Redistrict Montgomery County

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leggiit wants to close the achievement gap - which may be impossible. He is risking his talent pool to raise the lower end of the spectrum. Residents should wake up and ask about this.

Most residents are in favor of raising the lower end, what they oppose is lowering the higher end of the spectrum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me it would depend on what would be the goal of such an effort? If it is to alleviate over crowding, I am all for it. If it is for "diversity" than forget it. I dont want my kid bussed across the county to some gang school. FWIW we are in RM cluster, not W

Which school or schools are gang schools in your opinion?

The one we moved away from, Watkins Mill. I would also include Gaithersburg, Seneca Valley, SS schools.

What a snob you are. Did you have a child who actually attended any of these schools? My children are students at one of the schools you listed. They are not afraid to go to school. There are not gang fights in the hallways. My relative's children recently graduated from Watkins Mill, where they were involved in a lot of activities and enjoyed their high school experience; their kids were not afraid to go to school, either.

There are plenty of students from good, caring families at the schools you listed, and teachers/administrators who care about their students. If you wanted to move away because you didn't want your kids to go there, fine, but don't put down a school you don't have any experience with.

Its funny as RM was not a good or nice school when I was growing up. It was one to be avoided. If they truly think RM is better, good luck to them.

RM of today is so not the RM of 20 yrs ago. It has a gs rating of 8. You might say it's the IB program but the MS feeder school JW, which doesn't have a test in magnet program, has a GS rating of 9.

More rich people move to the area so now its well regarded and yet other schools are bashed. RM has had some very serious issues and incidents. But, yes, lets just cover them all up and pretend all is good now. Not a chance I'd send my kids there.

? Because W schools are without incidences? I've read about a few, and know someone who definitely knows that many of the issues at those schools get covered up by wealth parents' money.

And to the other PP who stated it's just the IB, you totally disregarded the second sentence about JW being rated 9. But since it doesn't fit into your narrative, you just can't accept it, can you?

The RM cluster is really the god standard of turning around schools for MCPS. Prior to 1987, JW and RM were in serious trouble. There was extreme underenrollment and the student bodies of the schools were severely underperforming goals. The solution was a multipronged, but highly controversial, set of actions:

(1) Redistrict higher SES areas to JW and RM.
(2) Improve the paper performance of the school to make it more desirable (on paper at least).
(3) Develop new construction into the district targeting families with higher SES.

Redistricting was accomplished by moving Ritchie Park Elementary School from the Frost/Wootton cluster to JW/RM. The families of Ritchie Park were livid and fought this hard. Home values have been affected, but the longterm effects have been blunted. Short-term effects were clear.

Improvement of paper scores was accomplished by bringing in the IB magnet, which initially made up a large percent of the school population. Not only did this improve the paper view of the school--encouraging higher SES families to move to or remain in the district, but it may have positively affected the non-magnet population of the school with increased population and budgets for non-magnet programs, too.

Development of new construction for higher SES families was a huge success with both the Falls Grove and Rose Hill communities. Falls Grove's large houses can sell for over $1m, though there is also mixed development and more urban development. Rose Hill is not mixed, and most homes there currently market for $1m or more when they are even available.

Today, the RM and JW district is highly performing--even for the non-IB-magnet students--a complete turnaround from 30 years ago. Downtown rockville has become much more desirable, and large and expensive construction has continued there, bringing higher SES students to RM as well. Just look at the school ratings of the feeder schools to RM, of which only College Gardens has an immersion program to bring in outside-district students:

College Gardens: 9
Ritchie Park: 8
Beall: 8
Twinbrook: 4
Julius West: 9

Clearly, only Twinbrook is lagging in rating. The district is pretty good. It is the gold standard of how to improve a cluster.

