Taylor's Feb. Rec for Woodward Boundary Study

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I reading the chart correctly that WJ’s capacity is dropping from its current 130% to a projected 77%? Do WJ families that feel happy with the downsizing in student body (and diversity) realize how this will drastically reduce WJ course offerings?

There is an elementary school boundary study in the works, right? I would not be surprised to see changes made to middle school assignments when that study happens. There are smaller boundary shifts that happen all the time. For better or worse, this here recommendation is not set in stone.

Yes. I’m very pleased. And any high achieving kid can go to JFK or Wheaton program if they want.

Great recommendation from Taylor.

Of course WJ parents are pleased. They hit the jackpot. They will worry about course offerings when it comes to that, and easily get what they want since it will be one of the most desirable schools, with wealthy families and where teachers will want to teach. And no high achieving WJ kids will go to Wheaton or JFK. They will stick with their home school and most likely get better STEM and humanities classes anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the demographics of the new WJ. Do the math.

It’s another Whitman (less diverse and richer than current WJ) while Woodward is just a mile away and will be a very different school.

What do you mean by different?

Wealth. A lot less of it.

Don’t turn on the new Woodward families when MCPS divided the schools and even the WJ cluster in an unexpected way. The way they split KP and GP puts all the single family homes in WJ rather than Woodward.

That is actually false.

Is it? We have a Whitman 2.0 supporter here.

No, I share concerns. I just think facts matter and there are multifamily homes from GP zoned to WJ in the proposal.

But all single family homes from KP and GP are zoned WJ.

Yeah, but those islands they rezoned are in the walk zone to Woodward, without walking on OGR and crossing the beltway to WJ, and a large proportion of those neighbors requested Woodward for that reason. WJ has a lot of multifamily dwellings from the Ashburton zone.

That's a good decision to get rid of those island. Bad decision is to add two DCC ES in Woodward instead of adding in WJ and Woodward each. It's very low hanging fruit for BOE members.

I understand the arguments re poverty concentration. I wonder if there are credible reasons for this recomendation that make this less low hanging fruit.

Maybe it is better to combine 2 current WJ ES and 2 current DCC ES into a new high school rather than 3:1? Wouldn't that result in more cohesion in the new school? Less likely for anyone to be othered or ignored? Less likely for the former WJ ES communities to dominate?

I know I will be dismissed as wanting Whitman 2.0 or whatever but genuinely asking.

DCC schools don't want to travel that far.

I get that. Proximity is really important. So that means Viers Mill and Wheaton Woods don't want to go to WJ or Woodward, which would leave both under capacity by a lot. WJ is currently about 800 students overcapacity. So do you think WJ should stay as is and Woodward which the county spent all the
money on to build should be a holding school? Or what? We built Woodward, someone needs to go there. If it is just current WJ people will scream that WJ got a new school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When will they announce the final decision?

March 26

[Anonymous]

Depends on DCC school. We are in the Randolph Hills neighborhood which is on the current boundary border between WJ and Wheaton HS. Kids on the same street go to different schools. A change in HS isn’t a geographical challenge for VM families.

It would be great if ppl would accept that boundaries have to exist. It’s not that deep. The kids are gonna be alright. If you are panicked about your kids being negatively affected by a change in their school, it might be time to reflect on your values and put in some work on your parenting to build up your kids’ and your own confidence, flexibility and adaptability. Life’s a lot more enjoyable when you know that your resilient kids will succeed in whichever school they land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the demographics of the new WJ. Do the math.

It’s another Whitman (less diverse and richer than current WJ) while Woodward is just a mile away and will be a very different school.

What do you mean by different?

Wealth. A lot less of it.

Don’t turn on the new Woodward families when MCPS divided the schools and even the WJ cluster in an unexpected way. The way they split KP and GP puts all the single family homes in WJ rather than Woodward.

Is there a more close up map to show where gp and kp split?

GPES has many multi family houses still going to WJ. The Parkside condos, stoneybrook, apts near Grosvenor.

The islands from GPES that didn’t get WJ make complete sense. They should go to Woodward. One is directly next to Woodward.

Option B was the right call.

They will do elementary boundary soon to mitigate some of the split articulation issues. KPES is under capacity and Ashburton is over capacity. It will get resolved.

Looks like all the Option B signs on Strathmore worked.

But you agree that all the single family homes from GP and KP are going to WJ (granted that includes some mutifamily units going to WJ).

I think it’s just an interesting point. I thought GP, Farmland and Luxmanor were trying to stay together - that was the goal. But not how it played out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I reading the chart correctly that WJ’s capacity is dropping from its current 130% to a projected 77%? Do WJ families that feel happy with the downsizing in student body (and diversity) realize how this will drastically reduce WJ course offerings?

There is an elementary school boundary study in the works, right? I would not be surprised to see changes made to middle school assignments when that study happens. There are smaller boundary shifts that happen all the time. For better or worse, this here recommendation is not set in stone.

Yes. I’m very pleased. And any high achieving kid can go to JFK or Wheaton program if they want.

Yep. Whitman 2.0. It will shoot up through the rankings, property values will sky rocket and so on. Great for the county.

Meanwhile the Woodward staff and families will have to set up a PTA and Booster, work with new admin, develop a new program. It’s a lot to be honest.
Great recommendation from Taylor.

