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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
New CC Middle School
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Anonymous
Re: demographics of an east m.s. vs. a west m.s (i.e. Westland w/ some of Pyle) -- it is obvious that the demographics will be quite different, if you look at the demographics of each entering elementary. Rock Creek Forest, NCC, CCES and Bethesda all have higher minority and SES populations. If there is a new middle school on the eastern side of the county, there are only 2 options -- pick the elems closest to the new middle school to feed into it and have a higher minority/SES population than Westland OR don't pick the closest elem schools to feed in but bus kids back and forth across the county to achieve balance. Most BCC cluster parents I know don't support the new M.S. because of crowding at the elementaries with 6th grade. There are only 2 elementaries with 6th grades left --- CCES and NCC. CCES is not that overcrowded and doesn't look like it will be. Even if CCES were severely overcrowded, MCPS could simply take the Highly Gifted Center at CCES and site it at Somerset instead, which currently has an entire 3rd floor which is unused. NCC is overcrowded and is scheduled to get an addition. Perhaps NCC parents support a new M.S. to alleviate crowding at NCC, but that is not " a lot of Eastern cluster parents." Most BCC cluster parents support the new middle school for 2 reasons -- Westland is very overcrowded and will be wildly so if the 6th grade is shifted to Westland immediately (now a possibility under 2 proposed BoE alternative resolutions), and kids on the eastern side of the cluster have to put up with long travel/bus times to middle school. Re: Pyle -- for a long time Pyle has been seen as the "best" middle school in the county, and Westland has been perceived as "the weak link in the chain" of the BCC cluster. I personally think a Westland has improved, but these perceptions are why I'm guessing many Pyle parents might be unhappy at the idea of being redirected to Westland. But, why guess? Why doesn't MCPS get the Pyle parents involved in the Westland capacity/future districting issues? Mmm. Perhaps because MCPS doesn't want to open that discussion until it is a fait accompli on the Westland side and Westland is so undercapacity that there is pressure to switch Pyle parents there? |
Anonymous
According to MCPS Schools at a Glance 2010 data, the FARMS rates of BCC cluster schools are: CCES < 10%, NCC 7.3%, RCFES 22%, Bethesda 6%, Rosemary Hills 15%. It's true that Somerset at 2% and Westbrook at 4% FARMS do have fewer low SES students. Still, the rest of the cluster doesn't have huge FARMS rates. |
Anonymous
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The arguement that Westland is currently overcrowded is factually incorrect. According to the CIP, the current enrollment is 1044, and the capactiy is 1063. Certainly adding the sixth graders to Westland would result in an overcrowded school, but it is not currently overcrowded.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/PDF/CIP12_Ch4_BCC.pdf |
Anonymous
Please read the entire line of that CIP. While it is true that Westland is not overcrowded according to "program capacity" THIS year, next year it will be overcrowded by 70, and by 2013 it will be overcrowded by 276. There are already trailers on the ground at Westland to augment building capacity. These numbers are before even considering moving the CCES/NCC 6th grades to Westland which the BoE has proposed one alternative for next year. If that is done, the will be crowding by 2-300 next year and in a few years the overcrowding at Westland will be by 500 for a total of 1500 students in a building with core facilities (lunch, lockers, gym) built for only 1000. PP might have meant by "overcrowded" that as middle schools go Westland is quite large. There are not many parents that are crazy about sending their 6th graders to school with 1000 other kids. That seems too big for many parents. |
Anonymous
| Anyone go to the meeting tonight? What happened? |
Anonymous
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We learned that just about all schools in the county are overcrowded and that a very large number of them don't just need additions. Their core facilities are so old and in such disrepair that the county has no choice but to tear down and rebuild. Hopefully the state will give us our money so these projects can stay on track. We also learned that the county is having trouble finding sites large enough for schools so perhaps they need to advocate to rein in the Planning Commission. We observed Patricia O'Neill fawning over the guy who represents BCC Cluster.
