The REAL issue with the proposals to shift boundaries & how MCPS can fix it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am super ready for "number of families using private schools" to be used as a metric to tell us how terrible Chevy Chase public schools are. I mean, why would any families be at SFS or GDS or Prep?

Must be because the local schools are terrible.

The difference is that there is still a huge amount of wealthy/UMC kids who go to BCC. Parents haven’t lost faith in the public schools in Chevy Chase. BCC has great sports, IB, I think they have Spanish immersion, plus great spirit/engagement and open campus at lunch. My point is that some DCC parents (too many) have lost faith in DCC schools and pay for private/Catholic schools. They could move but don’t because SS is a nice place too (great close-in location, walkable etc).

Now I don’t have any idea of what’s going on up county.

Parents haven't lost faith in the public schools in the DCC either. From reading on DCUM, I'd conclude that DCC schools were empty. But in reality, many are way over capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am super ready for "number of families using private schools" to be used as a metric to tell us how terrible Chevy Chase public schools are. I mean, why would any families be at SFS or GDS or Prep?

Must be because the local schools are terrible.

The difference is that there is still a huge amount of wealthy/UMC kids who go to BCC. Parents haven’t lost faith in the public schools in Chevy Chase. BCC has great sports, IB, I think they have Spanish immersion, plus great spirit/engagement and open campus at lunch. My point is that some DCC parents (too many) have lost faith in DCC schools and pay for private/Catholic schools. They could move but don’t because SS is a nice place too (great close-in location, walkable etc).

Now I don’t have any idea of what’s going on up county.

Parents haven't lost faith in the public schools in the DCC either. From reading on DCUM, I'd conclude that DCC schools were empty. But in reality, many are way over capacity.

Some parents have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am super ready for "number of families using private schools" to be used as a metric to tell us how terrible Chevy Chase public schools are. I mean, why would any families be at SFS or GDS or Prep?

Must be because the local schools are terrible.

The difference is that there is still a huge amount of wealthy/UMC kids who go to BCC. Parents haven’t lost faith in the public schools in Chevy Chase. BCC has great sports, IB, I think they have Spanish immersion, plus great spirit/engagement and open campus at lunch. My point is that some DCC parents (too many) have lost faith in DCC schools and pay for private/Catholic schools. They could move but don’t because SS is a nice place too (great close-in location, walkable etc).

Now I don’t have any idea of what’s going on up county.

Parents haven't lost faith in the public schools in the DCC either. From reading on DCUM, I'd conclude that DCC schools were empty. But in reality, many are way over capacity.

Some parents have.

Sure, some parents have. Some parents have in Chevy Chase, too. But DCUM, like New York Times social trend pieces, has a tendency to use "parents" to mean "the people I know, who are like me."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am super ready for "number of families using private schools" to be used as a metric to tell us how terrible Chevy Chase public schools are. I mean, why would any families be at SFS or GDS or Prep?

Must be because the local schools are terrible.

The difference is that there is still a huge amount of wealthy/UMC kids who go to BCC. Parents haven’t lost faith in the public schools in Chevy Chase. BCC has great sports, IB, I think they have Spanish immersion, plus great spirit/engagement and open campus at lunch. My point is that some DCC parents (too many) have lost faith in DCC schools and pay for private/Catholic schools. They could move but don’t because SS is a nice place too (great close-in location, walkable etc).

Now I don’t have any idea of what’s going on up county.

Parents haven't lost faith in the public schools in the DCC either. From reading on DCUM, I'd conclude that DCC schools were empty. But in reality, many are way over capacity.

Some parents have.

Sure, some parents have. Some parents have in Chevy Chase, too. But DCUM, like New York Times social trend pieces, has a tendency to use "parents" to mean "the people I know, who are like me."

+1 Except in this case I think PP Is using "parents" to mean "those folks over there who I never meet but nonetheless have opinions on."

Many DCC schools are overcrowded. Many are trending MORE middle class, not less, which is the result of neighborhoods turning over from retired empty nesters to young families. There are DCC families on this very thread talking about how, in their neighborhoods, the vast majority of families are using public schools.

PP needs to show their work. If they have evidence that DCC famiies are using private and parochial schools at a higher rate than west side families, then it should be easy enough to prove. But I don't think they do. They assume people are refusing to use integrated schools, when in fact, many of us chose the schools because they are integrated.

[Anonymous]

Well, I look forward to the consultant’s boundary report. I think there are some of the assumptions/stereotypes made here on DCUM and IRL that will be disproven (like everyone in DCC area is on FARMS or Ws have no economic diversity).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or we could just keep building schools and moving boundaries around and never address the quality of education and resources provided in the different schools.

bingo

plus the erosion of disciplinary measures (Code of Conduct) and lack of rigor through fear-based leadership

Why deal with the root causes when we can throw money at addressing the symptoms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or we could just keep building schools and moving boundaries around and never address the quality of education and resources provided in the different schools.

bingo

plus the erosion of disciplinary measures (Code of Conduct) and lack of rigor through fear-based leadership

Why deal with the root causes when we can throw money at addressing the symptoms?

Why believe that there is only one issue, which must be addressed completely by one action?

Are the differences in educational offerings and resources between schools a problem? Yes. Will adjusting boundaries help fix those problems? Probably not much.

Are school capacities and segregation problems? Yes. Will adjusting boundaries solve those problems completely? No. Will adjusting boundaries help fix those problems? Yes.

