Where are all you families of high performing students planning on moving to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids graduated from W cluster, my youngest last year. I always thought MCPS was great and I didn't notice any recent changes. What is making families now reevaluate MCPS? Sincere question - I must have missed something, or it must've happened after my kids were out. Thanks.

People are (over-)reacting to the upcoming systemwide boundary analysis.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/boundary-analysis/

Would you prefer parents under-react? I’d rather have over active community members anytime.

I would prefer that parents react to the consultant's actual report and any subsequent decisions MCPS may make.

I am sure you would prefer that.

I would prefer that parents show such a united front now that the BOE reconsiders. Alternatively, at least it gives parents in really bordering areas a few years to sell.

Reconsiders what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids graduated from W cluster, my youngest last year. I always thought MCPS was great and I didn't notice any recent changes. What is making families now reevaluate MCPS? Sincere question - I must have missed something, or it must've happened after my kids were out. Thanks.

People are (over-)reacting to the upcoming systemwide boundary analysis.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/boundary-analysis/

Would you prefer parents under-react? I’d rather have over active community members anytime.

I would prefer that parents react to the consultant's actual report and any subsequent decisions MCPS may make.

I am sure you would prefer that.

I would prefer that parents show such a united front now that the BOE reconsiders. Alternatively, at least it gives parents in really bordering areas a few years to sell.

Reconsiders what?

Reconsiders something they're not even considering in the first place. Some people on DCUM are bananas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids graduated from W cluster, my youngest last year. I always thought MCPS was great and I didn't notice any recent changes. What is making families now reevaluate MCPS? Sincere question - I must have missed something, or it must've happened after my kids were out. Thanks.

MCPS wants to even out the FARMS rate across all schools. Why should just a few have the burden to house the majority of high farms population. Parents are afraid it will reduce local school performance and negatively effect education of their children. Sounds like a reasonable concern to me. Some parents are also worried about decline in property value.

Not true. From the resolution:

It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial demographics and disparities in facility utilization. Examining the possibility of altering the boundaries for these schools can present opportunities for progress toward ensuring that all students are able to reap the significant benefits of attending school with a diverse student body, and having class sizes that allow time and space for enhanced educational experiences.

That’s what it means though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids graduated from W cluster, my youngest last year. I always thought MCPS was great and I didn't notice any recent changes. What is making families now reevaluate MCPS? Sincere question - I must have missed something, or it must've happened after my kids were out. Thanks.

MCPS wants to even out the FARMS rate across all schools. Why should just a few have the burden to house the majority of high farms population. Parents are afraid it will reduce local school performance and negatively effect education of their children. Sounds like a reasonable concern to me. Some parents are also worried about decline in property value.

Not true. From the resolution:

It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial demographics and disparities in facility utilization. Examining the possibility of altering the boundaries for these schools can present opportunities for progress toward ensuring that all students are able to reap the significant benefits of attending school with a diverse student body, and having class sizes that allow time and space for enhanced educational experiences.

That’s what it means though.

It says nothing of the sort.

[Anonymous]

There is a significant faction pushing for MCPS to even our FARMs rates as much as possible among MCPS schools. What “as much as possible” means and whether the BOE will do it over the objections of low income communities remains to be seen. Some of this came out of the RM5/Bayard Rustin boundary study where Twinbrook was left with a much higher FARMs rate than the other schools in the cluster. But the Twinbrook community was not supportive of a change to “integrate” with the other elementary schools in the cluster. Gaithersburg also relatively recently came out strongly in favor of an addition to Gaithersburg ES rather than “integrate” with Wootton elementary schools. So it certainly remains to be seen how it will play out. But balancing FARMs rate is a primary goal of some people involved in this process.

[Anonymous]

People, don't kid yourselves, this is already happening. At Rosemary Hills Elementary School,Young K-2 kids in Chevy Chase are bussed out of their neighborhood miles away out to Silver Spring in snow effort to improve the demographics of the school which is surrounded by Section 8 housing.

Then the section 8 kids are busted to Chevy Chase Elementary 3-5. Now MCPS took away our 6th grade and enlarged our gifted and talented program which imports even more kids from other neighborhoods. Our neighborhood school has been decimated. It is 70% kids who don't live in the area.

The parents are fed up and the neighborhood parents who run the Chevy Chase Foundation aren't even doing a social fundraiser this year. Because of course, the parents are burned out, constantly being asked for money by the school and are starting to yank their kids for private like most of the neighborhood. Most neighborhood CHCH families can afford private. 75% of the neighborhood is private precisely because of RHPS.

The RHPS split has been a 30 year horrible experiment and it is coming to a school near you. They will expand it. The county loves it, takes pride in it and absolutely will bus your kids. Whitman and WJ WC clusters, your bubble time is up!

Also see the catchment middle school Silver Creek. Rock Creek Forest is no where near but is busted in for diversity. Guess where most of the trouble in the school comes from. Bet you already know. "Elite" Chevy Chase families have been the Guinea pigs for years. Now the rest of county will get a taste of this mess.