Long term effects? Those that were redistricted see a continued $150K+ drop in value to their homes. I don't think that is blunted. They also moved access to the kids easily walking to Frost and Wootton (since the entire neighborhood is LITERALLY right next to Wootton) and now bus them to JW and RM. So yeah, I think they have the right to be royally pissed off. Loss of $150K in equity, loss of being able to walk to school, and sent to a shitty ass school. There are so many in those developments that go to private schools. Bullis, St E's, St Raphaels, JDS, etc... That is also a loss of $$. You think that is what should happen? You think the county should go in and redistrict nice neighborhoods in great schools to subpar schools? Put middle class families that paid a premium for homes for a certain school and gut them financially?

The Non-W schools are the forgotten ones. Those neighborhoods see their other neighborhood schools like Beverly Farms and Cold Spring with barely 70% capacity while Ritchie Park has taken on the entire Fallsgrove neighborhood and Park Potomac and they are 135% capacity with 7 portables parked outside on the blacktops they used to play on. Promised a 5th elementary school for years and years. Who knows if it will ever come. Meanwhile Beverly Farms looks like a f'ing middle school and Cold Spring has a ridiculous amount of land and will be getting a complete renovation soon.

Can you read? You provided no statistics about the growth rate since the redistricting. There was an initial drop in price. Since, then have the values of homes in Wootton grown faster than the value of homes in RM? The $150k loss in value can be see in Horizon Hill vs. Fox Hills West. Growth rates have been relatively equal for the past 10-20 years between the two communities. In other words, there was an initial hit that is still there today, but the subsequent growth rate not been affected.

The same house in FHW would go for over $150K now and yes it continues to climb while other homes in RP area do not. There are homes in Potomac Woods and Horizon Hill going for the SAME prices from 15+ years ago. No rising at all. Why? The redistrict awhile back made the initial difference but after the move to RM cluster, they eventually added lower SES area in Rockville that was not normally a part of RP. The diversity is changing drastically as many of the entire school families used to be single family homes (just like Cold Spring) but now has ALL the new urban development that has been added. The required low income housing is in apartments in Park Potomac, apartments/condos in Fallsgove, and a few Tower Oaks townhomes. Add that with the lower SES area Rockville lovingly gave them, and RP now went from 4% to over 20% FARMS and is grossly overcrowded, while it's three neighboring elementary schools did not take on any new housing or redistricting and still remain at below 5% FARMS with under capacity . Please do not fool yourself into thinking people are paying the same prices for homes. As a matter of fact, Potomac Woods and Horizon Hill have seen another decrease in housing prices and how quickly they are sold. What once was in the high 700's/low 800's, is now more into high $600/low $700. And many that are moving in are because they are closer to their private schools, not because of RM.

You are full of crap. 15 years ago was 2001. In 2001, most of the homes in Horizon Hill were selling for about $400k (I checked!). Over 15 years, that is about a 3.8% annual growth rate if they are selling for $700k.. In FHW, many of the houses in 2001 were selling for $450-500k--lets say $475 or so. If they sell for $875 now (the range is actually quite large), thats an annual growth rate of about 4.15%. These two numbers are very close--perhaps even statistically the same.

NP
I purchased in that area for $609,000 in 2003. No way were prices in the low $400,000. I do remember looking in that entire area. Prices were higher for the Wootton schools, even when they were original. Green kitchens, blue tubs. It was amazing but the schools are a huge factor in selling prices. Still are. I can't imagine MC schools doing that to any other neighborhoods right now. You would ruin homeowners equity. Prices depend on which school. Always have and always will

$400,000 - 01/28/2002 - 1 Richview Ct
$402,000 - 01/18/2002 - 5 Royal Oak Ct
$407,000 - 02/04/2002 - 1702 Glastonberry Rd
$410,000 - 03/31/2000 - 1712 Crestview Dr
$431,250 - 05/04/2001 - 4 Scottview Ct
$364,000 - 02/28/2001 - 1920 S Fallsmead Way
$355,000 - 09/26/2001 - 4 Hearthstone Ct
$372,500 - 01/13/2000 - 5 Sky Ridge Ct


Quod Erat Demonstrandum

[Anonymous]

Most residents do not understand what is going on. As this current election is going on - it shows the media bias which is skewed to the far left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Anonymous wrote:
To me it would depend on what would be the goal of such an effort? If it is to alleviate over crowding, I am all for it. If it is for "diversity" than forget it. I dont want my kid bussed across the county to some gang school. FWIW we are in RM cluster, not W

Which school or schools are gang schools in your opinion?

