Boundary study (2025 )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Trolololol. This whole "Many people are saying..." nonsense does not hold up to reality. There have been several boundary studies in recent years. All of them have resulted in normal boundaries that left some people happy and some people sad, but none have been driven by diversity. In each case, there were options under consideration that maximized diversity and those options were never selected, because other factors outweighed them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Trolololol. This whole "Many people are saying..." nonsense does not hold up to reality. There have been several boundary studies in recent years. All of them have resulted in normal boundaries that left some people happy and some people sad, but none have been driven by diversity. In each case, there were options under consideration that maximized diversity and those options were never selected, because other factors outweighed them.

💯

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I took notes. They said equity, defined as "all students should have access to educational opportunities that best meet their individual needs," is their guiding principle (seems generic enough, but I guess some people hear this and think, "OMG!!! DEI!!!"). Then they listed the four factors, of which demographics is one, and said in response to a question in the Q&A that all four factors have the same weight.

[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.

Their agenda is opening two new schools and assigning students to attend them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Their agenda is opening two new schools and assigning students to attend them.

But my Facebook feed says this is all about woke busing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I took notes. They said equity, defined as "all students should have access to educational opportunities that best meet their individual needs," is their guiding principle (seems generic enough, but I guess some people hear this and think, "OMG!!! DEI!!!"). Then they listed the four factors, of which demographics is one, and said in response to a question in the Q&A that all four factors have the same weight.

Well that’s a little silly. My kids’ school has plenty of demographic diversity. That does not inherently provide anyone access to educational opportunities that meet individual needs. Honestly they’re not meeting the educational needs of anyone well because the needs are so diverse/different. I think this definition of equity is a good one (and much better than equal outcomes, which is ridiculous). But these are two separate things.

[Anonymous]

Their DEI messaging was for some reason cringy. off the mark not sure if it was just the use of 'DEI' or using DEI at all. It is important to get feedback from max number of people and especially families who have 8th grade students and younger.

[Anonymous]

FLO Analytics which is the vendor conducting the study opened its presentation by stating “DEI is a guiding principle of our firm”.

The presentation was recorded and once it’s released you can judge for yourself.

[Anonymous]

I'm honestly curious, given the demographics of MC, why anyone is anti-diversity in the context of this thread. This isn't a red state, this isn't the south. What is going on here? I appreciate and embrace the diversity in my kids' ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm honestly curious, given the demographics of MC, why anyone is anti-diversity in the context of this thread. This isn't a red state, this isn't the south. What is going on here? I appreciate and embrace the diversity in my kids' ES.

There's a vocal but small minority of people who are worried that they'll end up rezoned to a school with a higher FARMS rate, which would theoretically lower their property values.

[Anonymous]

Is there any trusted data (not anecdotes) that demonstrate this correlation (and controls for other factors) in past re-boundary-ings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any trusted data (not anecdotes) that demonstrate this correlation (and controls for other factors) in past re-boundary-ings?

What correlation are you talking about? The made up one about the BOE redrawing boundaries to focus only on demographics that the MAGA folks toss around on here and their Facebook groups?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FLO Analytics which is the vendor conducting the study opened its presentation by stating “DEI is a guiding principle of our firm”.

The presentation was recorded and once it’s released you can judge for yourself.

DEI may be a guiding principle of their firm, but what does it mean for "DEI" to be a guiding principle of the boundary study, in your opinion? They said demographics are one of the factors that will be considered equally with other factors. That means that they want schools that are demographically diverse (including racially and ethnically, but also making sure all lower-income kids aren't at one school while upper-income kids are at a different school). Having attended a very white and wealthy public school where parents could fundraise for stadium lights, additional educational resources, fancy band trips, etc. while kids in low-income parts of the county had nothing of the sort because their parents didn't have the luxury of time and/or money to volunteer at the school, I'm very much in favor of schools with more balanced demographics where some parents are able to contribute for the benefit of all students. Is that what you mean by "DEI"? Why is that so scary to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any trusted data (not anecdotes) that demonstrate this correlation (and controls for other factors) in past re-boundary-ings?

Yes. Check out the most recent boundary study done by MCPS, which was opening a new ES in Clarksburg. https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/clarksburges9boundarystudy/

You can see that there were six options. Of those, Option 4 did the most to increase diversity but the Superintendent recommended a slightly amended Option 1 that minimized disruption and maximized walkers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any trusted data (not anecdotes) that demonstrate this correlation (and controls for other factors) in past re-boundary-ings?

Yes. Check out the most recent boundary study done by MCPS, which was opening a new ES in Clarksburg. https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/clarksburges9boundarystudy/

You can see that there were six options. Of those, Option 4 did the most to increase diversity but the Superintendent recommended a slightly amended Option 1 that minimized disruption and maximized walkers.

With the new anti-DEI order that is coming from Trump, I wonder if diversity will be removed as one of the boundary study factors.