[Anonymous]

I thought Westland MS was horribly overcrowded and they desperately needed the new MS. Also, I’ve been there and it’s gorgeous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People, don't kid yourselves, this is already happening. At Rosemary Hills Elementary School,Young K-2 kids in Chevy Chase are bussed out of their neighborhood miles away out to Silver Spring in snow effort to improve the demographics of the school which is surrounded by Section 8 housing.

Then the section 8 kids are busted to Chevy Chase Elementary 3-5. Now MCPS took away our 6th grade and enlarged our gifted and talented program which imports even more kids from other neighborhoods. Our neighborhood school has been decimated. It is 70% kids who don't live in the area.

The parents are fed up and the neighborhood parents who run the Chevy Chase Foundation aren't even doing a social fundraiser this year. Because of course, the parents are burned out, constantly being asked for money by the school and are starting to yank their kids for private like most of the neighborhood. Most neighborhood CHCH families can afford private. 75% of the neighborhood is private precisely because of RHPS.

The RHPS split has been a 30 year horrible experiment and it is coming to a school near you. They will expand it. The county loves it, takes pride in it and absolutely will bus your kids. Whitman and WJ WC clusters, your bubble time is up!

Also see the catchment middle school Silver Creek. Rock Creek Forest is no where near but is busted in for diversity. Guess where most of the trouble in the school comes from. Bet you already know. "Elite" Chevy Chase families have been the Guinea pigs for years. Now the rest of county will get a taste of this mess.

Three corrections of fact.

First, this "experiment" is actually 40 years old and was explicitly a response to school segregation: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1978/09/07/montgomery-school-integration-finding-advantages-in-diversity/002b2c7b-6d7c-4de1-a63e-965e6326f979/?utm_term=.ddfc51b8d322 Keep in mind that de jure segregation in Montgomery County had only ended in 1961, 15 years earlier. Lyttonsville is a historic black community in Montgomery County, which you can read more about here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/neighborhood-profile-lyttonsville/2012/07/25/gJQAfgNICX_story.html?utm_term=.81e4d3625770

Second, there is no "section 8 housing" (let alone "section 8 kids") in the area you're talking about. "Section 8" means something specific, not "housing that poor people live in."

Third, while it's literally true that Chevy Chase ES and Rosemary Hills ES are "miles" apart, the specific number of "miles" is: 3.

In 2019, pitching fits about the Rosemary Hills/Chevy Chase plan that goes back to 1976 is even more irrational than pitching fits about the Horizon Hill rezoning from Wootton to Richard Montgomery that happened in 1987.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a significant faction pushing for MCPS to even our FARMs rates as much as possible among MCPS schools. What “as much as possible” means and whether the BOE will do it over the objections of low income communities remains to be seen. Some of this came out of the RM5/Bayard Rustin boundary study where Twinbrook was left with a much higher FARMs rate than the other schools in the cluster. But the Twinbrook community was not supportive of a change to “integrate” with the other elementary schools in the cluster. Gaithersburg also relatively recently came out strongly in favor of an addition to Gaithersburg ES rather than “integrate” with Wootton elementary schools. So it certainly remains to be seen how it will play out. But balancing FARMs rate is a primary goal of some people involved in this process.

Consisting of whom, specifically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a significant faction pushing for MCPS to even our FARMs rates as much as possible among MCPS schools. What “as much as possible” means and whether the BOE will do it over the objections of low income communities remains to be seen. Some of this came out of the RM5/Bayard Rustin boundary study where Twinbrook was left with a much higher FARMs rate than the other schools in the cluster. But the Twinbrook community was not supportive of a change to “integrate” with the other elementary schools in the cluster. Gaithersburg also relatively recently came out strongly in favor of an addition to Gaithersburg ES rather than “integrate” with Wootton elementary schools. So it certainly remains to be seen how it will play out. But balancing FARMs rate is a primary goal of some people involved in this process.

Gaithersburg and Wooten? They are not even adjacent clusters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People, don't kid yourselves, this is already happening. At Rosemary Hills Elementary School,Young K-2 kids in Chevy Chase are bussed out of their neighborhood miles away out to Silver Spring in snow effort to improve the demographics of the school which is surrounded by Section 8 housing.

Then the section 8 kids are busted to Chevy Chase Elementary 3-5. Now MCPS took away our 6th grade and enlarged our gifted and talented program which imports even more kids from other neighborhoods. Our neighborhood school has been decimated. It is 70% kids who don't live in the area.

The parents are fed up and the neighborhood parents who run the Chevy Chase Foundation aren't even doing a social fundraiser this year. Because of course, the parents are burned out, constantly being asked for money by the school and are starting to yank their kids for private like most of the neighborhood. Most neighborhood CHCH families can afford private. 75% of the neighborhood is private precisely because of RHPS.

The RHPS split has been a 30 year horrible experiment and it is coming to a school near you. They will expand it. The county loves it, takes pride in it and absolutely will bus your kids. Whitman and WJ WC clusters, your bubble time is up!

