RFP for county-wide boundary analysis

[Anonymous]

It looks like this is going to be a multiple tear project based on Bethesda magazine report: https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/cost-of-mcps-school-boundary-analysis-capped-at-475000/
$475,000 is for the 1st phase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/9/18076048/brooklyn-district-15-diversity-inclusion-plan-wxy

Sounds like they are using a lottery-based system for all middle schools where seats in every school are set aside for ELL and FARMS students. I suggested this on a thread awhile ago. We do not need to pay consultants. Let FARMS and ELL students go to any school they want. Instead of spending money on studies, commit to very low student:teacher ratios in high farms elementary schools. I guess it is easier to just fund a study, than actually try and higher more educators.

Have you considered transportation and overcrowding issues in your simple solution? FARMS families are unlikely to have extra time and resources to get their kids to "any school they want"

Of course I have. Not all FARMS families will take advantage of this. But some will. More would, if we provide transportation. I don’t care if your precious snowflake is overcrowded. If you don’t like it, move inbounds for an under-subscribed school. Not everyone can be a winner in this process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/9/18076048/brooklyn-district-15-diversity-inclusion-plan-wxy

Sounds like they are using a lottery-based system for all middle schools where seats in every school are set aside for ELL and FARMS students. I suggested this on a thread awhile ago. We do not need to pay consultants. Let FARMS and ELL students go to any school they want. Instead of spending money on studies, commit to very low student:teacher ratios in high farms elementary schools. I guess it is easier to just fund a study, than actually try and higher more educators.

Have you considered transportation and overcrowding issues in your simple solution? FARMS families are unlikely to have extra time and resources to get their kids to "any school they want"

Of course I have. Not all FARMS families will take advantage of this. But some will. More would, if we provide transportation. I don’t care if your precious snowflake is overcrowded. If you don’t like it, move inbounds for an under-subscribed school. Not everyone can be a winner in this process.

NYC started an open HS program. In the end mostly middle class families benefitted from it and that was in a city that has way more public transit than MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Based on the D15 Diversity Plan by WXY:
Admission to Middle school in District 15 is:
Before - lottery with screens
Now - lottery with the requirement of 51.6% being Low income, ESOL, etc

MCPS is
Currently - location-based
Future - location-based plus some sort of lottery?

The reason for this post is to point out that D15 parents are used to the concept of lottery for MS. But MCPS parents are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're recommending hiring 'WXY architecture + urban design' as a consultant:

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/BFFLST57FFD9/$file/Award%20%20Cont%20Districtwide%20Boundary%20Analysis.pdf

The BOE approved the contract at today's meeting.

[Anonymous]

I just wondered if the county decided to do the lottery and some kids end up travel so far away for example a kid leaves in Clarkburg have to travel to Bethesda, etc..., how long do they have to be on the bus? I really just want my kids to the school close to home. Hearing of potential lottery really made me depressed and worried, I couldn’t sleep at all. One of my kids very shy and not dealing with changes easily. If she has different school every year that will be very stressed out for her. Also she is a type that can be an easy target for bullies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just wondered if the county decided to do the lottery and some kids end up travel so far away for example a kid leaves in Clarkburg have to travel to Bethesda, etc..., how long do they have to be on the bus? I really just want my kids to the school close to home. Hearing of potential lottery really made me depressed and worried, I couldn’t sleep at all. One of my kids very shy and not dealing with changes easily. If she has different school every year that will be very stressed out for her. Also she is a type that can be an easy target for bullies.

Please don't lose sleep over anonymous people speculating on DCUM about the possibility of a school lottery.

[Anonymous]

It was just a couple of years ago that MCPS chose proximity over diversity when dividing up the BCC zone after building a new MS. The argument was that it was an unfair burden on (relatively) lower-income students AND their families to have to travel a longer distance and that burden outweighed the potential benefits of distributing racial/ethnic/SES diversity more evenly. It was a heated debate but I think in the end it was the right outcome and most families and kids seem happy. I have trouble imagining that the county is going to embrace the massive costs and disruption of open enrollment everywhere with attendant transportation issues. The county is just physically too large and too expensive.

[Anonymous]

People. This is not about lotteries or open enrollment. Please, read the resolution that was passed in January:

Resolved, That the superintendent of schools hire a consultant, through the Request for Proposal process and with the approval from the Board of Education, to review school boundaries in light of revised Policy FAA, Educational Facilities Planning, gather information and data regarding current school boundaries, benchmark with comparable school systems, and collect community input on the opportunities and challenges related to boundary setting using multiple methods and venues, including but not limited to Capital Improvements Program hearings in fall 2019; and be it further

Resolved, That the consultant present the findings and options to the Board of Education and the superintendent of schools with all deliberate speed, no later than spring 2020, and that the findings and options explore potential modifications to current school boundaries that comport to the four factors in Policy FAA, Educational Facilities Planning: student demographics, geography, stability of assignments over time, and facility utilization; and be it further

Resolved, That, after receiving the consultant’s report, the Board of Education determine next steps, including how to obtain feedback from the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wondered if the county decided to do the lottery and some kids end up travel so far away for example a kid leaves in Clarkburg have to travel to Bethesda, etc..., how long do they have to be on the bus? I really just want my kids to the school close to home. Hearing of potential lottery really made me depressed and worried, I couldn’t sleep at all. One of my kids very shy and not dealing with changes easily. If she has different school every year that will be very stressed out for her. Also she is a type that can be an easy target for bullies.

Please don't lose sleep over anonymous people speculating on DCUM about the possibility of a school lottery.

Thank you very much for your kind words. I will try not to thing about it much.

[Anonymous]

Who cares what schools the poor kids go to, they will still be those kids. GL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares what schools the poor kids go to, they will still be those kids. GL

If they beat the odds they can make it to a 3rd rate university and get buried with student debt all to enter a job market without family connections. And that is still there best case

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who cares what schools the poor kids go to, they will still be those kids. GL

If they beat the odds they can make it to a 3rd rate university and get buried with student debt all to enter a job market without family connections. And that is still there best case

You're a real ray of sunshine. Many people have started out in low-income families and achieved great successes.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/11/10-billionaires-who-grew-up-dirt-poor.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who cares what schools the poor kids go to, they will still be those kids. GL

If they beat the odds they can make it to a 3rd rate university and get buried with student debt all to enter a job market without family connections. And that is still there best case

You're a real ray of sunshine. Many people have started out in low-income families and achieved great successes.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/11/10-billionaires-who-grew-up-dirt-poor.html

You are welcome to focus on the .000000001% to make you’re self feel better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares what schools the poor kids go to, they will still be those kids. GL

Must be a Trumpster.