Woodward Boundary Study discussion at next BoE meeting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKnight wants it to include BCC! And Whitman!

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2022-2023/Community-Message-20230222.html

Future School Boundary Analyses (Agenda Item 7.1)

Future openings of two new high schools will require boundary studies in multiple areas throughout the county. The new Charles W. Woodward High School is scheduled to reopen in 2026 and will impact current school boundaries. The clusters included in the superintendent’s recommendation for the boundary scope include Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein, Walter Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Northwood, Wheaton and Walt Whitman high schools. Additional future boundary studies will address midcounty overutilization with the opening of Crown High School (2027) and upcounty with the expansion of Damascus High School (2026).

Let the Sturm und Drang ensue!

I’m impressed she did this! Took a lot of backbone.

Agreed! We’ll now see who is really consistent with their values and who pretends to fight for equity publicly yet lack consistency in their values behind the scenes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the diversity for WJ comes from the Tilden side.

Yes, and Tilden is likely to go in Woodward so it will have enough diversity. 2 elementary schools from DCC can be added to WJ to provide diversity after losing Tilden/Mall area to have diverse crowd in WJ.

[Anonymous]

Eh, BCC was included in the beginning of this whole process and so it's no surprise it's still in the mix. That doesn't mean massive changes. The reality is that much of the new school is going to draw from WJ and Einstein. Other schools will have minor adjustments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh, BCC was included in the beginning of this whole process and so it's no surprise it's still in the mix. That doesn't mean massive changes. The reality is that much of the new school is going to draw from WJ and Einstein. Other schools will have minor adjustments.

Probably tweaks along current boundaries. Then again, that’s what MCPS has been saying all along. Should be interesting!

[Anonymous]

I think the big question is if they will shift any Bethesda schools eastward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, BCC was included in the beginning of this whole process and so it's no surprise it's still in the mix. That doesn't mean massive changes. The reality is that much of the new school is going to draw from WJ and Einstein. Other schools will have minor adjustments.

Probably tweaks along current boundaries. Then again, that’s what MCPS has been saying all along. Should be interesting!

I don’t think small tweaks will comply with the policy that requires them to prioritize diversity above all else when looking at boundaries.

[Anonymous]

The fact they're having this discussion this week means they're following the earlier timeline described at a November BOE meeting. Assuming the board approves McKnight's proposed scope, the actual boundary study itself should take place October 2023 through June 2024. Then McKnight's recommendations for new boundaries would be released in February 2025, with the board voting on them in March 2025 (about a year and a half before Woodward is set to open).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, BCC was included in the beginning of this whole process and so it's no surprise it's still in the mix. That doesn't mean massive changes. The reality is that much of the new school is going to draw from WJ and Einstein. Other schools will have minor adjustments.

Probably tweaks along current boundaries. Then again, that’s what MCPS has been saying all along. Should be interesting!

I don’t think small tweaks will comply with the policy that requires them to prioritize diversity above all else when looking at boundaries.

Nice trolling, but there's no such requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCC should include BCC. It's logical choice.

It was about to, but of course, B-CC parents fought against it back in the day and the county always caters to it.

Does anyone have a link to support this? I’ve lived in the BCC cluster my whole life and have no recollection of this. Starting to think it’s a myth like “Georgetown NIMBYs kept the Metro out!”

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

see the page with 29 at the bottom (43 of 206 in the link)

From the outset, the consortium included Montgomery Blair, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein,
and the re-opened Northwood HS. The Board considered adding a fifth school in the
consortium. At first, Bethesda-Chevy Chase (B-CC) HS was proposed, but in the end the Board
decided to include Wheaton HS in response to community advocacy. In contrast to Wheaton
HS, which had similar student demographics to other DCC schools, B-CC HS would have
provided better opportunities for achieving greater diversity across the consortium because it
had a student population with higher proportions of White and higher income students.
Following the NEC model, the Board adopted base areas for the DCC, as well as providing for
consideration of socioeconomic status based on FARMS data in the lottery selection process.

