Initial boundary options for Woodward study area are up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every school should be required to have 20% farms. Logistically: set aside 20% of seats for low income moco kids. Low income Parents will apply and can be lotteried if necessary and busing will be handled. The remaining 80% can be walk zone. Done. No more playing favorites with rich-kid only schools. Will some schools still have more? sure. No more re-districting every few years. the fairness goes up and the burden is eased on the heavy farms schools. Moco only has 35% farms rate overall. This is a very wealthy county and easy to solve this issue.

I suspect this is oversimplifying but I agree with you in concept.

It's oversimplifying the bus issue but I love it.

[Anonymous]

The only schools with lower than 20% FARMS (for high school) are Whitman, Wooten, Poolesville, Churchill, and WJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anything but option 3. I actually think the focus should be on higher FARMS schools being the underutilized schools, so more resources per student, smaller classes etc.

That's not how it works. Underutilized schools don't automatically get smaller class sizes. They just have empty space

[Anonymous]

Are there reasons it's inherently difficult to get Wheaton's utilization under 100%, or did they just decide that would be the high school to have a lot of options with high utilization because of the "build out extra space in the future" idea?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Many wealthy school PTSA’s have foundations as well, funded by family contributions. Schools with less wealth certainly don’t have those and barely have PTSA’s. Some high schools have long-standing booster clubs with a lot of support. Others do not.

Yes the PTA variability is wild to me and I'm sure I don't even know the half of it. We were at a Title I elementary school and the PTA was very small, very low budget. We moved and are at a nearby ES (still downcounty) and the PTA is huge with a lot of participation and great fundraising. Relatedly, I'm still sorry this boundary study did not include elementary schools.

Most PTAs in West County do not raise that much money. Yes, volunteerism is high. It’s easy to walk down the street to school and meet your neighbors. Is that what you want to take away? That is evil.

My kid attended the magnet program at Blair. I did not volunteer as it was too far away. At my childrens’ elementary school I was on the board of the PTA for 10 years. It was convenient to go to school events.

Nonsense

It is the volunteering that makes the difference, not just the money. And volunteers raise the money of course. We wouldn’t be able to drive 45 minutes to volunteer. That would all stop.

Our fundraisers take literally hundreds of volunteers. That’s how it happens. Other schools can do the same.

*other schools where parents have the time and flexibility to make that kind of volunteer commitment -- not all schools have hundreds of parents who have that option.

+1 you all are not paying your cleaning and gardening service providers enough and they need to work second & third jobs to make ends meet

Yikes with the stereotypes

It's a "stereotype" that West county families hire out cleaning and gardening? It's a "stereotype" that Latino families living in East county are doing these jobs? It's a "stereotype" that these jobs do not pay well enough to allow people to get by on 40 hours of work a week?

No the stereotype is that all of the people in the poorer school districts are cleaners and gardeners who can’t volunteer.

Three quarters of Wheaton HS students have ever received FARMS. Similar at Northwood and Kennedy. There are really not that many parents there working flexible white collar jobs or with a SAHM that isn't caring for babies/toddlers. And it is not just the parents that are busy. The teens are working after school jobs or caring for younger siblings. That is why they are not organizing clubs. Smh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s the reason it’s not as simple as Tilden Middle School plus 1-2 middles from Wheaton at Woodward? Blair magnet moves to Northwood with the extra space. Are too many middles in the walk zone for Wheaton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there reasons it's inherently difficult to get Wheaton's utilization under 100%, or did they just decide that would be the high school to have a lot of options with high utilization because of the "build out extra space in the future" idea?

It’s popular as they have multiple speciality programs that gives them higher level classes that other DCC schools don’t have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only schools with lower than 20% FARMS (for high school) are Whitman, Wooten, Poolesville, Churchill, and WJ.

I think WJ is at 18%

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’m sad for our county, I really am. It’s a microcosm of what is going on nationally among democrats. Some are so concerned with identity politics (busing for demographics), while others are concerned with high quality, neighborhood schools and not having sky rocketing property taxes (or borrowing against retiree health to pay the bills).

If we can’t get more mainstream, we are never going to win elections.

Second option seems pretty mainstream?

Sure if you don't care about all the split articulations

Can’t tell is this is a joke? Second option in that post was referring to democrats that “ are concerned with high quality, neighborhood schools and not having sky rocketing property taxes (or borrowing against retiree health to pay the bills).”

If joke, then bravo.

Not a joke. Option 3 is the MoCo version of the DeBlasio plan to integrate NYC schools. Of course that one was revisited and rescinded (I think) but we should try not to make the same mistakes.

Would you prefer option 1?

Is there a way to alleviate overcrowding at Wheaton without split articulations and weird Gerry-mandered zones and long bus rides?

Most of the dcc are overcrowded. The other schools don’t have the same advanced classes. In theory they could offer more at other schools but they will not. Only Blair and Wheaton have math beyond bc.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’m sad for our county, I really am. It’s a microcosm of what is going on nationally among democrats. Some are so concerned with identity politics (busing for demographics), while others are concerned with high quality, neighborhood schools and not having sky rocketing property taxes (or borrowing against retiree health to pay the bills).

