MCPS BOE petition re: making student demographics the primary factor in redistricting decisions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lets say that MCPS chops up all the schools and creates bizarre boundaries bussing people living closer in to areas further out and vice versa to achieve their balance. What happens when 3 years later everyone has moved to be in better boundaries? I honestly think that the pro-chop it up crowd is hoping for a real estate windfall the same way the anti-chop it crowd is hoping it doesn't happen. I 100% doubt that anyone posting on this board actually gives two hoots about poor kids.

Let's say that every member of the BoE is replaced by little green beings from Mars. That's only slightly less likely than your hypothetical.

[Anonymous]

I disagree. The school system has an obligation to educate its students. Over 40% of students entering K are Hispanic. Test scores make it clear we are failing these students. This has to be a real priority even if you don't like it

If the school system had spent one ounce of energy improving or replacing the god awful curriculum that is a BIGGER disadvantage to Hispanic students in the past seven years then maybe that a argument could hold water. Do you know which low income parents complained about 2.0 early on? Hispanic parents!! They brought forward early testimony that the new curriculum was incomprehensible with no textbooks, examples and instructions. They complained that they couldn't help their kids! MCPS ignored them.

If the school system had spent one ounce of time looking at ways to implement Google translate (amazing that you could use a Chromebook for learning something rather just as a babysitting device and test taking), or maybe implementing bi-lingual education then that argument would hold water. It would be amazing for schools to be bi-lingual. This would significantly help hispanic students understand the material while they are learning english. It also solves the language education deficit for the rest of the population as they get to learn Spanish at an early age rather than having it introduced in middle school which developmentally is the worst time to introduce a language.

If MCPS was more active is protecting kids from gangs rather than viewing this as PR problem and under reporting incidents then that argument hold water.

MCPS does zero to actually address the learning needs of the hispanic community. Their grand plan is to someone surround them with white kids and what some of the whiteness will rub off?

[Anonymous]

I'm all for thoughtful rezoning that improves diversity WHILE reducing busing. I'm writing this as a DCC parent. I believe neighborhood schools are a good thing.

I also believe that shuffling kids from one school to another may impact the school's test score average but will have little impact on individual students. As an early poster suggested, a better curriculum, however, will make a difference.

My concern with busing is it amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

MCPS does zero to actually address the learning needs of the hispanic community. Their grand plan is to someone surround them with white kids and what some of the whiteness will rub off?

Some white kids are Hispanic. Some Hispanic kids are white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm all for thoughtful rezoning that improves diversity WHILE reducing busing. I'm writing this as a DCC parent. I believe neighborhood schools are a good thing.

I also believe that shuffling kids from one school to another may impact the school's test score average but will have little impact on individual students. As an early poster suggested, a better curriculum, however, will make a difference.

My concern with busing is it amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Could you provide an example of a rezoning that would improve diversity and also increase the percentage of students who walk to school (or, at least, live in the walk zone)?

[Anonymous]

While they are not perfect (or even good right now IMO) it is inaccurate to say they do zero. Title 1 schools limit class size to almost half what is at a non title 1 school and focus schools also have smaller class sizes. That's expensive. MCPS also provides free and reduced meals to low income students. That also costs money (although this may be covered by Federal funds). Some of those same schools have health care and social workers provided. Non Title 1 and non focus schools do not have those resources.

[Anonymous]

I'm all for thoughtful rezoning that improves diversity WHILE reducing busing. I'm writing this as a DCC parent. I believe neighborhood schools are a good thing.

I also believe that shuffling kids from one school to another may impact the school's test score average but will have little impact on individual students. As an early poster suggested, a better curriculum, however, will make a difference.

My concern with busing is it amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

This X100! We're in Wootton and wouldn't mind if nearby low income areas get added as long as the school is large enough to absorb that capacity. It would be fine if Richard Montgomery or Twinbrook moved in but those areas are transitioning fast and I doubt they will remain mid to low income for long whether they move to Wootton or not. These are really the only low income nearby areas. Gaithersburg is way up there and kids would need to pass through Gaithersburg and QO to get to Wootton. If the parents there want this rather than just MCPS wanting this -which I wonder- then fine by me.

What wouldn't be good for these students is that all the other students have been together not just since ES but middle school. The kids coming in would be very separate because they don't know anyone coming in and they live far away. In HS the kids have their friend groups from middle school and elementary school. Both my kids made friends in MS with other ES kids but all were close enough for them to do things together after school.

My real objection is that the BOE isn't making an education a focus or doing anything to improve actual outcomes of kids. Re-arranging the deck chairs will not help anyone other than MCPS. I am so tired of being in a school system that thinks of the system before the actual kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While they are not perfect (or even good right now IMO) it is inaccurate to say they do zero. Title 1 schools limit class size to almost half what is at a non title 1 school and focus schools also have smaller class sizes. That's expensive. MCPS also provides free and reduced meals to low income students. That also costs money (although this may be covered by Federal funds). Some of those same schools have health care and social workers provided. Non Title 1 and non focus schools do not have those resources.

