Can "bad" schools get better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:02 - I guess I beg to differ.

I bet if you really have to, you could sell your house and get a rental TH that feeds to one of the W schools. But that's so far-fetched, you won't even consider that as one of the choices. The way I see it, you made your "choice" - you decided what you have to give up is not worth what you may or may not be gaining.

I wouldn't move either. Just trying to point out we all have more choices than we are willing to acknowledge.

For many people, this is not an option either. There are many students in the eastern part of the county (zoned e.g. to Kennedy, Wheaton, some Blair areas - e.g. NH Estates) whose families live in small apartments, the rent for which is a small fraction of any condo, apartment or townhouse available in the W areas.

You seem clueless about the nature of reality for many MCPS families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:02 - I guess I beg to differ.

I bet if you really have to, you could sell your house and get a rental TH that feeds to one of the W schools. But that's so far-fetched, you won't even consider that as one of the choices. The way I see it, you made your "choice" - you decided what you have to give up is not worth what you may or may not be gaining.

I wouldn't move either. Just trying to point out we all have more choices than we are willing to acknowledge.

Let's look at the numbers. The median gross household income in Montgomery County is about $100,000. One-third of $100,000 is $33,333. $33,333 a year is $2,778 a month in rent. And half of households in Montgomery County have incomes lower than the median.

We may all have more choices than we are willing to acknowledge, but some of us have more more choices than others of us. To deny that there are lots of people who cannot afford to live in Bethesda or Potomac, no matter what they do, is to deny reality.

PP here. Also, it's no accident that there are lots of people who cannot afford to live in Bethesda or Potomac, no matter what they do. If anybody could choose to live in Bethesda or Potomac, then Bethesda and Potomac would be very different places, and Churchill and Whitman would be very different schools.

+1

The very segregated housing arrangements in MoCo are very much by design.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's called housing near office districts. More jobs equals more employees equals more housing needed as close as possible equals prices up.
Very few large cities in the world were built by urbane designers. (Much if Tokyo rebuild was). Most cities grew outward over time. Hazing established neighborhoods in the name of new urban planning and social justice has not happened to date in any cities. Housing projects for poverty striken here and there can happen, but not much else. Supply and demand rule the rest.
If you want to do something about it, raise a collection, buy some land, level it and put whatever housing complex you wish up on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's called housing near office districts. More jobs equals more employees equals more housing needed as close as possible equals prices up.
Very few large cities in the world were built by urbane designers. (Much if Tokyo rebuild was). Most cities grew outward over time. Hazing established neighborhoods in the name of new urban planning and social justice has not happened to date in any cities. Housing projects for poverty striken here and there can happen, but not much else. Supply and demand rule the rest.
If you want to do something about it, raise a collection, buy some land, level it and put whatever housing complex you wish up on it.

Potomac is housing near office districts?

And actually there is a very simple, very free-market way to add affordable housing to Potomac, namely: get rid of zoning. Zoning is what keeps Potomac Potomac.

Finally, I'm sure you didn't mean to define "poverty stricken" as "unable to afford housing in Potomac"? Because there are a lot of people in Montgomery County who aren't poor but still can't afford to live in Potomac.

[Anonymous]

correct, the Projects aren't for the middle class.
You will have to start your own real estate development firm and project going. FYI that includes zooming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:correct, the Projects aren't for the middle class.
You will have to start your own real estate development firm and project going. FYI that includes zooming.

Zooming?

No, I don't have to start my own real estate development firm. I'll just get rid of zoning and then let the free market do the rest. Supply and demand, etc. Besides, it's not right for the government to tell people what they can and can't do with their own property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WJ has 700 more students and a lot less safety issues and suspensions rate. No weapons at WJ but quite a few at Einstein

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/SafetyGlance/currentyear/schools/04424.pdf

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/SafetyGlance/currentyear/schools/04789.pdf

Are you worried about your student getting suspended, if they go to the same school as students who get suspended?

Don't be dense

Then please explain the concern about suspensions.

No one is suspended any longer. Have you seen the new Code of Conduct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See when you use the term animals to describe children I have to ignore everything else you say and hope that your a W family so I will likely never meet you.

They are not "children"-they are 18 year old rapists, drug dealers and gun toting thugs-behaving worse than animals! Let us know how you like Kennedy for your snowflake!

While this sounds bad, it's the truth.

We had a kid with an ankle bracelet for an entire semester before we found out he was a convicted rapist.