If we can’t get more mainstream, we are never going to win elections.

Second option seems pretty mainstream?

Sure if you don't care about all the split articulations

Can’t tell is this is a joke? Second option in that post was referring to democrats that “ are concerned with high quality, neighborhood schools and not having sky rocketing property taxes (or borrowing against retiree health to pay the bills).”

If joke, then bravo.

Not a joke. Option 3 is the MoCo version of the DeBlasio plan to integrate NYC schools. Of course that one was revisited and rescinded (I think) but we should try not to make the same mistakes.

Would you prefer option 1?

Is there a way to alleviate overcrowding at Wheaton without split articulations and weird Gerry-mandered zones and long bus rides?

Most of the dcc are overcrowded. The other schools don’t have the same advanced classes. In theory they could offer more at other schools but they will not. Only Blair and Wheaton have math beyond bc.

So offering the advanced classes at the other schools (or maybe online?) would mean fewer students would attend? Am I following you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only schools with lower than 20% FARMS (for high school) are Whitman, Wooten, Poolesville, Churchill, and WJ.

I think WJ is at 18%

Why not just let anyone go to Whitman if they can provide their own transportation? It’s under capacity.

[Anonymous]

Several of these maps do not take into account the reality of MoCo public transportation. For example, MoCo will soon open the Purple Line, and there are good bus routes e/w on East West Highway between Bethesda and Silver Spring.

Yet, Option 1 takes significant populations that will be within walking distance of a purple line stop (Connecticut avenue and Lyttonsville to Bethesda) and moves them away from BCC - a (wealthy) segment of NCC between East West Hwy and the Beltway is shifted to WJ and a lower income segment around Rosemary Hills is shifted to WJ. It would be nearly impossible for low income kids from the Rosemary Hills area to get to WJ outside of the public school bus transportation, which would really disconnect them from the HS experience. In addition, historically, this segment is already experiencing a split elementary busing situation in K-2 and 3-5. The trade off has always been to try to keep them close to a HS so that the impact of busing is not disproportionately placed on lower income people.

Something similar happens in Option 1 with the portion of kids who are sent to SSIMS but then re-districted back to BCC. These kids are also near Purple Line (bike and rail). The Western half of this MS redistricting to SSIMS is actually within bike distance along N/S Rock Creek Park routes.

Option 2 at least keeps kids along the purple line and East West Highway bus lines together at BCC, and keeps them in the current WEstland/Silver Creek split.

Option also splits kid who could take the Purple Line or the East West Highway bus to BCC away and puts them at Blair or Whitman, both of which would be really hard to get to outside of a school bus if you didn't have a car or parent to chauffeur. It's an even worse problem for the proposed Option 3 MS articulation -- kids who could take the Purple Line or EW Hwy bus to BCC would go instead to Takoma Park, Pyle or Sligo -- all impossible to get to outside of school bus hours unless you have your own car or a parent chauffeur.

It's like we're building a purple line and then structuring public school districting in a ways that prevent or discourage public school kids from taking advantage of public transportation to broaden their access to MS and HS activities and after school help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only schools with lower than 20% FARMS (for high school) are Whitman, Wooten, Poolesville, Churchill, and WJ.

I think WJ is at 18%

Why not just let anyone go to Whitman if they can provide their own transportation? It’s under capacity.

That’s what they’re doing in Prince William county, VA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sad for our county, I really am. It’s a microcosm of what is going on nationally among democrats. Some are so concerned with identity politics (busing for demographics), while others are concerned with high quality, neighborhood schools and not having sky rocketing property taxes (or borrowing against retiree health to pay the bills).

If we can’t get more mainstream, we are never going to win elections.

Second option seems pretty mainstream?

Sure if you don't care about all the split articulations

Can’t tell is this is a joke? Second option in that post was referring to democrats that “ are concerned with high quality, neighborhood schools and not having sky rocketing property taxes (or borrowing against retiree health to pay the bills).”

If joke, then bravo.

Not a joke. Option 3 is the MoCo version of the DeBlasio plan to integrate NYC schools. Of course that one was revisited and rescinded (I think) but we should try not to make the same mistakes.

Would you prefer option 1?

Is there a way to alleviate overcrowding at Wheaton without split articulations and weird Gerry-mandered zones and long bus rides?

Most of the dcc are overcrowded. The other schools don’t have the same advanced classes. In theory they could offer more at other schools but they will not. Only Blair and Wheaton have math beyond bc.

So offering the advanced classes at the other schools (or maybe online?) would mean fewer students would attend? Am I following you?

They refuse to offer them through mcps and only Mc. If they offered more advanced classes at the home schools kids may stay vs lottery into Blair or Wheaton. We have no science ap classes and only go to bc.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone explain why this is happening? I live in clarksburg.