[Anonymous]

Let’s not forget that Purple Line is going to be a gamechanger too in terms of economic development. The county promised east/west light rail for years. It’s finally happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am super ready for "number of families using private schools" to be used as a metric to tell us how terrible Chevy Chase public schools are. I mean, why would any families be at SFS or GDS or Prep?

Must be because the local schools are terrible.

The difference is that there is still a huge amount of wealthy/UMC kids who go to BCC. Parents haven’t lost faith in the public schools in Chevy Chase. BCC has great sports, IB, I think they have Spanish immersion, plus great spirit/engagement and open campus at lunch. My point is that some DCC parents (too many) have lost faith in DCC schools and pay for private/Catholic schools. They could move but don’t because SS is a nice place too (great close-in location, walkable etc).

Now I don’t have any idea of what’s going on up county.

Parents haven't lost faith in the public schools in the DCC either. From reading on DCUM, I'd conclude that DCC schools were empty. But in reality, many are way over capacity.

But over capacity with who? Not the UMC kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or we could just keep building schools and moving boundaries around and never address the quality of education and resources provided in the different schools.

bingo

plus the erosion of disciplinary measures (Code of Conduct) and lack of rigor through fear-based leadership

Why deal with the root causes when we can throw money at addressing the symptoms?

Why believe that there is only one issue, which must be addressed completely by one action?

Are the differences in educational offerings and resources between schools a problem? Yes. Will adjusting boundaries help fix those problems? Probably not much.

Are school capacities and segregation problems? Yes. Will adjusting boundaries solve those problems completely? No.

Will adjusting boundaries help fix those problems? Yes.

No, I disagree.

School cultures are different. Parents with money can oftentimes "privatize" a public school through the creation of foundations, for examples. If adjusting boundaries helped, you'd have more mixed housing units - subsidized housing - in Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, etc.

Let's say Kennedy, BCC, the new Woodward, and WJ formed a new consortium. How often do you think kids from outside of their normal school boundary will hang out with kids at their new school? Distance is a factor, but so is SES. It sounds harsh, eh? But this is the truth.

People segregate. Walk through a high school cafeteria. Guess who's eating in the cafeteria? kids on FARMs

People buy homes they can afford. These areas either draw in a sh*t ton of money or they struggle. (The "in between" folks are shrinking.) Schools reflect that. So kids form friendships with those in their community. Is that bad?

point is this - Empower communities instead of implementing forced busing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am super ready for "number of families using private schools" to be used as a metric to tell us how terrible Chevy Chase public schools are. I mean, why would any families be at SFS or GDS or Prep?

Must be because the local schools are terrible.

The difference is that there is still a huge amount of wealthy/UMC kids who go to BCC. Parents haven’t lost faith in the public schools in Chevy Chase. BCC has great sports, IB, I think they have Spanish immersion, plus great spirit/engagement and open campus at lunch. My point is that some DCC parents (too many) have lost faith in DCC schools and pay for private/Catholic schools. They could move but don’t because SS is a nice place too (great close-in location, walkable etc).

Now I don’t have any idea of what’s going on up county.

Parents haven't lost faith in the public schools in the DCC either. From reading on DCUM, I'd conclude that DCC schools were empty. But in reality, many are way over capacity.

But over capacity with who? Not the UMC kids.

Ah. So when you say "parents", what you mean is "UMC parents." Parents who aren't upper-middle-class don't count.

[Anonymous]

You have to wonder if some marketing and community outreach would help attract neighborhood UMC kids back to the public schools in DCC to achieve equity. It’s all about engagement and having the schools be the center and pride of the community. Sports can do this too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or we could just keep building schools and moving boundaries around and never address the quality of education and resources provided in the different schools.

bingo

plus the erosion of disciplinary measures (Code of Conduct) and lack of rigor through fear-based leadership

Why deal with the root causes when we can throw money at addressing the symptoms?

Why believe that there is only one issue, which must be addressed completely by one action?

Are the differences in educational offerings and resources between schools a problem? Yes. Will adjusting boundaries help fix those problems? Probably not much.

Are school capacities and segregation problems? Yes. Will adjusting boundaries solve those problems completely? No.

Will adjusting boundaries help fix those problems? Yes.

No, I disagree.

School cultures are different. Parents with money can oftentimes "privatize" a public school through the creation of foundations, for examples. If adjusting boundaries helped, you'd have more mixed housing units - subsidized housing - in Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, etc.

Let's say Kennedy, BCC, the new Woodward, and WJ formed a new consortium. How often do you think kids from outside of their normal school boundary will hang out with kids at their new school? Distance is a factor, but so is SES. It sounds harsh, eh? But this is the truth.

People segregate. Walk through a high school cafeteria. Guess who's eating in the cafeteria? kids on FARMs

People buy homes they can afford. These areas either draw in a sh*t ton of money or they struggle. (The "in between" folks are shrinking.) Schools reflect that. So kids form friendships with those in their community. Is that bad?

point is this - Empower communities instead of implementing forced busing.

You are entitled to your opinions, but not your own facts.

Will adjusting boundaries so that some kids zoned for over-capacity schools are rezoned for under-capacity schools, help with capacity? Yep, it sure will.

Will adjusting boundaries so that some kids from poor families zoned for high-poverty schools are rezoned for low-poverty schools, help with reducing high-poverty schools? Yep, it sure will.

[Anonymous]

I am wondering how many distinct posters there are on these threads about boundary changes. I wonder if its the same (few) people posting on every thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to wonder if some marketing and community outreach would help attract neighborhood UMC kids back to the public schools in DCC to achieve equity. It’s all about engagement and having the schools be the center and pride of the community. Sports can do this too.

Do you live in the DCC?