Also see the catchment middle school Silver Creek. Rock Creek Forest is no where near but is busted in for diversity. Guess where most of the trouble in the school comes from. Bet you already know. "Elite" Chevy Chase families have been the Guinea pigs for years. Now the rest of county will get a taste of this mess.

Three corrections of fact.

First, this "experiment" is actually 40 years old and was explicitly a response to school segregation: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1978/09/07/montgomery-school-integration-finding-advantages-in-diversity/002b2c7b-6d7c-4de1-a63e-965e6326f979/?utm_term=.ddfc51b8d322 Keep in mind that de jure segregation in Montgomery County had only ended in 1961, 15 years earlier. Lyttonsville is a historic black community in Montgomery County, which you can read more about here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/neighborhood-profile-lyttonsville/2012/07/25/gJQAfgNICX_story.html?utm_term=.81e4d3625770

Second, there is no "section 8 housing" (let alone "section 8 kids") in the area you're talking about. "Section 8" means something specific, not "housing that poor people live in."

Third, while it's literally true that Chevy Chase ES and Rosemary Hills ES are "miles" apart, the specific number of "miles" is: 3.

In 2019, pitching fits about the Rosemary Hills/Chevy Chase plan that goes back to 1976 is even more irrational than pitching fits about the Horizon Hill rezoning from Wootton to Richard Montgomery that happened in 1987.

None of what you said makes any of what I said less true. It doesn't matter when it started snd why. The RHPS experiment of busing kids out of their neighborhoods for diversity and equity is considered as a success to MCPS. RHPS is the blueprint for this boundary redistricting. MCPS loves it. I find it entertaining that the rest of the county is going to get their fill of social justice redistricting. Section8 ....low income housing...whatever you want to call it.

My kids actually lived this debacle. My one child was on the last bus stop coming from RHPS to Chevy Chase. It was a 45 minute bus ride and he and the other kids at the stop were bus sick every day K to 2. The buses also routinely screwed up and lost little kids because the kids get confused. When this happens your kids could be anywhere is a 10 mile radius over two or more towns. You just hope they don't follow a friend off the wrong bus.

Don't even start with me about this. Bussing kids is not the answer but maybe if the rest of the county gets a taste of it, and they will, they will see what RHPS parents have been bitching about for 40 years. It sucks.

[Anonymous]

It's been going on for 40 years. How old does it have to be for you to stop considering it an "experiment"?

Also, did you not know about this when you moved there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's been going on for 40 years. How old does it have to be for you to stop considering it an "experiment"?

Also, did you not know about this when you moved there?

I did know about it and had no problem with it in theory until my kids actually lived it and I saw how crappy their experience was in comparison to my other friends across the county with true neighborhood schools.

If you don't like the word "experiment" then that's a personal problem. The RHPS bussing experiment is an MCPS favorite baby and is coming to a school district near you. For those of you who say kids won't be busted, you are kidding yourselves. Count on it. It's already been done for 40 years, they just an to expand the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a significant faction pushing for MCPS to even our FARMs rates as much as possible among MCPS schools. What “as much as possible” means and whether the BOE will do it over the objections of low income communities remains to be seen. Some of this came out of the RM5/Bayard Rustin boundary study where Twinbrook was left with a much higher FARMs rate than the other schools in the cluster. But the Twinbrook community was not supportive of a change to “integrate” with the other elementary schools in the cluster. Gaithersburg also relatively recently came out strongly in favor of an addition to Gaithersburg ES rather than “integrate” with Wootton elementary schools. So it certainly remains to be seen how it will play out. But balancing FARMs rate is a primary goal of some people involved in this process.

Gaithersburg and Wooten? They are not even adjacent clusters.

They actually are adjacent clusters. But PP's account is, at best, incomplete.

The only option involving Gaithersburg and Wootton was: "Reassign students out of the Gaithersburg Cluster from areas on the periphery of the cluster with existing and master planned housing development." Specifically, the part of Washington Grove ES east of 370 (around Shady Grove) would have been reassigned to Magruder under that option, and the part of Rosemont ES in Decoverly and Crown would have been reassigned to Wootton.

http://www.candlewoodpta.com/TriCluster_Meeting2ApproachesEnglish.pdf

And then they didn't do that anyway:

https://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/A8YUV4614BD0/$file/Rec%20Tri-cluster%20Rdtble%20Disc%20Group.pdf

What does this support? It supports that idea that MCPS is including boundary adjustments in its options - as it should, and as DCUM has been hollering for MCPS to do, for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's been going on for 40 years. How old does it have to be for you to stop considering it an "experiment"?

Also, did you not know about this when you moved there?

I did know about it and had no problem with it in theory until my kids actually lived it and I saw how crappy their experience was in comparison to my other friends across the county with true neighborhood schools.

If you don't like the word "experiment" then that's a personal problem. The RHPS bussing experiment is an MCPS favorite baby and is coming to a school district near you. For those of you who say kids won't be busted, you are kidding yourselves. Count on it. It's already been done for 40 years, they just an to expand the program.

Yes, there certainly is a personal problem here.

Also, since I'm in MCPS, it isn't coming to a school district near me, it's actually already been here, for 40 years.