What are W schools?

[Anonymous]

I don't hear the smugness from them - only sarcasm from others. It's the disdain towards the Ws from so many that is offensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't hear the smugness from them - only sarcasm from others. It's the disdain towards the Ws from so many that is offensive.

-You guys say mean things about us!
-Nuh uh, it's you guys who say mean things about us!

[Anonymous]

It is a fact that these schools are “wealthy” and “white,” not some sort of bigoted insult as another poster said. It is a fact that mcps public school kids are majority minority and a third are low-income. One of the purposes of this discussion is to voice our opinion about whether it is right and appropriate in our county to have some students so racially and socioeconmically isolated from one another. This is a democracy so we are all able to weigh in.

[Anonymous]

When we decided where to live we looked for a community with amenities. Shops, parks, library, things to walk to etc. We also asked about different school clusters. We wanted a school with a good administration, few discipline issues and an active parent community. At no time did we consider race but now many years later I recognize that many of the characteristics we searched for were more likely to be found in the three clusters that ended up in our "we will be happy if we can find a decent house we can afford in any of these clusters". They were WJ, Blair and Einstein. What all these schools have in common is large numbers of highly educated families (of all races) who care about their child's education.
So I guess you can value diversity but still want to live near and send your child to school with people who share the same values regardless of race. I would not be happy if MCPS started bussing my kids around to a school cluster I did not select.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we decided where to live we looked for a community with amenities. Shops, parks, library, things to walk to etc. We also asked about different school clusters. We wanted a school with a good administration, few discipline issues and an active parent community. At no time did we consider race but now many years later I recognize that many of the characteristics we searched for were more likely to be found in the three clusters that ended up in our "we will be happy if we can find a decent house we can afford in any of these clusters". They were WJ, Blair and Einstein. What all these schools have in common is large numbers of highly educated families (of all races) who care about their child's education.
So I guess you can value diversity but still want to live near and send your child to school with people who share the same values regardless of race. I would not be happy if MCPS started bussing my kids around to a school cluster I did not select.

Do your kids currently walk to their schools?

Also, school boundary changes are always possible. Ownership of a property does not entitle you to a certain school. As I'm sure you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that these schools are “wealthy” and “white,” not some sort of bigoted insult as another poster said. It is a fact that mcps public school kids are majority minority and a third are low-income. One of the purposes of this discussion is to voice our opinion about whether it is right and appropriate in our county to have some students so racially and socioeconmically isolated from one another. This is a democracy so we are all able to weigh in.

These school's have been segregated far too long. Hopefully, the diversity bussing will address this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that these schools are “wealthy” and “white,” not some sort of bigoted insult as another poster said. It is a fact that mcps public school kids are majority minority and a third are low-income. One of the purposes of this discussion is to voice our opinion about whether it is right and appropriate in our county to have some students so racially and socioeconmically isolated from one another. This is a democracy so we are all able to weigh in.

These school's have been segregated far too long. Hopefully, the diversity bussing will address this.

What "diversity bussing" are you referring to, specifically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that these schools are “wealthy” and “white,” not some sort of bigoted insult as another poster said. It is a fact that mcps public school kids are majority minority and a third are low-income. One of the purposes of this discussion is to voice our opinion about whether it is right and appropriate in our county to have some students so racially and socioeconmically isolated from one another. This is a democracy so we are all able to weigh in.

These school's have been segregated far too long. Hopefully, the diversity bussing will address this.

What "diversity bussing" are you referring to, specifically?

Didn't the school board vote to make this a priority?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that these schools are “wealthy” and “white,” not some sort of bigoted insult as another poster said. It is a fact that mcps public school kids are majority minority and a third are low-income. One of the purposes of this discussion is to voice our opinion about whether it is right and appropriate in our county to have some students so racially and socioeconmically isolated from one another. This is a democracy so we are all able to weigh in.

These school's have been segregated far too long. Hopefully, the diversity bussing will address this.

What "diversity bussing" are you referring to, specifically?

Didn't the school board vote to make this a priority?

