Boundary study (2025 )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS will do what they want with this. They’ll pretend to care about the communities opinion but they already have an agenda, and will plan to see it through. That is how MCPS has always operated.

We have a new superintendent who is from the area and seems like he cares about what the community wants. I think this is an opportunity to interrupt "business as usual," even if it's asking for the survey results to be made public (and for the survey to be accesible following from pp above)

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think if the county focuses so much on DEI, it’s a big mistake. If you want to drive more people to vote for Trump like candidates, this is a sure fire way to do it.

I agree. Did we not learn anything from the last election?

I thought they were doing this because new schools are opening and they need to figure out how to best redraw boundaries to fill that school and ease overcrowding at others.

Haven’t heard anyone from MCPS talk about DEI’s role in this process. There’s a policy in place that governs boundaries and that doesn’t say that DEI is the focus either. What am I missing?

In the meeting last night they said that the number one guiding principle for making decisions is DEI.

That's not accurate. They listed four factors: demographic characteristics of student population (which is what you all are calling "DEI;" geography (includes walk zones, traffic patterns, etc.); stability of school assignments over time (number of affected students who already went through boundary changes and whether projected enrollment will allow for the new boundaries to stay in effect for a long time), and facility utilization. I took a picture of that slide, so these four factors come straight from their presentation. During the Q&A someone asked if these factors were weighted differently and the answer was that the four factors are treated equally.

There was a survey you could take to rank your priorities. But whether they actually take those results into account I don't know.

Did they ever report the survey results?

MCPS should especially strive to release those results so we can see how the community feels about the 4 factors

There are no survey results to report because they survey just launched yesterday and will be available until April 9, I believe. They will be conducting 3 surveys over the course of the boundary study, according to yesterday's presentation.

How do I access the survey? No one sent it to me, it’s not on the boundary study website and it seems like it’s only available for 6 days more.

+1 where can we find this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if the county focuses so much on DEI, it’s a big mistake. If you want to drive more people to vote for Trump like candidates, this is a sure fire way to do it.

I agree. Did we not learn anything from the last election?

I thought they were doing this because new schools are opening and they need to figure out how to best redraw boundaries to fill that school and ease overcrowding at others.

Haven’t heard anyone from MCPS talk about DEI’s role in this process. There’s a policy in place that governs boundaries and that doesn’t say that DEI is the focus either. What am I missing?

In the meeting last night they said that the number one guiding principle for making decisions is DEI.

What I'm asking is the why - has community input suggested this should be the number one priority? And if not, should we be lobbying now for more community input?

Of course not. Any time they have asked families, everyone no matter their background has preferred to go to the school in their neighborhood/community. No one wants their kids to be bussed further away for a regular gen ed zoned school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if the county focuses so much on DEI, it’s a big mistake. If you want to drive more people to vote for Trump like candidates, this is a sure fire way to do it.

I agree. Did we not learn anything from the last election?

I thought they were doing this because new schools are opening and they need to figure out how to best redraw boundaries to fill that school and ease overcrowding at others.

Haven’t heard anyone from MCPS talk about DEI’s role in this process. There’s a policy in place that governs boundaries and that doesn’t say that DEI is the focus either. What am I missing?

In the meeting last night they said that the number one guiding principle for making decisions is DEI.

What I'm asking is the why - has community input suggested this should be the number one priority? And if not, should we be lobbying now for more community input?

Of course not. Any time they have asked families, everyone no matter their background has preferred to go to the school in their neighborhood/community. No one wants their kids to be bussed further away for a regular gen ed zoned school.

Then let's advocate for these results to be made public and for accountability to the publics wishes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if the county focuses so much on DEI, it’s a big mistake. If you want to drive more people to vote for Trump like candidates, this is a sure fire way to do it.

I agree. Did we not learn anything from the last election?

I thought they were doing this because new schools are opening and they need to figure out how to best redraw boundaries to fill that school and ease overcrowding at others.