Of course WJ parents are pleased. They hit the jackpot. They will worry about course offerings when it comes to that, and easily get what they want since it will be one of the most desirable schools, with wealthy families and where teachers will want to teach. And no high achieving WJ kids will go to Wheaton or JFK. They will stick with their home school and most likely get better STEM and humanities classes anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on DCC school. We are in the Randolph Hills neighborhood which is on the current boundary border between WJ and Wheaton HS. Kids on the same street go to different schools. A change in HS isn’t a geographical challenge for VM families.

It would be great if ppl would accept that boundaries have to exist. It’s not that deep. The kids are gonna be alright. If you are panicked about your kids being negatively affected by a change in their school, it might be time to reflect on your values and put in some work on your parenting to build up your kids’ and your own confidence, flexibility and adaptability. Life’s a lot more enjoyable when you know that your resilient kids will succeed in whichever school they land.

That all sounds nice in theory in some utopia. But on planet Earth, every responsible parent cares about how school change affect their children. And if it is a negative change, they take actions that are in their power.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a class of 30 students, it is going from 25 non-FARM students to 20 non-FARM students. Not an earth shattering change. No need for hyperbole.

And remember most FARMS students just like the non FARMS students are good kids whose parents care about their education.

This arguments shouldn't be used to concentrate poverty in one school when alternative is available without extra travel.

In general, the question is do you want 2 Whitmans? Or a new Woodward and new WJ that are a lot like the current WJ, BCC etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a class of 30 students, it is going from 25 non-FARM students to 20 non-FARM students. Not an earth shattering change. No need for hyperbole.

And remember most FARMS students just like the non FARMS students are good kids whose parents care about their education.

This arguments shouldn't be used to concentrate poverty in one school when alternative is available without extra travel.

In general, the question is do you want 2 Whitmans? Or a new Woodward and new WJ that are a lot like the current WJ, BCC etc.

It is a simple as that.

[Anonymous]

But hey they must be partying over in GP and KP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But hey they must be partying over in GP and KP!

In some parts of GP and KP, not all. In some parts they are pulling their hair out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But hey they must be partying over in GP and KP!

In some parts of GP and KP, not all. In some parts they are pulling their hair out

Right well I think it’s fair to say that mcps did not lean into equity in any way for this one.

[Anonymous]

I'm reading all this with some detachment as a parent over in FCPS, where we just went through a much-publicized "county-wide boundary study" that resulted in limited changes and soon will be establishing boundaries for a new high school in the western part of the county.

One thing that stands out to me is how much more information Taylor is providing about the impact of the changes on projected enrollments (in 2031-32) and school demographics. Our superintendent provides as little of that information as possible, likely for two reasons: (1) the staff and consultants are too lazy and/or incompetent to generate it; and (2) they don't want to share information that would lead parents to complain about schools with "too many" FARMS students (here, apparently, Woodward) or "too few" (here, apparently, WJ and, of course, Whitman).

My question is whether you would have all tried to "reverse engineer" the numbers had Taylor not been as detailed about the impact of his proposals, or might have actually preferred getting less information (which would have sent an implicit message that it doesn't really matter because "all schools are good," etc.)?

[Anonymous]

There are policies put in place by the BOR that dictate the factors the consultants have to look at. I believe they need to show data on at least some of that.

I do appreciate the transparency. But to be clear, there was at least one option presented that would have put one new feeder school into WJ and one into Woodward. We are not reinventing the wheel here - he decided specifically not to go in that direction.

Why? Who knows, maybe too much heat over Wootton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is the demographics of the new WJ. Do the math.

It’s another Whitman (less diverse and richer than current WJ) while Woodward is just a mile away and will be a very different school.

What do you mean by different?

Wealth. A lot less of it.

Don’t turn on the new Woodward families when MCPS divided the schools and even the WJ cluster in an unexpected way. The way they split KP and GP puts all the single family homes in WJ rather than Woodward.

Is there a more close up map to show where gp and kp split?

GPES has many multi family houses still going to WJ. The Parkside condos, stoneybrook, apts near Grosvenor.

The islands from GPES that didn’t get WJ make complete sense. They should go to Woodward. One is directly next to Woodward.

Option B was the right call.

They will do elementary boundary soon to mitigate some of the split articulation issues. KPES is under capacity and Ashburton is over capacity. It will get resolved.

Looks like all the Option B signs on Strathmore worked.

They were desperate to avoid Woodward.

I won't celebrate yet. MCPS may not ceoncentrate poverty in Woodward and make both schools more similar in final approval. It will depend on how hard Old Farm/North FArm and Luxmanor area lobbies.

As they should have been desperate to avoid Woodward. Fashion design? It grabs from Wheaton Woods now too. No thank you

Attention will be on Wootton. This Woodward rec is done deal.

Note that Taylor only submitted this rec for Woodward. In the Crown study he submitted a recommendation plus an alternative.

The BOE members can if they want to not appear completely useless stand up bravely against racial segregation by moving Viers Mill ES to WJ.

You lost credibility there. VM “improved” from Wheaton to Woodward too. You don’t see VM clamoring for WJ. GPE and KPE keeps status quo for its core.

I am from VM and prefer WJ.

Same. It’s a perfect solution. Move VM to WJ. Move all of GP to Woodward. FARMS rates are more evenly distributed. GP remains united just like they want