Increased class sizes--what can I do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County Council and BOE. But they will do what they want to do, and find a way to place blame on everyone but themselves.

Council has ZERO control over class sizes. Don't waste your time. It's already the perennial fight between Council and MCPS.

The County Council is pushing all the new development despite school overcrowding.

Which "all the new development" are you referring to, in particular?

For example, as far as I know, the most over capacity elementary schools in MCPS are Rachel Carson ES and Matsunaga ES. What "new development" is the County Council pushing in those areas? How about at Great Seneca Creek ES? Or Westover ES? Or McAuliffe ES?

I'm not the one that wrote "all the new development", but lets start with the thouands of units going to be built around the Shady Grove Metro. The developer is required to find a new location for the MCPS Bus Depot there, but isn't being held to the agreement.

Then we can move to the entire Clarksburg area, which has so much built that Clarksburg HS will soon be undergoing their 2nd addition.

Then we can travel to the western side of the county where Crown Farm is being urbanized.

Then go slightly farther down the road where thousands on housing units are being planned for the new science triangle.

You can also check out all the new development along the ICC path (Route 28 and 97). Two new housing developments near Magruder HS, etc....

That's all new development.

RM district is severely overcrowded and we have been promised a 5th ES for years. JW is getting a minimal addition, RM which is brand new already has a committee formed and zoning being looked at for an addition. But they continue to build up Park Potomac, Rockvlle Town enter, and Twinbrook urbanization. All areas that go to the cluster that has at least 4-5 portables in every school. . Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RM district is severely overcrowded and we have been promised a 5th ES for years. JW is getting a minimal addition, RM which is brand new already has a committee formed and zoning being looked at for an addition. But they continue to build up Park Potomac, Rockvlle Town enter, and Twinbrook urbanization. All areas that go to the cluster that has at least 4-5 portables in every school. . Ridiculous.

Park Potomac is the county, so you can yell at the County Council about that, but Rockville Town Center and Twinbrook are City of Rockville.

In any case, the argument seems to be -- schools are over capacity because of turnover in existing housing, therefore we must stop all new development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The is the standard County Council response to citizens who claim we cannot handle all the new development that the Council is so eager to have here. We can easily handle the natural generational turnover in real estate. Councilmember representing Potomac/Chevy chase/Bethesda is the worst offender in making such false claims.

We evidently can't easily handle the natural generational turnover in real estate, given that the schools are currently over capacity due largely to natural generational turnover in real estate. Or, if you believe that this is false and new development is the reason why the over-capacity schools are over capacity, then please provide the data to support your claims.

You could start with Burning Tree ES. Here's the service area map:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/BurningTreeES.pdf

Burning Tree has a capacity of 379, and this year the enrollment was 492. Which new development(s) caused the over-capacity enrollment at Burning Tree?

[Anonymous]

RM district is severely overcrowded and we have been promised a 5th ES for years. JW is getting a minimal addition, RM which is brand new already has a committee formed and zoning being looked at for an addition. But they continue to build up Park Potomac, Rockvlle Town enter, and Twinbrook urbanization. All areas that go to the cluster that has at least 4-5 portables in every school. . Ridiculous.

The "minimal addition" adds 22 classrooms..though I am not arguing that it is a very over crowded cluster and seeing Parc Potomac grow is a concern,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RM district is severely overcrowded and we have been promised a 5th ES for years. JW is getting a minimal addition, RM which is brand new already has a committee formed and zoning being looked at for an addition. But they continue to build up Park Potomac, Rockvlle Town enter, and Twinbrook urbanization. All areas that go to the cluster that has at least 4-5 portables in every school. . Ridiculous.

2007 (when the renovated RM opened) is not brand new. MCPS enrollment in 2007-2008 was 138,256. It's now 153,852.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County Council and BOE. But they will do what they want to do, and find a way to place blame on everyone but themselves.

Council has ZERO control over class sizes. Don't waste your time. It's already the perennial fight between Council and MCPS.

The County Council is pushing all the new development despite school overcrowding.

Which "all the new development" are you referring to, in particular?

For example, as far as I know, the most over capacity elementary schools in MCPS are Rachel Carson ES and Matsunaga ES. What "new development" is the County Council pushing in those areas? How about at Great Seneca Creek ES? Or Westover ES? Or McAuliffe ES?

I'm not the one that wrote "all the new development", but lets start with the thouands of units going to be built around the Shady Grove Metro. The developer is required to find a new location for the MCPS Bus Depot there, but isn't being held to the agreement.

Then we can move to the entire Clarksburg area, which has so much built that Clarksburg HS will soon be undergoing their 2nd addition.

Then we can travel to the western side of the county where Crown Farm is being urbanized.

Then go slightly farther down the road where thousands on housing units are being planned for the new science triangle.

You can also check out all the new development along the ICC path (Route 28 and 97). Two new housing developments near Magruder HS, etc....

That's all new development.

Do you think that a school bus depot is a better use of land immediately next to Shady Grove Metro than mixed-use development?

The County Council is not pushing any development in Clarksburg. The plans for that development go back to 1993. In fact, the County Council recently greatly limited development in one part of Clarksburg (Ten Mile Creek).