Haven’t heard anyone from MCPS talk about DEI’s role in this process. There’s a policy in place that governs boundaries and that doesn’t say that DEI is the focus either. What am I missing?

In the meeting last night they said that the number one guiding principle for making decisions is DEI.

That's not accurate. They listed four factors: demographic characteristics of student population (which is what you all are calling "DEI;" geography (includes walk zones, traffic patterns, etc.); stability of school assignments over time (number of affected students who already went through boundary changes and whether projected enrollment will allow for the new boundaries to stay in effect for a long time), and facility utilization. I took a picture of that slide, so these four factors come straight from their presentation. During the Q&A someone asked if these factors were weighted differently and the answer was that the four factors are treated equally.

There was a survey you could take to rank your priorities. But whether they actually take those results into account I don't know.

Did they ever report the survey results?

MCPS should especially strive to release those results so we can see how the community feels about the 4 factors

There are no survey results to report because they survey just launched yesterday and will be available until April 9, I believe. They will be conducting 3 surveys over the course of the boundary study, according to yesterday's presentation.

How do I access the survey? No one sent it to me, it’s not on the boundary study website and it seems like it’s only available for 6 days more.

+1 where can we find this?

Also interested in the survey link.

[Anonymous]

Essie McGuire & co. will tend to keep any info that might be used to critique MCPS processes out of sight. Hoping Julie Morris, in her new role, isn't part of the problem in that respect.

It befuddles me that they don't undercut arguments from certain well-served communities by specifying significant guardrails, such as:

-- No walkzone will be moved except, possibly, where within the walkzone of an alternate school

-- No bus rides of greater than X minutes when not being assigned to the closest school

-- No "islands" or ridiculous/pinched peninsulas for local school assignment, except in a case like Westland MS, where the island is the school, itself (and no adjoining properties), due to there not being a middle school in the needed service area

etc.

With such, they could assuage any of the more reasonable concerns and deflect any of those less reasonable due to their inability, then, to ride on the argumentative/political coattails of the reasonable ones. They'd also ensure a more efficient solution set.

Instead, it's like they want to have everyone off balance and uncertain, with the ability then to cast any more reasonable concern in the light of the most proximate unreasonable one. Not unlike another political entity we're currently enduring...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do I access the survey? No one sent it to me, it’s not on the boundary study website and it seems like it’s only available for 6 days more.

It is most definitely on the boundary study website.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/boundary-study/

Click the "SHARE YOUR INPUT ON THE BOUNDARY STUDY PROCESS" button about 1/3 of the way down the page.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if the county focuses so much on DEI, it’s a big mistake. If you want to drive more people to vote for Trump like candidates, this is a sure fire way to do it.

I agree. Did we not learn anything from the last election?

I thought they were doing this because new schools are opening and they need to figure out how to best redraw boundaries to fill that school and ease overcrowding at others.

Haven’t heard anyone from MCPS talk about DEI’s role in this process. There’s a policy in place that governs boundaries and that doesn’t say that DEI is the focus either. What am I missing?

In the meeting last night they said that the number one guiding principle for making decisions is DEI.

What I'm asking is the why - has community input suggested this should be the number one priority? And if not, should we be lobbying now for more community input?

Of course not. Any time they have asked families, everyone no matter their background has preferred to go to the school in their neighborhood/community. No one wants their kids to be bussed further away for a regular gen ed zoned school.

They more easily could address both interests by providing enough differential funding, both capital and operational, to ensure reasonably equivalent educational experiences across schools, so that one wouldn't expect living in one zip code to provide a better education for one's child than living in another.

For example, and borrowing from another thread, ensure any IB program, whether at RM, BCC, Kennedy or other, provides equivalent access to all of the high level classes. For that matter, ensure equivalent access, and enough seats, to such programs or reasonably equivalent programming (broad/high academic rigor across subject areas, in this example) to students across the county. How each school does that might be different, as long as there isn't a meaningful differential burden on the student (e.g., having to take night classes).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do I access the survey? No one sent it to me, it’s not on the boundary study website and it seems like it’s only available for 6 days more.

