What are W schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This. Housing policy absolutely has a direct impact on schools. Where are they putting all the affordable apartment buildings in the area? THey're certainly not putting them near the Ws.

Every development with 20 or more units has to have at least 12.5% of those units be affordable. (Keeping in mind that developments in the City of Rockville, the City of Gaithersburg, and the City of Takoma Park are subject to the planning authorities of those municipalities, not to the county planning authority.) And this summer, the county council passed a new law that says that in particularly affluent parts of the county, 15% of the units have to be affordable. So, for example, there's a preliminary plan for 59 single-family-attached houses (plus retail/office space) at the Cabin John shopping center on Tuckerman in Potomac; 8 or 9 of those are going to have to be affordable. https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/moco-planning-board-approves-preliminary-plan-for-cabin-john-village-development/

But that only applies to new development. Other things that would help increase the supply of affordable housing in Bethesda and Potomac: making it easier for people to add accessory apartments/dwelling units, allowing duplexes (or fourplexes, for large lots) on lots currently zoned for single-family-detached houses near infrastructure, and supporting further shopping center redevelopment.

This sounds awful. If I wanted to live in a concrete jungle with too much traffic I would have moved to No.Va.
We moved to MoCo because it was less built up and had a highly regarded school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This. Housing policy absolutely has a direct impact on schools. Where are they putting all the affordable apartment buildings in the area? THey're certainly not putting them near the Ws.

Every development with 20 or more units has to have at least 12.5% of those units be affordable. (Keeping in mind that developments in the City of Rockville, the City of Gaithersburg, and the City of Takoma Park are subject to the planning authorities of those municipalities, not to the county planning authority.) And this summer, the county council passed a new law that says that in particularly affluent parts of the county, 15% of the units have to be affordable. So, for example, there's a preliminary plan for 59 single-family-attached houses (plus retail/office space) at the Cabin John shopping center on Tuckerman in Potomac; 8 or 9 of those are going to have to be affordable. https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/moco-planning-board-approves-preliminary-plan-for-cabin-john-village-development/

But that only applies to new development. Other things that would help increase the supply of affordable housing in Bethesda and Potomac: making it easier for people to add accessory apartments/dwelling units, allowing duplexes (or fourplexes, for large lots) on lots currently zoned for single-family-detached houses near infrastructure, and supporting further shopping center redevelopment.

This sounds awful. If I wanted to live in a concrete jungle with too much traffic I would have moved to No.Va.
We moved to MoCo because it was less built up and had a highly regarded school system.

Well, things change. But fortunately, you almost certainly have options, so if you don't like the changes, you can move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This. Housing policy absolutely has a direct impact on schools. Where are they putting all the affordable apartment buildings in the area? THey're certainly not putting them near the Ws.

Every development with 20 or more units has to have at least 12.5% of those units be affordable. (Keeping in mind that developments in the City of Rockville, the City of Gaithersburg, and the City of Takoma Park are subject to the planning authorities of those municipalities, not to the county planning authority.) And this summer, the county council passed a new law that says that in particularly affluent parts of the county, 15% of the units have to be affordable. So, for example, there's a preliminary plan for 59 single-family-attached houses (plus retail/office space) at the Cabin John shopping center on Tuckerman in Potomac; 8 or 9 of those are going to have to be affordable. https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/moco-planning-board-approves-preliminary-plan-for-cabin-john-village-development/

But that only applies to new development. Other things that would help increase the supply of affordable housing in Bethesda and Potomac: making it easier for people to add accessory apartments/dwelling units, allowing duplexes (or fourplexes, for large lots) on lots currently zoned for single-family-detached houses near infrastructure, and supporting further shopping center redevelopment.

This sounds awful. If I wanted to live in a concrete jungle with too much traffic I would have moved to No.Va.
We moved to MoCo because it was less built up and had a highly regarded school system.

At least MoCo is still less built up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

At least MoCo is still less built up.

Montgomery County is less built up because of government policies - including the 93,000-acre Agricultural Reserve. People who say that government has nothing to do with housing or housing segregation, that it's all free choice in a free market, are staring at a forest and saying, "What trees? I don't see any trees."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At least MoCo is still less built up.

Montgomery County is less built up because of government policies - including the 93,000-acre Agricultural Reserve. People who say that government has nothing to do with housing or housing segregation, that it's all free choice in a free market, are staring at a forest and saying, "What trees? I don't see any trees."

true

[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.

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.

Well, Whitman couldn’t have any fewer black students if it were actually legally segregated. So that sounds segregated.

Maybe more upper-income blacks need to buy there rather than in Shepard Park, Silver Spring, Upper Marboro, and Fort Washington. But I guess you’d rather insinuate in 2018 that there’s some conspiracy to exclude blacks.

Perhaps it's the abundance of confederate flags and MAGA hats in that part of the county that's a turn off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Well, Whitman couldn’t have any fewer black students if it were actually legally segregated. So that sounds segregated.

Maybe more upper-income blacks need to buy there rather than in Shepard Park, Silver Spring, Upper Marboro, and Fort Washington. But I guess you’d rather insinuate in 2018 that there’s some conspiracy to exclude blacks.

