Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
I don't think anyone was saying the KF kids should walk to Crown. The point was some kids on the west side of 270 but south of 28 could cross 28 and walk to Crown.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
Crown should only be walkable for crown and Rio people. That part of 28 has too much traffic and high speed. Other parts of 2 mile radius would all take 40 min to 1 hour to walk with multiple traffic lights to stop.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
I don't think anyone was saying the KF kids should walk to Crown. The point was some kids on the west side of 270 but south of 28 could cross 28 and walk to Crown.
That’s really insane. I bet nobody in that area would walk if they’re rezoned to crown. Only driving could work which would will just cause traffic congestion.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
I don't think anyone was saying the KF kids should walk to Crown. The point was some kids on the west side of 270 but south of 28 could cross 28 and walk to Crown.
That’s really insane. I bet nobody in that area would walk if they’re rezoned to crown. Only driving could work which would will just cause traffic congestion.
Why is it "insane" there but not in similar situations in other areas of the county?
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
I don't think anyone was saying the KF kids should walk to Crown. The point was some kids on the west side of 270 but south of 28 could cross 28 and walk to Crown.
That’s really insane. I bet nobody in that area would walk if they’re rezoned to crown. Only driving could work which would will just cause traffic congestion.
Why is it "insane" there but not in similar situations in other areas of the county?
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
Crown should only be walkable for crown and Rio people. That part of 28 has too much traffic and high speed. Other parts of 2 mile radius would all take 40 min to 1 hour to walk with multiple traffic lights to stop.
Now I know you're making s up.
1. Route 28 runs all the way from Point-of-Rocks to past Leisure World / Olney, so you don't even refer to the correct street name.
2. Your "2 mile radius" assertion is just wrong. There's plenty of residential areas within a two mile radius of Crown that is safely walkable, so it's clear you have no idea what you're talking about.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
Crown should only be walkable for crown and Rio people. That part of 28 has too much traffic and high speed. Other parts of 2 mile radius would all take 40 min to 1 hour to walk with multiple traffic lights to stop.
Now I know you're making s up.
1. Route 28 runs all the way from Point-of-Rocks to past Leisure World / Olney, so you don't even refer to the correct street name.
2. Your "2 mile radius" assertion is just wrong. There's plenty of residential areas within a two mile radius of Crown that is safely walkable, so it's clear you have no idea what you're talking about.
1. Keywest Ave , not sure why you mention olney.
2. Name one that’s actually safe that you will let your own kids walk everyday.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
I don't think anyone was saying the KF kids should walk to Crown. The point was some kids on the west side of 270 but south of 28 could cross 28 and walk to Crown.
That’s really insane. I bet nobody in that area would walk if they’re rezoned to crown. Only driving could work which would will just cause traffic congestion.
Why is it "insane" there but not in similar situations in other areas of the county?
Other areas have 7 lane wide HW to cross?
Kids at DCC schools are expected to cross 7 lanes of University or Connecticut or Viers Mill.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
I don't think anyone was saying the KF kids should walk to Crown. The point was some kids on the west side of 270 but south of 28 could cross 28 and walk to Crown.
That’s really insane. I bet nobody in that area would walk if they’re rezoned to crown. Only driving could work which would will just cause traffic congestion.
Why is it "insane" there but not in similar situations in other areas of the county?
Other areas have 7 lane wide HW to cross?
Kids at DCC schools are expected to cross 7 lanes of University or Connecticut or Viers Mill.
These are 6 lanes. I guess keywest/omega drive crossing is really 8 lanes if you count the middle part.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
I don't think anyone was saying the KF kids should walk to Crown. The point was some kids on the west side of 270 but south of 28 could cross 28 and walk to Crown.
That’s really insane. I bet nobody in that area would walk if they’re rezoned to crown. Only driving could work which would will just cause traffic congestion.
Why is it "insane" there but not in similar situations in other areas of the county?
Other areas have 7 lane wide HW to cross?
Yes, it's 8 lanes to cross MD28 at Quince Orchard HS. Yes, MCPS expects QO students to do that. Yes, QO students do that.
Keep in mind that whatever the bus routes for Crown are will not be determined until after the boundary study has ended. The study will decide in March 2026 which elementary schools, or parts thereof, will be reassigned to Crown for fall 2027. Probably in spring or summer 2027, they will figure out Crown's actual bus routes, as well as any other new routes as a result of boundaries being changed.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
I don't think anyone was saying the KF kids should walk to Crown. The point was some kids on the west side of 270 but south of 28 could cross 28 and walk to Crown.
That’s really insane. I bet nobody in that area would walk if they’re rezoned to crown. Only driving could work which would will just cause traffic congestion.
Why is it "insane" there but not in similar situations in other areas of the county?
Other areas have 7 lane wide HW to cross?
Kids at DCC schools are expected to cross 7 lanes of University or Connecticut or Viers Mill.
These are 6 lanes. I guess keywest/omega drive crossing is really 8 lanes if you count the middle part.