It is most definitely on the boundary study website.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/boundary-study/

Click the "SHARE YOUR INPUT ON THE BOUNDARY STUDY PROCESS" button about 1/3 of the way down the page.

It will be quiet on here now for awhile as the "where is the survey? why do I not have it? why are they so bad at communication?" people sit down for awhile. Not to mention the Google form on the site that says "ASK A QUESTION"

nothing will ever be good enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do I access the survey? No one sent it to me, it’s not on the boundary study website and it seems like it’s only available for 6 days more.

It is most definitely on the boundary study website.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/boundary-study/

Click the "SHARE YOUR INPUT ON THE BOUNDARY STUDY PROCESS" button about 1/3 of the way down the page.

TY

[Anonymous]

The neighborhood schools Facebook group is saying that Demographics was the “first guiding principle” that the presentation laid out for what will drive decisions. The post didn’t specify whether this was simply because it was the first of the four factors that will all be considered equally, or if it was “first” because someone in the presentation stated it would be more important. Which is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if the county focuses so much on DEI, it’s a big mistake. If you want to drive more people to vote for Trump like candidates, this is a sure fire way to do it.

I agree. Did we not learn anything from the last election?

I thought they were doing this because new schools are opening and they need to figure out how to best redraw boundaries to fill that school and ease overcrowding at others.

Haven’t heard anyone from MCPS talk about DEI’s role in this process. There’s a policy in place that governs boundaries and that doesn’t say that DEI is the focus either. What am I missing?

In the meeting last night they said that the number one guiding principle for making decisions is DEI.

That's not accurate. They listed four factors: demographic characteristics of student population (which is what you all are calling "DEI;" geography (includes walk zones, traffic patterns, etc.); stability of school assignments over time (number of affected students who already went through boundary changes and whether projected enrollment will allow for the new boundaries to stay in effect for a long time), and facility utilization. I took a picture of that slide, so these four factors come straight from their presentation. During the Q&A someone asked if these factors were weighted differently and the answer was that the four factors are treated equally.

There was a survey you could take to rank your priorities. But whether they actually take those results into account I don't know.

Did they ever report the survey results?

MCPS should especially strive to release those results so we can see how the community feels about the 4 factors

There are no survey results to report because they survey just launched yesterday and will be available until April 9, I believe. They will be conducting 3 surveys over the course of the boundary study, according to yesterday's presentation.

How do I access the survey? No one sent it to me, it’s not on the boundary study website and it seems like it’s only available for 6 days more.

+1 where can we find this?

https://survey.iad1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bkGMJuBrcCiIDGK

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do I access the survey? No one sent it to me, it’s not on the boundary study website and it seems like it’s only available for 6 days more.

It is most definitely on the boundary study website.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/boundary-study/

Click the "SHARE YOUR INPUT ON THE BOUNDARY STUDY PROCESS" button about 1/3 of the way down the page.

Thank you. I’m the poster who thought it wasn’t there. Silly me, I was looking for something that said “survey” in the title. I missed this because I thought/assumed this section was about the contractor and their multi-step phased process not their priorities. And it wasn’t placed under “how will I be able to provide input/feedback.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The neighborhood schools Facebook group is saying that Demographics was the “first guiding principle” that the presentation laid out for what will drive decisions. The post didn’t specify whether this was simply because it was the first of the four factors that will all be considered equally, or if it was “first” because someone in the presentation stated it would be more important. Which is it?

It was just the first of four factors listed. Not the most important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The neighborhood schools Facebook group is saying that Demographics was the “first guiding principle” that the presentation laid out for what will drive decisions. The post didn’t specify whether this was simply because it was the first of the four factors that will all be considered equally, or if it was “first” because someone in the presentation stated it would be more important. Which is it?

It was just the first of four factors listed. Not the most important.

I’ve heard from several people who listened or are more involved, that DEI is the most important factor to them. I guess we should get clarity on this.