can easily walk to Somerset ES from the Willard neighborhood by cutting through the park (although there's a school bus). They would need to bus the Willard kids to Westbrook because of River, just like they do the kids in Brookdale.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone go to the meeting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the meeting?

Curious if they provided a timeline for when the options will be made available. I'm interested in seeing maps of what they determined to be the walk zones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the meeting?

Curious if they provided a timeline for when the options will be made available. I'm interested in seeing maps of what they determined to be the walk zones.

None of the kids currently attending Westbrook have to cross either Mass or River as walkers; there's a bus for each "side". I would expect any kids switched from Somerset to Westbrook will also take a bus. I guess the real question is whether there are enough kids going to Somerset who live in the high-rises along Willard and the adjoining streets to make a real difference if they are moved to Westbrook. That's the most logical short and long term switch that could be made. Not sure what happened, but the planning for Westbrook seems to have been way off when they did the expansion. It's a great school, the other bitter poster notwithstanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the meeting?

Curious if they provided a timeline for when the options will be made available. I'm interested in seeing maps of what they determined to be the walk zones.

None of the kids currently attending Westbrook have to cross either Mass or River as walkers; there's a bus for each "side". I would expect any kids switched from Somerset to Westbrook will also take a bus. I guess the real question is whether there are enough kids going to Somerset who live in the high-rises along Willard and the adjoining streets to make a real difference if they are moved to Westbrook. That's the most logical short and long term switch that could be made. Not sure what happened, but the planning for Westbrook seems to have been way off when they did the expansion. It's a great school, the other bitter poster notwithstanding.

Not ES, but my kid took the school bus that goes from Westland to FH instead of her regular bus a few times when I had to meet her at her orthodontist in Friendship Heights. It was standing room only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the meeting?

Curious if they provided a timeline for when the options will be made available. I'm interested in seeing maps of what they determined to be the walk zones.

None of the kids currently attending Westbrook have to cross either Mass or River as walkers; there's a bus for each "side". I would expect any kids switched from Somerset to Westbrook will also take a bus. I guess the real question is whether there are enough kids going to Somerset who live in the high-rises along Willard and the adjoining streets to make a real difference if they are moved to Westbrook. That's the most logical short and long term switch that could be made. Not sure what happened, but the planning for Westbrook seems to have been way off when they did the expansion. It's a great school, the other bitter poster notwithstanding.

My guess is the high rises will be switched and, if that isn’t enough kids, the part of Kenwood that is currently zoned for Somerset. I don’t think that area has many kids as it’s all SFHs on big lots, but it’s the next closest cohesive unit to move after FH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the meeting?

Curious if they provided a timeline for when the options will be made available. I'm interested in seeing maps of what they determined to be the walk zones.

None of the kids currently attending Westbrook have to cross either Mass or River as walkers; there's a bus for each "side". I would expect any kids switched from Somerset to Westbrook will also take a bus. I guess the real question is whether there are enough kids going to Somerset who live in the high-rises along Willard and the adjoining streets to make a real difference if they are moved to Westbrook. That's the most logical short and long term switch that could be made. Not sure what happened, but the planning for Westbrook seems to have been way off when they did the expansion. It's a great school, the other bitter poster notwithstanding.

My guess is the high rises will be switched and, if that isn’t enough kids, the part of Kenwood that is currently zoned for Somerset. I don’t think that area has many kids as it’s all SFHs on big lots, but it’s the next closest cohesive unit to move after FH.

I agree, but I think all of Kenwood goes to Somerset?

That won’t be a lot of kids, either. My friend who lives there send his kids to Somerset, but says most of the kids in Kenwood go private.

[Anonymous]

I suspect the town of Somerset is fine and won’t be reasoned... but Drummond and West CC might be moved which would be really frustrating as they are all walking distance to the ES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the meeting?

Curious if they provided a timeline for when the options will be made available. I'm interested in seeing maps of what they determined to be the walk zones.

The options will be presented at the Jan. 30th meeting. The slides from Monday's meeting are now posted on the website:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/SomersetWestbrook_PIM1Presentation.pdf

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting the slides. I'm in another cluster but always curious about boundary studies, so I looked through them. I'm confused, and maybe somebody more knowledgeable about the area/cluster can answer this. It looks like Somerset was ~70 kids over capacity, and Westbrook already had ~200 empty seats, but is also building out a classroom shell to add in ~70 more, leading to this boundary study and the move of some Somerset kids to Westbrook. Why in the world is the new addition being built when there was already so much extra capacity at Westbrook? Or why, if the addition is to help with overcrowding in the area, is the boundary study limited to just those two schools? Seems like there would be higher priorities within the school system for building additions. What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for posting the slides. I'm in another cluster but always curious about boundary studies, so I looked through them. I'm confused, and maybe somebody more knowledgeable about the area/cluster can answer this. It looks like Somerset was ~70 kids over capacity, and Westbrook already had ~200 empty seats, but is also building out a classroom shell to add in ~70 more, leading to this boundary study and the move of some Somerset kids to Westbrook. Why in the world is the new addition being built when there was already so much extra capacity at Westbrook? Or why, if the addition is to help with overcrowding in the area, is the boundary study limited to just those two schools? Seems like there would be higher priorities within the school system for building additions. What am I missing?

The CIP has this to say about the boundary study, italics mine. So they know this additional capacity will be needed, but are first relieving Somerset's overcrowding:

Planning Study: A boundary study is recommended to
address the overutilization at Somerset Elementary School.
The anticipated scope of the study will include Somerset
and Westbrook elementary schools. Due to the enrollment
growth in this cluster, an evaluation of the utilizations of
adjacent schools will continue. The boundary study will begin
in spring 2020 with Board of Education action scheduled for
November 2020.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for posting the slides. I'm in another cluster but always curious about boundary studies, so I looked through them. I'm confused, and maybe somebody more knowledgeable about the area/cluster can answer this. It looks like Somerset was ~70 kids over capacity, and Westbrook already had ~200 empty seats, but is also building out a classroom shell to add in ~70 more, leading to this boundary study and the move of some Somerset kids to Westbrook. Why in the world is the new addition being built when there was already so much extra capacity at Westbrook? Or why, if the addition is to help with overcrowding in the area, is the boundary study limited to just those two schools? Seems like there would be higher priorities within the school system for building additions. What am I missing?

The Westbard redevelopment.