Woodward Boundary Study discussion at next BoE meeting

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I'm curious what it means that they're not considering elementary school boundaries. Does this mean that they could tweak MS/HS boundaries and leave elementaries with split articulations? Or does it mean that they will change the assignments for entire elementaries to different MS/HS? Or some of both?

Sounds like it means nobody will be reassigned to a different elementary as a result of this process. But where those elementaries feed into can be changed including split articulations.

Yes. I think they will try to move entire elementary school zones to different MS and HS zones when they can, but they may not always be able to, given different building capacities.

I would expect 90% of assignments to remain the same based on the different models they released from the study that was done around 2020.

But they weren't factoring in the opening of Woodward and Crown then.

I'm guessing the closer your home school is to say Woodward or Crown the greater the change so nearby schools like WJ or BCC would be more affected than ones that are further away.

Proximity is one of the four factors under consideration, yes.

But it depends on one's definition of "nearby" to Woodward.

Walter Johnson - 1 mile
Wheaton - 4.1 miles
Einstein - 4.4 miles
Whitman - 4.5 miles
B-CC - 4.6 miles
Kennedy - 5.9 miles
Blair - 8.5 miles

It doesn't matter how far away other high schools are, it matters where the neighborhoods are. You could say that anything within 5 miles of Woodward is "nearby". That would include all the neighborhoods between most of those schools, and is halfway to Blair.

Also, the choice isn't just "shift a neighborhood to Woodward or not". There could be some musical chairs. For example, pull a large amount of students from WJ to Woodward, then shift some from Whitman to WJ and backfill some from BCC to Whitman. Or shift that the other way around.

Yes, but they're not going to backfill to WJ because one of the main drivers of reopening Woodward is to relieve the massive overcrowding at WJ.

True, but I could envision a scenario where Tilden and its 3 feeders are rezoned to Woodward, which would leave WJ too far under capacity. So they could shift some other boundaries (BCC, Whitman) to send more kids to WJ.

DP - but in that case, there would be room for only, what, one or maybe two feeders from the DCC to go to Woodward, which wouldn’t be enough to relieve overcrowding in those schools. If they’re not changing elementary boundaries, that would mean sending a full elementary currently zoned for Whitman or BCC to WJ. Or some combination. Which, again, leaves DCC kids screwed and stuck in overcrowded schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious what it means that they're not considering elementary school boundaries. Does this mean that they could tweak MS/HS boundaries and leave elementaries with split articulations? Or does it mean that they will change the assignments for entire elementaries to different MS/HS? Or some of both?

Sounds like it means nobody will be reassigned to a different elementary as a result of this process. But where those elementaries feed into can be changed including split articulations.

Yes. I think they will try to move entire elementary school zones to different MS and HS zones when they can, but they may not always be able to, given different building capacities.

I would expect 90% of assignments to remain the same based on the different models they released from the study that was done around 2020.

But they weren't factoring in the opening of Woodward and Crown then.

I'm guessing the closer your home school is to say Woodward or Crown the greater the change so nearby schools like WJ or BCC would be more affected than ones that are further away.

Proximity is one of the four factors under consideration, yes.

But it depends on one's definition of "nearby" to Woodward.

Walter Johnson - 1 mile
Wheaton - 4.1 miles
Einstein - 4.4 miles
Whitman - 4.5 miles
B-CC - 4.6 miles
Kennedy - 5.9 miles
Blair - 8.5 miles

It doesn't matter how far away other high schools are, it matters where the neighborhoods are. You could say that anything within 5 miles of Woodward is "nearby". That would include all the neighborhoods between most of those schools, and is halfway to Blair.

Also, the choice isn't just "shift a neighborhood to Woodward or not". There could be some musical chairs. For example, pull a large amount of students from WJ to Woodward, then shift some from Whitman to WJ and backfill some from BCC to Whitman. Or shift that the other way around.

Yes, but they're not going to backfill to WJ because one of the main drivers of reopening Woodward is to relieve the massive overcrowding at WJ.

True, but I could envision a scenario where Tilden and its 3 feeders are rezoned to Woodward, which would leave WJ too far under capacity. So they could shift some other boundaries (BCC, Whitman) to send more kids to WJ.