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Anonymous
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Just saw this article http://bethesda.patch.com/articles/weast-recommends-moving-up-boundary-study-for-bethesda-chevy-chase-elementary-schools
saying that Weast recommends doing the boundary study earlier. While that does nothing for my kids, one point surprised me: "However, those who showed up to advocate for the study said not many parents, in fact, followed the set matriculation pattern – some parents had petitioned for their students to attend Bethesda Elementary for kindergarten through fifth grades. Others whose children attended Rosemary Hills petitioned for their children to attend Chevy Chase or North Chevy Chase Elementary for grades 3-6 so they could follow their peers rather than enter an entirely new school community at Bethesda Elementary." Is this true? How hard/easy is it to change the matriculation pattern for your child? |
Anonymous
That discussion (and the push for the earlier boundary study) is specific to kids in East Bethesda, who are officially supposed to go to RHPS from k-2 and then to BE from 3-5 (meanwhile everyone else at RHPS goes to either CCES or NCCES, and everyone else at BE is there for k-5). Because it's been understood to be a little unfair to this small group of kids to make them switch from one set of schools to another the county has had a policy of allowing parents to apply for a "transfer" from BE to CCES or NCCES without the need for a hardship showing. Generally to change your school assignment requires a hardship showing (or a magnet/immersion/HGC etc. program)-- and from what I've heard it is very difficult. |
Anonymous
| What about going the other way? We're zoned RHPS to CCES, and I'd be much happier to have them in Bethesda the whole time. Does that happen? It had never occurred to me; we were just going to do private school to avoid so much moving around. |
Anonymous
I don't think that happens. BE used to let some of the kids zoned RHPS to BE start at BE in k (especially if they had siblings already there) but they stopped doing that, so I expect it would be a nonstarter for someone in your situation. I will say that we looked at private because we weren't happy with the articulation for East Bethesda (including the size of RHPS, and things like homework in k-2) but we ended up going to RHPS and being very happy there. I think RHPS-CCES is a great zone and *personally* I don't think the k-2/3-6 split should be a reason to go private (if anything, it might be a reason to go public). |
Anonymous
| Thanks, 10:10. How did you feel about the size at RHES? DD is in a really small preschool, and I'm pretty concerned about moving from a class of 15 (and only 45 in the whole school) to a place of that size, especially w/r/to the bus. Do they do anything to make the place seem less chaotic and huge? |
Anonymous
Everyone should understand that there were 2 kinds of transfers/transfer points for kids in the RHPS/BES/NCCES/CCES paired arrangements. One transfer still exists, one has been suspended, as of Feb. 2009. I am not aware of any changes since then. All students graduating from RHPS in 2nd grade have a choice about whether to attend BES/CCES/NCCES. Students are assigned to these schools by default based on geographic areas. But, if a parent wants to change their school among these three for any reason, the parent simply has to fill out a "change of school assignment" (COSA) form and the change will be made. This type of transfer is a special right granted at the pairings of the school, and was granted in acknowledgement of the special burdens parents and families bear due to the split articulation from RHPS. (Most other paired schools in the system are just one upper and one lower school paired together so families, students and friends are not split apart at such a young age, they are all merely moving to a new building together.) This transfer provides transportation to the school of choice. This transfer option is still in place. The second type of transfer done under an "informal agreement" basis allowed students in the geographic area for BE to request a transfer to BE for the K-2 years. This type of transfer has been suspended by the Superintendent. The reason many parents were requesting this transfer is because of the unique situation of BE in the pairing -- it is the only school where part of the BE district goes to RHPS and part go to BE. Thus, it is the only school where kids leaving RHPS are transferring into an existing school body, which can make it hard to make new friends and find a place in the community. At CCES and NCCES, all students start in 3rd grade and all students are coming from k-2 from RHPS (except a small number from privates, other