Second round options for Woodward boundary study

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That means Wheaton is in fact under enrolled f 32% of the population are ghost students.

Sounds like the issue is working itself out. I wonder how often this is the case at other schools where there is alleged overcrowding?

The yearly attendance used for data was taken on September 30, last week. I would imagine the numbers have come down even more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Edison is a school that students attend for 2.5 hours of their school day. I believe the thought is that the IT Academy students could attend classes at Edison but that doesn’t move them out of Wheaton. They have to have electives, English and math classes too.

So is Wheaton overcrowded now based on its enrollment or not? If it is why haven't they already utilized Wheaton and why did the consultants talk about building out a shell space during the first round of meetings? Why were the first options based on 500 fewer spots? It all reeks of incompetence on the part of MCPS and/or the consultants. We deserve an answer in writing explaining this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Edison is a school that students attend for 2.5 hours of their school day. I believe the thought is that the IT Academy students could attend classes at Edison but that doesn’t move them out of Wheaton. They have to have electives, English and math classes too.

So is Wheaton overcrowded now based on its enrollment or not? If it is why haven't they already utilized Wheaton and why did the consultants talk about building out a shell space during the first round of meetings? Why were the first options based on 500 fewer spots? It all reeks of incompetence on the part of MCPS and/or the consultants. We deserve an answer in writing explaining this.

This should say why haven't they ultized Edison? Or have they been lying about the "overcrowding" at Wheaton all these years?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Can some one share the regional magnet programs in Woodward region?

Art, Design, Performing Arts, Communication.

So with 30% FARMS + these programs ---> Very little numbers left for higher level STEM classes. Woodward may not offer good STEM courses.

WJ with 15% FARMS rate should be able to offer good STEM courses despite school size going down.

Every school will offer STEM but Woodward will also be able to go to Wheaton for Engineering. Impressive program.

Yes, STEM oriented kids in Woodward will have no other option than to attend Wheaton, but WJ is likely to have better STEM courses allowing kids to be in home school and get good STEM courses. It's simply due to making twos chools within a mile drastically different in FARMS. A poor job by consultants.

Honestly I am livid we are paying these clowns so much

The fact that Woodward and WJ appear to have such different FARMS rates is definitely a problem.

Maybe the consultants really whiffed it in the first round to purposefully get a muted reaction to this problem in the second round.

Yah when schools are less than miles apart, no reason to have vastly different FARMS.

[Anonymous]

According to the 2023-2024 School report card on MCPS’ website, WJ’s percentage of students “not chronically absent” is 62.7 vs Wheaton’s 63.7 in the same category. I guess they have more ghost students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can some one share the regional magnet programs in Woodward region?

Art, Design, Performing Arts, Communication.

So with 30% FARMS + these programs ---> Very little numbers left for higher level STEM classes. Woodward may not offer good STEM courses.

WJ with 15% FARMS rate should be able to offer good STEM courses despite school size going down.

Wheaton and Blair have well over 30% FARMS currently and offer higher level STEM classes. Those things are not mutually exclusive.

Ah, you missed a fact that Whaton and Blair host STEM magnet. Woodward will host Art, drama etc. Apple to orange situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give me the quick rundown of things that seem unfair or problematic about any of the options?

I know which option I would vote for on the survey based just on our own neighborhood, but don't want to make my decision just based on that?

1. Lots of split articulation
2. The consultants added 500 seats of capacity to Wheaton HS since the last round and haven't adequately explained how or at what cost (in the initial round of meetings they claimed Edison has a shell space that can be built out - is that free? I don't think so. What will the cost be to taxpayers and when can the Wheaton community expect relief from overcrowding - if it's even real or has it just been manufactured this whole time?). Even with all these magical extra seats Wheaton and other east county schools are still over capacity. Why is that?
3. Who has time to analyze the 4 options and identify the pros and cons? Presumably, they are offering these for a reason, but why? Can they be more transparent about the basis for putting forward these specific options? Who have they received feedback from so far and from what areas? How are areas where parents don't have the time/education/technology to closely analyze 4 sets of maps and tables being represented or are we just ignoring them?

[Anonymous]

TBH I think this process has been an embarrassment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give me the quick rundown of things that seem unfair or problematic about any of the options?

I know which option I would vote for on the survey based just on our own neighborhood, but don't want to make my decision just based on that?

1. Lots of split articulation
2. The consultants added 500 seats of capacity to Wheaton HS since the last round and haven't adequately explained how or at what cost (in the initial round of meetings they claimed Edison has a shell space that can be built out - is that free? I don't think so. What will the cost be to taxpayers and when can the Wheaton community expect relief from overcrowding - if it's even real or has it just been manufactured this whole time?). Even with all these magical extra seats Wheaton and other east county schools are still over capacity. Why is that?
3. Who has time to analyze the 4 options and identify the pros and cons? Presumably, they are offering these for a reason, but why? Can they be more transparent about the basis for putting forward these specific options? Who have they received feedback from so far and from what areas? How are areas where parents don't have the time/education/technology to closely analyze 4 sets of maps and tables being represented or are we just ignoring them?

That doesn’t seem…that bad. I imagine 2 gets addressed through updates to the capital improvement plan and made a priority. I imagine MCPS probably has held off on certain additional capital expenditure decisions like this until the boundary study is finalized. Are there other major gripes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give me the quick rundown of things that seem unfair or problematic about any of the options?

I know which option I would vote for on the survey based just on our own neighborhood, but don't want to make my decision just based on that?

1. Lots of split articulation
2. The consultants added 500 seats of capacity to Wheaton HS since the last round and haven't adequately explained how or at what cost (in the initial round of meetings they claimed Edison has a shell space that can be built out - is that free? I don't think so. What will the cost be to taxpayers and when can the Wheaton community expect relief from overcrowding - if it's even real or has it just been manufactured this whole time?). Even with all these magical extra seats Wheaton and other east county schools are still over capacity. Why is that?
3. Who has time to analyze the 4 options and identify the pros and cons? Presumably, they are offering these for a reason, but why? Can they be more transparent about the basis for putting forward these specific options? Who have they received feedback from so far and from what areas? How are areas where parents don't have the time/education/technology to closely analyze 4 sets of maps and tables being represented or are we just ignoring them?

That doesn’t seem…that bad. I imagine 2 gets addressed through updates to the capital improvement plan and made a priority. I imagine MCPS probably has held off on certain additional capital expenditure decisions like this until the boundary study is finalized. Are there other major gripes?

It sounds like you haven't been paying attention to the MCPS budget. The CIP is a huge mess. No, there is not a ton of extra money to build out 500 seats. And why should taxpayers fund this when we have plenty of extra capacity 4 miles west of Wheaton HS? They should use that money to deal with the many schools with longstanding, serious maintenance issues.

[Anonymous]

These are the options pretty much everyone has expected since they announced the reopening of Woodward. It makes sense based on walk zones etc.

[Anonymous]

Still too much split articulation

[Anonymous]

These options make sense to me. No crisscrossing students across the county. Reasonable utilization rates. Improved articulations. No option will be perfect for everyone, but these options seem more realistic financially while also helping in other areas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's very unfair to Whitman families.

More diversity should be added in Whitman. Leaving it untouched is a missed oppurtunity.

But do non-white, lower income folks even want to go to Whitman?

I am high income and non-white - I don't want my kids to attend Whitman.

I am high income and white. We moved OUT of Whitman cluster so that our kids could attend WJ. Way more diversity there (not for long though)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Damn they are really leaning away from considering demographics in any way

project 25 vibes??