DP - but in that case, there would be room for only, what, one or maybe two feeders from the DCC to go to Woodward, which wouldn’t be enough to relieve overcrowding in those schools. If they’re not changing elementary boundaries, that would mean sending a full elementary currently zoned for Whitman or BCC to WJ. Or some combination. Which, again, leaves DCC kids screwed and stuck in overcrowded schools.

That's not what that means. Elementary boundaries will stay the same, but the middle school and high school boundaries can change, which includes the option of split articulation from the ES into different MS & HS patterns. This already happens elsewhere in the county. For example, if an ES is geographically between two different MS that are 5 miles apart, half the ES may go to MS1 and the other half to MS2, and then on to different HSs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious what it means that they're not considering elementary school boundaries. Does this mean that they could tweak MS/HS boundaries and leave elementaries with split articulations? Or does it mean that they will change the assignments for entire elementaries to different MS/HS? Or some of both?

Sounds like it means nobody will be reassigned to a different elementary as a result of this process. But where those elementaries feed into can be changed including split articulations.

Yes. I think they will try to move entire elementary school zones to different MS and HS zones when they can, but they may not always be able to, given different building capacities.

I would expect 90% of assignments to remain the same based on the different models they released from the study that was done around 2020.

But they weren't factoring in the opening of Woodward and Crown then.

I'm guessing the closer your home school is to say Woodward or Crown the greater the change so nearby schools like WJ or BCC would be more affected than ones that are further away.

Proximity is one of the four factors under consideration, yes.

But it depends on one's definition of "nearby" to Woodward.

Walter Johnson - 1 mile
Wheaton - 4.1 miles
Einstein - 4.4 miles
Whitman - 4.5 miles
B-CC - 4.6 miles
Kennedy - 5.9 miles
Blair - 8.5 miles

It doesn't matter how far away other high schools are, it matters where the neighborhoods are. You could say that anything within 5 miles of Woodward is "nearby". That would include all the neighborhoods between most of those schools, and is halfway to Blair.

Also, the choice isn't just "shift a neighborhood to Woodward or not". There could be some musical chairs. For example, pull a large amount of students from WJ to Woodward, then shift some from Whitman to WJ and backfill some from BCC to Whitman. Or shift that the other way around.

Yes, but they're not going to backfill to WJ because one of the main drivers of reopening Woodward is to relieve the massive overcrowding at WJ.

True, but I could envision a scenario where Tilden and its 3 feeders are rezoned to Woodward, which would leave WJ too far under capacity. So they could shift some other boundaries (BCC, Whitman) to send more kids to WJ.

DP - but in that case, there would be room for only, what, one or maybe two feeders from the DCC to go to Woodward, which wouldn’t be enough to relieve overcrowding in those schools. If they’re not changing elementary boundaries, that would mean sending a full elementary currently zoned for Whitman or BCC to WJ. Or some combination. Which, again, leaves DCC kids screwed and stuck in overcrowded schools.

That's not what that means. Elementary boundaries will stay the same, but the middle school and high school boundaries can change, which includes the option of split articulation from the ES into different MS & HS patterns. This already happens elsewhere in the county. For example, if an ES is geographically between two different MS that are 5 miles apart, half the ES may go to MS1 and the other half to MS2, and then on to different HSs.

I think the only way this is going to work out in the end is to create a bunch of new split articulations, at the ES and/or the MS level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious what it means that they're not considering elementary school boundaries. Does this mean that they could tweak MS/HS boundaries and leave elementaries with split articulations? Or does it mean that they will change the assignments for entire elementaries to different MS/HS? Or some of both?

Sounds like it means nobody will be reassigned to a different elementary as a result of this process. But where those elementaries feed into can be changed including split articulations.

Yes. I think they will try to move entire elementary school zones to different MS and HS zones when they can, but they may not always be able to, given different building capacities.

I would expect 90% of assignments to remain the same based on the different models they released from the study that was done around 2020.

But they weren't factoring in the opening of Woodward and Crown then.

I'm guessing the closer your home school is to say Woodward or Crown the greater the change so nearby schools like WJ or BCC would be more affected than ones that are further away.

Proximity is one of the four factors under consideration, yes.

But it depends on one's definition of "nearby" to Woodward.

Walter Johnson - 1 mile
Wheaton - 4.1 miles
Einstein - 4.4 miles
Whitman - 4.5 miles
B-CC - 4.6 miles
Kennedy - 5.9 miles
Blair - 8.5 miles

It doesn't matter how far away other high schools are, it matters where the neighborhoods are. You could say that anything within 5 miles of Woodward is "nearby". That would include all the neighborhoods between most of those schools, and is halfway to Blair.