Veirs Mill at Newport Mill is 7 lanes. Randolph at Middlevale is 7 lanes. 355 at Education is 7 lanes. New Hampshire at Valley Brook is 7 lanes. Old Georgetown at Democracy used to be 8 lanes. Germantown at Middlebrook is 9 lanes.
Anonymous wrote:FARMS kids do not do better when they are bused.
That said, every child deserves to have fair access to a quality education. It looks bad when they have one school with a 1300 average SAT and one with a 950 SAT. But the kids with a 950 SAT would still score the same even if they moved to the 1300 average SAT school and vice versa.
I am a strong believer in the school within a school mindset that allows the ones that want to learn a separate peer group for their core classes.
People want stability in their schools. I hope the BOE doesn't go on a crusade to move kids around just because it's the "in thing to do"
Kids from poor families actually do do better when they attend low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools.
People are against change, period. But you can't have boundary changes without change.
This. The higher the poverty rate, the lower the performance. These need to be reduced:
When you move chronically absent students to a school farther away, will they suddenly show up for school?
No they won't, but the concern extends beyond them. In some ways, they're going to do what they want to do. It's really more about the ripple effect throughout the entire school. When a huge portion of the student body is plagued by chronic absenteeism the impact to the school is profound. For example, using Watkins Mills numbers- 1,715 students, 616 are chronically absent. Imagine what that does to the school. Teachers now have to dedicate significant time to help the absent students catch up, which disrupts classroom dynamics and affects the experience of the kids who consistently go to school and do want to learn. There's a high number of students who are disengaged and a high number of disciplinary issues. There's probably limited clubs and programs compared to the other schools that don't have this problem because the demand is low. There's probably very little to no school spirit. Very low parental engagement. A sense of apathy among a large number of students and staff. Higher than normal teacher turnover rates. What you end up with is a negative school culture that is not an ideal environment for learning. This is what MCPS cares about and why demographics is a big factor in boundary studies.
You move these kids to other schools so each school having 10-15% chronically absent is still causing issues, and more schools will have low moral. Possibly more Hispanic students will be absent due to the distance. The people who care about education will not accept their kids being bussed to poor performing schools so they will leave or go to private schools. Then none of the schools will be ideal environment for learning. It’s a lose lose situation. Seriously this is a problem that busing cannot solve.
In fact, Hispanic organizations have surveyed Hispanic students in MCPS and found that many immigrant Hispanic students don't go to school because they were poorly educated in their home countries and could not keep up with their grade-level work. You cannot solve this problem by bussing.
Again, the issue isn't so much the kids who don't want to go to school. I agree we can't fix that. The significant issue is the ripple effect that having a large number of chronically absent kids have on a school and the resulting environment that it causes. It negatively impacts the other students, the staff, and the overall culture of the school.
Again this problem is not solvable by bussing. Bussing will only make the ripple effect in a few schools be extended to more schools.
MCPS buses over 100,000 students, twice a day. This boundary study will almost certainly reduce busing by reassigning students in potential walk zones.
+1. All the kids who live near Crown who currently take the bus to Gaithersburg or Wootton will become walkers. That's a good thing.
Name a neighborhood in wootton that’s actually walkable to crown?
Most obviously: the Washingtonian area, which is literally across Fields Road from the Crown HS site.
There are also some areas south of 28 that look like they're within 2.0 miles walking distance of the Crown HS site, some of which are also within walking distance of Wootton.
South of 28 is really not walkable to crown. There may be some houses just within 2 miles but not the entire neighborhood so still need bus for the neighborhood.
Some of it is.
It's going to depend on how the MCPS transportation department determines the walk zone for Crown. If they don't think it's safe for students to cross 28, or Shady Grove, or Sam Eig, then they will remain bus riders even if less than 2 miles away from Crown.
Definitely not safe to walk 2 miles on highway 28 and cross it everyday for students.
28 isn't less safe than Georgia Ave, or Veirs Mill, or University, or Connecticut, or 355. MCPS expects high school students to walk along and cross those roads. MCPS even expects middle school students to walk along and cross those roads. So why not 28, too?
QO students cross 28 all the time.
Huh? Have you even been to QO? Crossing 28 at QO is nothing like crossing 270 or 370; or even 355 for that matter. Get real.
There's no way KF should go to Crown. There's only one way a kid can walk home from Crown to Kings Farm or College Gardens, and that's 40 minutes using the Shady Grove / 270 overpass. If there's ice or an emergency - not safe at all.
I don't think anyone was saying the KF kids should walk to Crown. The point was some kids on the west side of 270 but south of 28 could cross 28 and walk to Crown.
That’s really insane. I bet nobody in that area would walk if they’re rezoned to crown. Only driving could work which would will just cause traffic congestion.
Why is it "insane" there but not in similar situations in other areas of the county?
Other areas have 7 lane wide HW to cross?
Yes, it's 8 lanes to cross MD28 at Quince Orchard HS. Yes, MCPS expects QO students to do that. Yes, QO students do that.
The roads near QO have significantly less traffic and not as dangerous as near crown.
There are many smaller roads MCPS deemed unsafe to walk. So don’t assume the highways crown HS connect to are definitely walkable, even if some unsafe roads in other HS have been designated walkable.