51 Board, meeting minutes (March 22, 2000); Memorandum from Jerry Weast, Superintendent of Schools, to Members of
the Board of Education, regarding Update on the Downcounty Consortium. (October 27, 2003); Memorandum from Jerry
Weast, Superintendent of Schools, to Members of the Board of Education, regarding Update on the Downcounty
Consortium. (October 25, 2004).
52 Board, meeting minutes (June 23, 2003); Memorandum from Jerry Weast, Superintendent of Schools, to Members of the
Board of Education, regarding Downcounty Consortium High School Base Areas and School Assignment Process, (May
27, 2003); Memorandum from Jerry Weast, Superintendent of Schools, to Members of the Board of Education, regarding
Base Area Recommendations for Downcounty Consortium High Schools, (June 23, 2003)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact they're having this discussion this week means they're following the earlier timeline described at a November BOE meeting. Assuming the board approves McKnight's proposed scope, the actual boundary study itself should take place October 2023 through June 2024. Then McKnight's recommendations for new boundaries would be released in February 2025, with the board voting on them in March 2025 (about a year and a half before Woodward is set to open).

Do we know (or have guesses) why the recommendation for the earlier timeline?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not surprised to see Whitman and BCC here. It makes sense.

Not doing that will be illogical.

Sure, but then we’ll have Whitman parents screaming about “bussing,” as we did in the Before Times. They paid a premium to live away from the Poors, and don’t you forget it.

Just rearrange the boundaries which allows efficient use of resource and also create as much diversity as possible in all schools. Whitman boundary can't be change too much due to where it's located unless solution is long distance bussing. I don't think long distance bussing should be an option, but boundary of Whitman should be adjusted along other schools.

It will help Whitman if it gets a bit more socioeconomic diversity.

I don’t disagree with you at all. I just remember the vitriol around this issue from a particular Whitman parent on FB again, pre-covid. It was… not pretty. People get very, very nasty when they perceive any decrease in their property values.

A small portion of Whitman may go to either WJ or BCC. It's not going to make too much difference.

More likely that some get added to Whitman, since it’s under capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact they're having this discussion this week means they're following the earlier timeline described at a November BOE meeting. Assuming the board approves McKnight's proposed scope, the actual boundary study itself should take place October 2023 through June 2024. Then McKnight's recommendations for new boundaries would be released in February 2025, with the board voting on them in March 2025 (about a year and a half before Woodward is set to open).

Do we know (or have guesses) why the recommendation for the earlier timeline?

It seemed to have to do with the staggering of the dates of the three major upcoming studies (Damascus and Crown being the others).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BOE should do boundary study of Crown and Woodward at the same time. Just do it in advance and make the best possible choice in one go.

That would be

Woodward: B-CC, Blair, Einstein, WJ, Kennedy, Northwood, Wheaton, Whitman
Crown: Gaithersburg, QO, RM, Northwest

A total of 12 high schools, out of 25 total.

Plus Damascus, which should include Clarksburg and also Gaithersburg, which increases the total to 14.

Well, that would certainly be ambitious. I'm happy that my last child is graduating next year, enabling me to ignore all of it and redirect my time and mental energy to something productive, like maybe reading all of Proust in French.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not surprised to see Whitman and BCC here. It makes sense.

Not doing that will be illogical.

Sure, but then we’ll have Whitman parents screaming about “bussing,” as we did in the Before Times. They paid a premium to live away from the Poors, and don’t you forget it.

Just rearrange the boundaries which allows efficient use of resource and also create as much diversity as possible in all schools. Whitman boundary can't be change too much due to where it's located unless solution is long distance bussing. I don't think long distance bussing should be an option, but boundary of Whitman should be adjusted along other schools.

It will help Whitman if it gets a bit more socioeconomic diversity.

I don’t disagree with you at all. I just remember the vitriol around this issue from a particular Whitman parent on FB again, pre-covid. It was… not pretty. People get very, very nasty when they perceive any decrease in their property values.

A small portion of Whitman may go to either WJ or BCC. It's not going to make too much difference.

More likely that some get added to Whitman, since it’s under capacity.

Yes. They can rezone Westbrook from BCC to Whitman, and then Woodlin from Einstein to BCC. That makes more sense than sending them to Woodward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BOE should do boundary study of Crown and Woodward at the same time. Just do it in advance and make the best possible choice in one go.

That would be

Woodward: B-CC, Blair, Einstein, WJ, Kennedy, Northwood, Wheaton, Whitman
Crown: Gaithersburg, QO, RM, Northwest

A total of 12 high schools, out of 25 total.

Plus Damascus, which should include Clarksburg and also Gaithersburg, which increases the total to 14.

Well, that would certainly be ambitious. I'm happy that my last child is graduating next year, enabling me to ignore all of it and redirect my time and mental energy to something productive, like maybe reading all of Proust in French.

No, they said in November they have different timelines in mind for each.