Also, the choice isn't just "shift a neighborhood to Woodward or not". There could be some musical chairs. For example, pull a large amount of students from WJ to Woodward, then shift some from Whitman to WJ and backfill some from BCC to Whitman. Or shift that the other way around.

Yes, but they're not going to backfill to WJ because one of the main drivers of reopening Woodward is to relieve the massive overcrowding at WJ.

They can move more kids out of WJ than needed to relieve overcrowding and then move different kids in to backfill. This isn't just about filling Woodward and reducing overcrowding at a couple of schools. It is about rebalancing all of the schools on the list, considering the four factors. There have been piecemeal changes over the past 40 years with schools closing and opening, additions, new neighborhoods, and demographic shifts. This is an opportunity to look at all of those boundaries and make adjustments.

Let's look at some actual numbers. I'm picking WJ, BCC, and Whitman, because they are geographically on the edge of things and simpler to talk about.
According to the at-a-glance reports, WJ is over capacity by ~600 kids. BCC is under capacity by ~100, and Whitman is currently under by ~150 but projected to be at capacity by the time Woodward reopens (it this that development someone mentioned?) Pyle MS (Whitman) is at capacity but Westland MS is under by ~300. The neighborhood immediately around Westland is bussed to Pyle, instead of walking to Westland. Rather than picking some neighborhood in WJ to bus down to Westland, they can take 300 kids from the two neighborhoods immediately near Westland and shift them from Pyle-Whitman to Westland-BCC (split articulation for Bannockburn ES and Wood Acres ES). Then they could shift 300 kids from NBMS-WJ to Pyle-Whitman.

Side note - Bannockburn is overenrolled and Wood Acres underenrolled. I don't know why they aren't considering shifting that one Bannockburn Island to Wood Acres.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious what it means that they're not considering elementary school boundaries. Does this mean that they could tweak MS/HS boundaries and leave elementaries with split articulations? Or does it mean that they will change the assignments for entire elementaries to different MS/HS? Or some of both?

Sounds like it means nobody will be reassigned to a different elementary as a result of this process. But where those elementaries feed into can be changed including split articulations.

Yes. I think they will try to move entire elementary school zones to different MS and HS zones when they can, but they may not always be able to, given different building capacities.

I would expect 90% of assignments to remain the same based on the different models they released from the study that was done around 2020.

But they weren't factoring in the opening of Woodward and Crown then.

I'm guessing the closer your home school is to say Woodward or Crown the greater the change so nearby schools like WJ or BCC would be more affected than ones that are further away.

Proximity is one of the four factors under consideration, yes.

But it depends on one's definition of "nearby" to Woodward.

Walter Johnson - 1 mile
Wheaton - 4.1 miles
Einstein - 4.4 miles
Whitman - 4.5 miles
B-CC - 4.6 miles
Kennedy - 5.9 miles
Blair - 8.5 miles

It doesn't matter how far away other high schools are, it matters where the neighborhoods are. You could say that anything within 5 miles of Woodward is "nearby". That would include all the neighborhoods between most of those schools, and is halfway to Blair.

Also, the choice isn't just "shift a neighborhood to Woodward or not". There could be some musical chairs. For example, pull a large amount of students from WJ to Woodward, then shift some from Whitman to WJ and backfill some from BCC to Whitman. Or shift that the other way around.

Yes, but they're not going to backfill to WJ because one of the main drivers of reopening Woodward is to relieve the massive overcrowding at WJ.

They will absolutely backfill WJ. This idea that WJ parents have that their own person school will be halved and every other school in MCPS will remain over capacity is laughable.

[Anonymous]

You can see all schools' current year enrollment and capacity numbers and the projections for 2028-29 here:

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP24_AppendixE.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious what it means that they're not considering elementary school boundaries. Does this mean that they could tweak MS/HS boundaries and leave elementaries with split articulations? Or does it mean that they will change the assignments for entire elementaries to different MS/HS? Or some of both?

Sounds like it means nobody will be reassigned to a different elementary as a result of this process. But where those elementaries feed into can be changed including split articulations.

Yes. I think they will try to move entire elementary school zones to different MS and HS zones when they can, but they may not always be able to, given different building capacities.