The one we moved away from, Watkins Mill. I would also include Gaithersburg, Seneca Valley, SS schools.


---Interesting how no one touched this one. You think Silver Spring schools are gang schools? We have exactly what you're all complaining about wanting---neighborhood schools that our kids walk to (we do--it's 5 min, then I walk to the Metro), crosswalk guards, smaller class sizes (22 in my kids' K class and there are three classes), proximity to public transportation. My kids are in ES and our school has a tight, supportive community that draws from the immediate neighborhood. Our school ranking is high and so far I'm really happy with the teachers and the programs. My kids take after-school language classes and love KidsCo. And we'll never have to take a bus.

Yes, there are definitely still rough areas in SS and it has way more low income families then west MC, but the people are really nice, genuine, down to earth families who are invested in our town. We could have afforded to buy in Bethesda but chose not to because of the snobbery and the school overcrowding, and it's a decision that we are still very happy to have made. Instead of making assumptions, take a look at the facts--there are 7K new housing units going up in or near DTSS. Housing prices are going through the roof. Stop whining about why Bethesda/Rockville schools aren't ideal and stop making assumptions about places you don't even go.

It always pays to live where the politicians do...This County is sickening. It's pretty bad when DC looks more ethical.

[Anonymous]

It depends on what expectations you have for your children. Multiculturalism will leave them less prepared for college and will demonstrate the accuracy of stereotypes. Too much isolationism will make them more naive with a tendency to the far left - but better prepared for college and life.
Most parents, including me, should put more deep thought into this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what expectations you have for your children. Multiculturalism will leave them less prepared for college and will demonstrate the accuracy of stereotypes. Too much isolationism will make them more naive with a tendency to the far left - but better prepared for college and life.
Most parents, including me, should put more deep thought into this.

I do not think I could disagree with this more. On so many, many levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what expectations you have for your children. Multiculturalism will leave them less prepared for college and will demonstrate the accuracy of stereotypes. Too much isolationism will make them more naive with a tendency to the far left - but better prepared for college and life.
Most parents, including me, should put more deep thought into this.

I do not think I could disagree with this more. On so many, many levels.

+1 When you look at who gets caught on the lacrosse bus singing racist songs, or shouting racial epithets from the frat window, it's never the kid who grew up in a racially and socioeconomically diverse neighborhood. That kind of mindless hatred always comes from the kid who is seeing Black folks for the first time (outside a service capacity) in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leggiit wants to close the achievement gap - which may be impossible. He is risking his talent pool to raise the lower end of the spectrum. Residents should wake up and ask about this.

Most residents are in favor of raising the lower end, what they oppose is lowering the higher end of the spectrum.

+1. MCPS is taking "dilution is the solution" method.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what expectations you have for your children. Multiculturalism will leave them less prepared for college and will demonstrate the accuracy of stereotypes. Too much isolationism will make them more naive with a tendency to the far left - but better prepared for college and life.
Most parents, including me, should put more deep thought into this.

I do not think I could disagree with this more. On so many, many levels.

+1 When you look at who gets caught on the lacrosse bus singing racist songs, or shouting racial epithets from the frat window, it's never the kid who grew up in a racially and socioeconomically diverse neighborhood. That kind of mindless hatred always comes from the kid who is seeing Black folks for the first time (outside a service capacity) in college.

+2 And isolationism usually will make one lean far right, not left - fear of the other. Where did that PP grow up?