No one felt the need to tell us.

lots of drug dealers - They're usually the quiet ones who do the bare minimum.

plenty of thugs and wanna be thugs

many kids still in school at 19 and 20 . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some schools that are downright scary, as are the kids who attend them. Springbrook, Paint Branch, Gaithersburg, Wheaton, Watkins Mill, Kennedy, Northwood to name a few. If you look around the "less desireable" neighborhoods there are tons of thugs, druggies, drug dealers, welfare moms, illegal immigrants and low lives who do not give a shit about education. This county is in trouble if there are only a handful of good schools (6 or 8 out of 26), and only the wealthy can afford to live ion those neighborhoods. It is a devisive school system between the haves and have nots-leaving the true middle class with no good options.

Have you ever set foot in one of the schools you named? Ever known a child who goes there? These blanket generalizations that are repeated about the above named schools are almost always based on fear, racism, classism, and misinformation. I happen to live in a Northwood feeder neighborhood, and I strongly object to your characterization of me, my neighbors, and their children. My son attends Northwood and I can attest that it is a tight-knit community school where teachers and students support each other and where many strive to do their best. Is it perfect? No, but neither are the "good" schools that are considered so superior to all the others. I can understand concern about test scores, quality of instruction, violence and drug use (which also occurs in the "good" schools), but your assertion that "all these kids are thugs whose families don't care" is ridiculous and insulting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some schools that are downright scary, as are the kids who attend them. Springbrook, Paint Branch, Gaithersburg, Wheaton, Watkins Mill, Kennedy, Northwood to name a few. If you look around the "less desireable" neighborhoods there are tons of thugs, druggies, drug dealers, welfare moms, illegal immigrants and low lives who do not give a shit about education. This county is in trouble if there are only a handful of good schools (6 or 8 out of 26), and only the wealthy can afford to live ion those neighborhoods. It is a devisive school system between the haves and have nots-leaving the true middle class with no good options.

Have you ever set foot in one of the schools you named? Ever known a child who goes there? These blanket generalizations that are repeated about the above named schools are almost always based on fear, racism, classism, and misinformation. I happen to live in a Northwood feeder neighborhood, and I strongly object to your characterization of me, my neighbors, and their children. My son attends Northwood and I can attest that it is a tight-knit community school where teachers and students support each other and where many strive to do their best. Is it perfect? No, but neither are the "good" schools that are considered so superior to all the others. I can understand concern about test scores, quality of instruction, violence and drug use (which also occurs in the "good" schools), but your assertion that "all these kids are thugs whose families don't care" is ridiculous and insulting.

Sounds like you are trying to make the best of the shitty options available to you and your kid-I am sure if you could afford to, you would be in a better school cluster. So many true middle class families would!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some schools that are downright scary, as are the kids who attend them. Springbrook, Paint Branch, Gaithersburg, Wheaton, Watkins Mill, Kennedy, Northwood to name a few. If you look around the "less desireable" neighborhoods there are tons of thugs, druggies, drug dealers, welfare moms, illegal immigrants and low lives who do not give a shit about education. This county is in trouble if there are only a handful of good schools (6 or 8 out of 26), and only the wealthy can afford to live ion those neighborhoods. It is a devisive school system between the haves and have nots-leaving the true middle class with no good options.

Have you ever set foot in one of the schools you named? Ever known a child who goes there? These blanket generalizations that are repeated about the above named schools are almost always based on fear, racism, classism, and misinformation. I happen to live in a Northwood feeder neighborhood, and I strongly object to your characterization of me, my neighbors, and their children. My son attends Northwood and I can attest that it is a tight-knit community school where teachers and students support each other and where many strive to do their best. Is it perfect? No, but neither are the "good" schools that are considered so superior to all the others. I can understand concern about test scores, quality of instruction, violence and drug use (which also occurs in the "good" schools), but your assertion that "all these kids are thugs whose families don't care" is ridiculous and insulting.

Sounds like you are trying to make the best of the shitty options available to you and your kid-I am sure if you could afford to, you would be in a better school cluster. So many true middle class families would!

Why is it so difficult for people to understand that just because a school is not a "W" school, it is possible that it isn't a shitty school either? Or perhaps some people are happy in their neighborhoods without being in Bethesda or Potomac? Or even that they (gasp!) don't want to live in either one of those places?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is doing very well in what is probably the worst high school in the county.

The school has a lot of fights and "bad" kids from poor, broken homes. Plenty of under-achievers...BUT...

No one has ever bothered her - she has found her niche and has some really good friends who have similar values as she does. Seriously - the last thing on those kids' radar is the smart girl - there are many other things that can pull you into the wrong crowd or put you at risk, but good grades isn't one of them.

We were dreading when it was time for her to go to high school but didn't want to spend the money on private unless we had to. We montiored her like a hawk to make sure she didn't go down the wrong path or end up with a sketchy group of friends. That was never an issue and outside of some of the fascinating (and scary) stories she tells us sometimes, she is in her own bubble, meeting challenges and qualifying for a lot of opportunities she probably wouldn't have in the better schools.