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that these schools are “wealthy” and “white,” not some sort of bigoted insult as another poster said. It is a fact that mcps public school kids are majority minority and a third are low-income. One of the purposes of this discussion is to voice our opinion about whether it is right and appropriate in our county to have some students so racially and socioeconmically isolated from one another. This is a democracy so we are all able to weigh in.

These school's have been segregated far too long. Hopefully, the diversity bussing will address this.

What "diversity bussing" are you referring to, specifically?

Didn't the school board vote to make this a priority?

Yes, the school board voted to change how school boundaries are drawn to favor school diversity.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/boundary-struggles-a-maryland-school-system-looks-for-more-diversity/2018/09/25/90436774-c05a-11e8-be77-516336a26305_story.html?utm_term=.c89d309daac6

[Anonymous]

They did vote to give more strength to diversity, but they don't have the funds to bankroll lots of new busses (do you really want larger class sizes/fewer teachers so we can pay that money for busses and drivers I stead?), nor do most parents want kids who can walk to school A going on a bus to school B. We will see how the new FAA policy gets carried out with Senaca Valley HS - they are up first under the new policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that these schools are “wealthy” and “white,” not some sort of bigoted insult as another poster said. It is a fact that mcps public school kids are majority minority and a third are low-income. One of the purposes of this discussion is to voice our opinion about whether it is right and appropriate in our county to have some students so racially and socioeconmically isolated from one another. This is a democracy so we are all able to weigh in.

These school's have been segregated far too long. Hopefully, the diversity bussing will address this.

What "diversity bussing" are you referring to, specifically?

Didn't the school board vote to make this a priority?

Yes, the school board voted to change how school boundaries are drawn to favor school diversity.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/boundary-struggles-a-maryland-school-system-looks-for-more-diversity/2018/09/25/90436774-c05a-11e8-be77-516336a26305_story.html?utm_term=.c89d309daac6

No. Previously there were four equal factors to consider in boundary studies:

1) Demographic characteristics of student population
2) Geographic proximity of communities to schools
3) Stability of school assignments over time
4) Facility utilization

Now one of those factors, demographic charcteristics of student population, will have greater weight. How anybody could, in good faith, get from there to "MCPS is instituting diversity bussing!!!", is something I can't understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They did vote to give more strength to diversity, but they don't have the funds to bankroll lots of new busses (do you really want larger class sizes/fewer teachers so we can pay that money for busses and drivers I stead?), nor do most parents want kids who can walk to school A going on a bus to school B. We will see how the new FAA policy gets carried out with Senaca Valley HS - they are up first under the new policy.

MCPS has already been doing this for years. Look at the current Seneca Valley HS boundaries, for example: http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/SenecaValleyHS.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They did vote to give more strength to diversity, but they don't have the funds to bankroll lots of new busses (do you really want larger class sizes/fewer teachers so we can pay that money for busses and drivers I stead?), nor do most parents want kids who can walk to school A going on a bus to school B. We will see how the new FAA policy gets carried out with Senaca Valley HS - they are up first under the new policy.

MCPS has already been doing this for years. Look at the current Seneca Valley HS boundaries, for example: http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/SenecaValleyHS.pdf

And, in case you don't want to look, the point is: students who live literally across the street from Seneca Valley HS are zoned for Northwest HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a fact that these schools are “wealthy” and “white,” not some sort of bigoted insult as another poster said. It is a fact that mcps public school kids are majority minority and a third are low-income. One of the purposes of this discussion is to voice our opinion about whether it is right and appropriate in our county to have some students so racially and socioeconmically isolated from one another. This is a democracy so we are all able to weigh in.

These school's have been segregated far too long. Hopefully, the diversity bussing will address this.

Calling schools that are 50% and 46% non-white "segregated" is a bit much. I agree there are serious issues of equity in MCPS. But these schools are not "segregated," or at least, they are not racially segregated. You may have a better argument that they are economically segregated. But that's not what "segregated" has usually meant with respect to schools.