Agreed... but obviously MCPS feels like it should do more (and some parents agree). I'm fine with my highish taxes going to pay for those services and then some (they should offer test prep classes like upper income people do), but I don't want to add to my DC's school commute just for diversity sake. I want my DCs to have a community feel. DC went the magnet route once, and there was not much community feel since all of DC's friends were scattered around the county, not to mention what a PIA it was to go to all the school events with two working parents and younger siblings in tow.

[Anonymous]

PP, Richard Montgomery is not a "low income" school - get your facts straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My real objection is that the BOE isn't making an education a focus or doing anything to improve actual outcomes of kids. Re-arranging the deck chairs will not help anyone other than MCPS. I am so tired of being in a school system that thinks of the system before the actual kids.

Agreed.. I feel like at this point, it's just a numbers game.

Also, I do wonder what this would do to Title 1/Focus school funding and class size. Is it better for low income students to be surrounded by wealthier higher performing kids in a class size of 28, or is it better for such a child to be surrounded by many lower income kids but in a class size of 15 or 18? Has anyone taken a look at that? I am well aware of the study that found that low income kids do better when the FARMs rate of a school is about 25%. But, I don't know if that study also looks at class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, Richard Montgomery is not a "low income" school - get your facts straight.

lol.. to Wootton parents we are because they have < 5% FARMs and RM has around 20%. Even if Wootton had 5%, that's a 4x increase. If they have 3%, that's almost a 7x increase. That's a lot. The funny thing is, there are many homes in the RM cluster that are more expensive than homes in the Wootton cluster. But, yes, there is Twinbrook which has the highest FARMs rate in the cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wooten can be integrated somewhat without radically shifting borders or having crazy bus rides. But what, if anything, do you do about Whitman?

Given the geography, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to increase the FARMS rate there. If Westbard gets some low income housing with the development that would provide some, but I can't imagine that would be too many student.

At least 15% of the new housing units at Westbard will be MPDUs.

Also, MPDUs (Moderately Priced Dwelling Units) really aren't "low income housing". A household of 4 people with an gross annual household income of $81,000 qualifies for an MPDU.

Except when the HOC buys the units like they did in King Farm...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
PP, Richard Montgomery is not a "low income" school - get your facts straight.

lol.. to Wootton parents we are because they have < 5% FARMs and RM has around 20%. Even if Wootton had 5%, that's a 4x increase. If they have 3%, that's almost a 7x increase. That's a lot. The funny thing is, there are many homes in the RM cluster that are more expensive than homes in the Wootton cluster. But, yes, there is Twinbrook which has the highest FARMs rate in the cluster.

We're in Wootton and never thought of RM as low income. We would have bought in Fallsgrove but didn't like how the houses were so big and lot was so small- too many huge windows looking right into your neighbors huge windows.

You could move Twinbrook into Wootton but since RM is only 20% FARMS don't the Twinbrook students already have the advantage of being at a high income school? RM would go from 20-5 and Wootton would go from 5-20. What would this achieve other than swapping the FARMS ratio between Wootton and RM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, Richard Montgomery is not a "low income" school - get your facts straight.

lol.. to Wootton parents we are because they have < 5% FARMs and RM has around 20%. Even if Wootton had 5%, that's a 4x increase. If they have 3%, that's almost a 7x increase. That's a lot. The funny thing is, there are many homes in the RM cluster that are more expensive than homes in the Wootton cluster. But, yes, there is Twinbrook which has the highest FARMs rate in the cluster.

That's silly. That's like saying to Scarsdale people, Larchmont is low-income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
PP, Richard Montgomery is not a "low income" school - get your facts straight.

lol.. to Wootton parents we are because they have < 5% FARMs and RM has around 20%. Even if Wootton had 5%, that's a 4x increase. If they have 3%, that's almost a 7x increase. That's a lot. The funny thing is, there are many homes in the RM cluster that are more expensive than homes in the Wootton cluster. But, yes, there is Twinbrook which has the highest FARMs rate in the cluster.

We're in Wootton and never thought of RM as low income. We would have bought in Fallsgrove but didn't like how the houses were so big and lot was so small- too many huge windows looking right into your neighbors huge windows.

You could move Twinbrook into Wootton but since RM is only 20% FARMS don't the Twinbrook students already have the advantage of being at a high income school? RM would go from 20-5 and Wootton would go from 5-20. What would this achieve other than swapping the FARMS ratio between Wootton and RM?

Twinbrook Elementary School is an elementary school. Richard Montgomery High School is a high school.