Yes, I wished more of the kids wanted to succeed - currently, she is competing against a small group of achievers, but the high farms and poor grades of the other kids have not impacted her, as far as I can tell. The experience has opened our eyes to how shitty some people have it but also to how there are a lot of people out there who have given up and are at the point where they just don't care. It's sad.

Not all kids are the smart nerdy kids that keep to themselves. Many are influenced by who they attend school with, which is why people try and avoid those schools. The popular kids are thugs. They also don't offer as many AP classes because there aren't enough kids to take them. Less student clubs, PTA and positive community involvement at those schools too. So I am glad it works for you but it would not work for us.

I wonder if my child goes to the same school as the PP? I'll have to say that i NEVER thought I would fear for my child attending a school in MCPS. But I do. She is a follower so she would have gotten into trouble anywhere, but at this school, it is scary. I can't gether out of there, i can't afford private school and the BOE just does not care that a book-smart kid's furture is going down the drain because kids who have no interest in getting an education are allowed to attend public school. Our tax dollars are babysitting these thugs. its disgusting. In my home country - these kids would not be going to public school - they would be going to a remedial school at the parent's expense. I can't move - I am in what is considered one of the richest and better educated counites in the country and my child is dealing with incredible amounts of perr pressure to sleep around, listen to awful music, party and worry about getting a "man" vs getting good grades. She has so much promise in elementary school and now it's gone. I have written so many letters, made phone calls but the money I pay for taxes must not be worth as much as the money the folks in Potomac pay. I can't afford to live in potomac so myu family is being penalized and destroyed. I really hate this area and we are trapped.

Wow - what school does your daughter attend? It is almost unbelievable reading the last few posts that children attend schools with thugs. Does that really exist in MCPS? Forgive me, my kid goes to Sherwood - the Mayberry of montgomery County. What does a school system do when a school gets this out of control?

Briggs Chaney Middle School - probably the worst ghetto school in all of MCPS. Why should parents care when the school itself doesn't? Their website is never updated and not nearly as robust an inviting as other school sites. No activities. Teachers afraid of the kids that should not be there. NO parent involvement. You just cross yur fingers and hope your kid gets out alive. I am sick of liberal, politically correct, do-gooders that have NO idea how frightful some of the schools are in the system. I want the BOE to spend the day at these schools and listen to the few parents that care and hate that their kids are being cheated out of an education. These kids do not belong in a public school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some schools that are downright scary, as are the kids who attend them. Springbrook, Paint Branch, Gaithersburg, Wheaton, Watkins Mill, Kennedy, Northwood to name a few. If you look around the "less desireable" neighborhoods there are tons of thugs, druggies, drug dealers, welfare moms, illegal immigrants and low lives who do not give a shit about education. This county is in trouble if there are only a handful of good schools (6 or 8 out of 26), and only the wealthy can afford to live ion those neighborhoods. It is a devisive school system between the haves and have nots-leaving the true middle class with no good options.

Have you ever set foot in one of the schools you named? Ever known a child who goes there? These blanket generalizations that are repeated about the above named schools are almost always based on fear, racism, classism, and misinformation. I happen to live in a Northwood feeder neighborhood, and I strongly object to your characterization of me, my neighbors, and their children. My son attends Northwood and I can attest that it is a tight-knit community school where teachers and students support each other and where many strive to do their best. Is it perfect? No, but neither are the "good" schools that are considered so superior to all the others. I can understand concern about test scores, quality of instruction, violence and drug use (which also occurs in the "good" schools), but your assertion that "all these kids are thugs whose families don't care" is ridiculous and insulting.

Sounds like you are trying to make the best of the shitty options available to you and your kid-I am sure if you could afford to, you would be in a better school cluster. So many true middle class families would!

Why is it so difficult for people to understand that just because a school is not a "W" school, it is possible that it isn't a shitty school either? Or perhaps some people are happy in their neighborhoods without being in Bethesda or Potomac? Or even that they (gasp!) don't want to live in either one of those places?

Us, we didn't want to live in the W cluster. We could have. Chose not to, and it wasn't because of the house price. Some of the SFH we looked at in one of the W clusters were cheaper than the one we bought in the non W cluster.

[Anonymous]

Having been at Blair and watching the school I loved going downhill was really hard. The new principal was like a teenager who had been a given a school to run.

When I see the schools in th wealthier areas I don't see leaders like those at Blair. The horrific violence that the juvenile principal hides is no help.

[Anonymous]

You just cannot compare Walter Johnson to Gaithersburg or Whitman to Wheaton-I wish there were a way you could, but it is not possible. If there were more SES diversity things would chage for the better. I do not see that happening anytime soon either.