Perhaps it's the abundance of confederate flags and MAGA hats in that part of the county that's a turn off.

What the hell are you talking about?!

Whitman is in Bethesda, which is a definitively blue part of the county. The only part of the county that went for Trump (and it was barely so) was the more rural part northwest of Gaithersburg (basically the Ag Reserve).

[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.

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.

Well, Whitman couldn’t have any fewer black students if it were actually legally segregated. So that sounds segregated.

Maybe more upper-income blacks need to buy there rather than in Shepard Park, Silver Spring, Upper Marboro, and Fort Washington. But I guess you’d rather insinuate in 2018 that there’s some conspiracy to exclude blacks.

No I would not argue a conspiracy. That’s de jure segregation. What we have here is de facto segregation, which is nonetheless real.

[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.

You selected MCPS. You are not entitled to any specific cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, Walter Johnson is leagues below the other three.

When I dig into the actual data, I get the sense that it's actually better in many ways.

Impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, Walter Johnson is leagues below the other three.

When I dig into the actual data, I get the sense that it's actually better in many ways.

Impossible.

dig deeper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This. Housing policy absolutely has a direct impact on schools. Where are they putting all the affordable apartment buildings in the area? THey're certainly not putting them near the Ws.

Every development with 20 or more units has to have at least 12.5% of those units be affordable. (Keeping in mind that developments in the City of Rockville, the City of Gaithersburg, and the City of Takoma Park are subject to the planning authorities of those municipalities, not to the county planning authority.) And this summer, the county council passed a new law that says that in particularly affluent parts of the county, 15% of the units have to be affordable. So, for example, there's a preliminary plan for 59 single-family-attached houses (plus retail/office space) at the Cabin John shopping center on Tuckerman in Potomac; 8 or 9 of those are going to have to be affordable. https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/development/moco-planning-board-approves-preliminary-plan-for-cabin-john-village-development/

But that only applies to new development. Other things that would help increase the supply of affordable housing in Bethesda and Potomac: making it easier for people to add accessory apartments/dwelling units, allowing duplexes (or fourplexes, for large lots) on lots currently zoned for single-family-detached houses near infrastructure, and supporting further shopping center redevelopment.

This sounds awful. If I wanted to live in a concrete jungle with too much traffic I would have moved to No.Va.
We moved to MoCo because it was less built up and had a highly regarded school system.

Well, things change. But fortunately, you almost certainly have options, so if you don't like the changes, you can move.

You are right. I will consider your suggestion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are public schools in Montgomery County.

Walt Whitman
Winston Churchill
Thomas Wootten
Walter Johnson

Notice they all have a W in their name. They are on the West side of the county and tend to have less economic (and therefore racial) diversity than the other schools in the county.

Wooten is a W school now? From my impression, they are Whitman, Churchill, WJ, and B-CC

Wootton has always been a W school.

You must not be from MoCo bc Wootton has not always been a W school. W schools in the past referred to Winston Churchill, Walt Whitman and Walter Johnson bc their names begin with the letter W and they were also rivals. They are also situated in the richest part of MoCo and were more white (another meaning to W schools). Wootton still isn’t really a W school but parents in that area have tried to place it in that group (you can guess why). The Wootton area wasn’t always expensive or nice. Same with B-CC, which used to be a horrible area. Many ppl don’t even realize what actually happens at W schools...lots of drugs, alcohol, racism, classism, cheating scandals, parents getting minorities and low income kids kicked out, focus groups to help with testing stats.

-signed someone who’s lived in MoCo way too long, graduated from MCPS and has worked for MCPS.

this is accurate, Wootton was considered a joke until the dual GS13 families got priced out of the other Ws

Not really, all Ws are still possible for us

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You selected MCPS. You are not entitled to any specific cluster.

That is a bunch of garbage. People buy houses in specific areas because of the schools. Yes, MCPS is one school system and the curriculum is the same. However, the peer environment is absolutely not the same throughout the county. My DS says one of his best friends at another high school is scared because of the way some kids at his school behave. Unfortunately, my niece at a different high school says the same thing. I don't care what color skin my child's peers are or how much money their parents have. It's all about the learning environment in their school. Real estate prices have been tied to schools for many years and it happens all over the country, not just in Montgomery County. If MCPS decides to impose busing kids all over the county to increase "diversity" than Montgomery County can kiss their wealthier tax base goodbye because they won't have their kids be a part of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You selected MCPS. You are not entitled to any specific cluster.

That is a bunch of garbage. People buy houses in specific areas because of the schools. Yes, MCPS is one school system and the curriculum is the same. However, the peer environment is absolutely not the same throughout the county. My DS says one of his best friends at another high school is scared because of the way some kids at his school behave. Unfortunately, my niece at a different high school says the same thing. I don't care what color skin my child's peers are or how much money their parents have. It's all about the learning environment in their school. Real estate prices have been tied to schools for many years and it happens all over the country, not just in Montgomery County. If MCPS decides to impose busing kids all over the county to increase "diversity" than Montgomery County can kiss their wealthier tax base goodbye because they won't have their kids be a part of that.

Yes, for years, dating back to Brown vs the Board of Education....