school districts, etc.) Because so many BE parents were using the k-2 transfer options to evade the pairing entirely and so many BE parents were using the other transfer option to get out of BE altogether a lot of uncertainty was introduced into the MCPS planning process and the East Bethesda neighborhood became fragmented by school. (No judgment here, parents had reasons to do so such as siblings in the upper school, the issue of entering in 3rd grade, etc.) So, since the agreement for the K-2 transfers was informal, the Superintendent could suspend this informally agreed transfer immediately, and he did. However, the agreement for transfer between the upper schools (CCES/BES/NCCES) paired with RHPS stems from a BoE resolution on 3/83 which paired the schools. This transfer right, in my understanding, can not simply be suspended by the Superintendent; to change it would require a BoE resolution (which could be accomplished by the Superintendent submitting such a recommendation as part of the boundary change process and having the BoE vote to approve that). Outside of these transfer options, the general MCPS-wide transfer policy still applies -- hardship, etc. These are very hard to get and are only granted for "unique circumstances" of hardship, not ones that are generally applicable. For example, requesting such a transfer due to work, daycare, or siblings would be rejected, unless the older sibling was in grade 1 or 2 at BE (there is lengthy convoluted logic on this last point). If you are zoned for RHPS/CCES you will not be able to request a transfer to BE at the k-2 level, unless you can demonstrate hardship, but you can request transfer without any particular reason after 2nd grade for the 3-6 years at BE and it should be automatically granted. Caveat -- there have been successful legal challenges to the BE transfer prohibition, so anyone considering this route should do a little legal research. See http://www.ebca.org/education/Bowers%20Feb%2009.pdf and opinion 9-23 of the Maryland Board of Education and subsequent appeals. |
Anonymous
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One issue is that many of the parents in East Bethesda listened to their real estate agent who said to them, yes your kid can go to BE. It is also a black /white issue. Back when Lynbrook closed, they took the kids from East Bethesda and put them it RHES and took the kids form Paddington Square and switched them to create diversity. They all end up at Westland and B-CC is they are in public schools, all the schools are great, RHES is built for the younger kids. Jerry Weast punted and doesn’t care, the chance to get things changed or solidified past on Election Day. People could have asked those running what they will do about this issue but few did. They voted for the same Council and BoE that does nothing about education for taxpayers. |
Anonymous
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Dumb question from a RHPS parent: when my child finishes RHPS, if I request a transfer to BE instead of CC or NCC, for example, would that then send my child to go to Whitman instead of BCC? I'm curious in part because I hadn't realized that BE students go onto Pyle and Whitman, vs. NCC and CCES which go to Westland and BCC. Or do the RHPS kids who go to BE then automatically revert back to the Westland-BCC route?
I'm not suggesting I'd want Whitman over BCC (I'm not sure actually - just don't know enough) but I'm curious how this all works. |
Anonymous
No, my understanding is that until this year, BE had a split articulation -- a small portion went to Pyle/Whitman, the rest went to Westland/BCC. But, this year, MCPS redistricted a far western portion of the BE school to Bradley Hills and those kids in subsequent years will move on with the Bradley Hills peers to Pyle and Whitman. The rest of the BE neighborhood will continue to follow the BE/Westland/BCC track. As far as I know, there is absolutely no discussion or intention of redistricting the remaining BE neighborhoods entirely to Pyle/Whitman. The East Bethesda part of BE surrounds BCC, so that would be kind of silly if they were sent to Pyle. In fact, if a second BCC middle school is built as the community is advocating and as the BoE seems to support, then the BE neighborhood must really remain at Westland, because presumably the BCC2 middle school will be built more to the east or north of the district and the CCES/NCC/RCF districts would be assigned to the new school and Westbrook, Somerset, BE would remain at Westland. Of course, much would depend on exactly where the county finds land for the BCC2 middle school. Not a BE parent/somewhere else in cluster, but hoping to buy one day in the neighborhood, so confirmation of my understanding from a BE parent would be welcome. |