I would expect 90% of assignments to remain the same based on the different models they released from the study that was done around 2020.

But they weren't factoring in the opening of Woodward and Crown then.

I'm guessing the closer your home school is to say Woodward or Crown the greater the change so nearby schools like WJ or BCC would be more affected than ones that are further away.

Proximity is one of the four factors under consideration, yes.

But it depends on one's definition of "nearby" to Woodward.

Walter Johnson - 1 mile
Wheaton - 4.1 miles
Einstein - 4.4 miles
Whitman - 4.5 miles
B-CC - 4.6 miles
Kennedy - 5.9 miles
Blair - 8.5 miles

It doesn't matter how far away other high schools are, it matters where the neighborhoods are. You could say that anything within 5 miles of Woodward is "nearby". That would include all the neighborhoods between most of those schools, and is halfway to Blair.

Also, the choice isn't just "shift a neighborhood to Woodward or not". There could be some musical chairs. For example, pull a large amount of students from WJ to Woodward, then shift some from Whitman to WJ and backfill some from BCC to Whitman. Or shift that the other way around.

Yes, but they're not going to backfill to WJ because one of the main drivers of reopening Woodward is to relieve the massive overcrowding at WJ.

They will absolutely backfill WJ. This idea that WJ parents have that their own person school will be halved and every other school in MCPS will remain over capacity is laughable.

Yeah, that is why NOBODY expects that.

[Anonymous]

What is the capacity of Woodward?

Is it hosting some magnet or some art program? I remember reading something about it earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the capacity of Woodward?

Is it hosting some magnet or some art program? I remember reading something about it earlier.

FAQ https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx#panel55

How many students will be accommodated in new Woodward High School?
New Woodward HS building will be designed for a capacity of 2,700 students.

Is the new Woodward High School going to be an art magnet school?
Phase 1 building is designed for all the programs necessary for Montgomery County High School students to graduate from the new Woodward High School. Phase 2 program has not been determined yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the capacity of Woodward?

Is it hosting some magnet or some art program? I remember reading something about it earlier.

FAQ https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx#panel55

How many students will be accommodated in new Woodward High School?
New Woodward HS building will be designed for a capacity of 2,700 students.

Is the new Woodward High School going to be an art magnet school?
Phase 1 building is designed for all the programs necessary for Montgomery County High School students to graduate from the new Woodward High School. Phase 2 program has not been determined yet.

Original plans called for an enrollment of 2,700 students, but on Thursday, the school board voted to approve new plans that cut the capacity to 2,160 students.


https://moco360.media/2021/09/10/mcps-scales-down-plans-for-woodward-high-as-costs-increase/

[Anonymous]

As far as I know,

2160 students

Magnet is not determined, but with reduced capacity art magnet may not be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the capacity of Woodward?

Is it hosting some magnet or some art program? I remember reading something about it earlier.

FAQ https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx#panel55

How many students will be accommodated in new Woodward High School?
New Woodward HS building will be designed for a capacity of 2,700 students.

Is the new Woodward High School going to be an art magnet school?
Phase 1 building is designed for all the programs necessary for Montgomery County High School students to graduate from the new Woodward High School. Phase 2 program has not been determined yet.

Original plans called for an enrollment of 2,700 students, but on Thursday, the school board voted to approve new plans that cut the capacity to 2,160 students.


https://moco360.media/2021/09/10/mcps-scales-down-plans-for-woodward-high-as-costs-increase/

That capacity reduction happened in 2021, not Thursday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can see all schools' current year enrollment and capacity numbers and the projections for 2028-29 here:

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP24_AppendixE.pdf

I tallied the figures from this chart for the high schools in-scope for the Woodward study (BCC, Blair, Einstein, WJ, Kennedy, Northwood, Wheaton, Whitman), and their combined projected enrollment for 2028 is 20,159. The combined projected capacity for those schools plus Woodward is 20,279. So that leaves only 120 seats of wiggle room across the nine schools. I do not see how they would be able to include a magnet program too with such limited room to grow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS just needs to make a decision. No more wasting money on more studies.

They have to do a boundary study in order to make a decision on new boundaries. That is the only way they can change boundaries.

They can change the rules.

I'm confused, it feels like they need to consider a lot of factors to make this decision. You really don't want them to study it first?

There have to be at least 4 factors, right?

[Anonymous]

They are going to focus on diversity you fool’s. Every school is going to be less white.