The County Council has nothing to do with Crown Farm, which is in the City of Gaithersburg.

The Science City master plan certainly potentially allows a lot of development. How much of that has been built? JHU hasn't even built out to the limits allowed in the previous master plan and is not allowed to build anything under the current master plan until construction of the Corridor Cities Transitway is funded. How many years away is that?

Development in the eastern county stopped for 20 years -- do you think that was good for the eastern county? http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/affluent-montgomery-county-has-pockets-of-poverty-mostly-in-the-east/2014/09/06/e09dbb6a-1cea-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html

Most importantly -- people are blaming new development for schools that are over capacity. And new development has certainly caused some schools to be over capacity (for example, the schools in Clarksburg). But there are plenty of schools that are over capacity due to families with children moving into existing housing. If you want to make a big dent in the capacity problems at MCPS, then you should support a ban on families with children moving into existing housing.

No a bus depot near a Metro Station isn't ideal. However the Council is letting the developer off the hook to find a new site. if that isn't catering to developers then I'm not sure what is.

The County Council certainly didn't object to Gaithersburg annexing the Crown Farm and allowing the development. Did you hear any of the Council members object or try to stop it? So yes, currently it is Gaithersburg, but it wasn't originally.

The Science City allows huge development (nearly 6000 housing units and over 6 million sq feet of development). That's more than some development.

The point is that major development has taken place over the last 10-15 years (think King Farm, Rockville Town Center, etc.). That can't be denied. And yes it has an impact on school capacity.

Development is fine, but it should be managed to mesh with traffic, schools, etc. That isn't happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Development is fine, but it should be managed to mesh with traffic, schools, etc. That isn't happening.

In other words, mobility and school capacity should improve as population increases.

Nobody disagrees with this idea.

[Anonymous]

The reason for the cuts is that Gov. Hogan won't release $68 million in fund allocated to public schools that includes MoCo, PG, Howard and others. The money can only be used for education. He's playing a political game of chicken to get Democrats to fund the state pension fund. I'll let others discuss and debate what's right and wrong here. Just wanted to get the facts straight.

[Anonymous]

Tell people to stop moving to Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Development is fine, but it should be managed to mesh with traffic, schools, etc. That isn't happening.

In other words, mobility and school capacity should improve as population increases.

Nobody disagrees with this idea.

Sure, but it hasn't happened, which falls on the County council and to a degree MCPS. The Council appears to favor developers in this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Development is fine, but it should be managed to mesh with traffic, schools, etc. That isn't happening.

In other words, mobility and school capacity should improve as population increases.

Nobody disagrees with this idea.

Sure, but it hasn't happened, which falls on the County council and to a degree MCPS. The Council appears to favor developers in this way.

In what way? This only favors developers if your opinion is that development must never proceed unless there are mobility improvements and school capacity increases. We know what happens with a development moratorium, and it's nothing good: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/23748/in-white-oak-the-regions-east-west-divide-becomes-an-urban-suburban-one/

Also, people often use "developer" as a synonym for "the bad guys". Who built the neighborhood you live in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Development is fine, but it should be managed to mesh with traffic, schools, etc. That isn't happening.

In other words, mobility and school capacity should improve as population increases.

Nobody disagrees with this idea.

Sure, but it hasn't happened, which falls on the County council and to a degree MCPS. The Council appears to favor developers in this way.

In what way? This only favors developers if your opinion is that development must never proceed unless there are mobility improvements and school capacity increases. We know what happens with a development moratorium, and it's nothing good: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/23748/in-white-oak-the-regions-east-west-divide-becomes-an-urban-suburban-one/

Also, people often use "developer" as a synonym for "the bad guys". Who built the neighborhood you live in?

You finally might get the point. yes there shouldn't be development if schools and roads and infrastructure aren't built along with it.

You also point out a false choice. the choices aren't development without schools/roads/etc OR no development. There is a third option and it's the one above. Build them all; homes, commercial, roads, schools, etc. If the CC won't force all to be built at once then no development. Instead we get development and overcrowded roads, overcrowded schools, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go private - they do not care what you think.

DH and I both graduated MCPS. The school district has changed so much. Our kids are now in private due to class sizes. I just don't understand how one adult can be expected to teach at differentiated levels, monitor behavior, document for IEPs, tie shoes and help with bathroom accidents, plan, grade, and meet with parents for 26-38 kids.

26-38 kids per class?!!!! That's crazy. Wow. I can understand why you're upset. Those poor teachers and those poor kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go private - they do not care what you think.

DH and I both graduated MCPS. The school district has changed so much. Our kids are now in private due to class sizes. I just don't understand how one adult can be expected to teach at differentiated levels, monitor behavior, document for IEPs, tie shoes and help with bathroom accidents, plan, grade, and meet with parents for 26-38 kids.

26-38 kids per class?!!!! That's crazy. Wow. I can understand why you're upset. Those poor teachers and those poor kids.

As far as I know, nobody in MCPS is teaching a class of 38 students of the age that needs help with tying shoes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RM district is severely overcrowded and we have been promised a 5th ES for years. JW is getting a minimal addition, RM which is brand new already has a committee formed and zoning being looked at for an addition. But they continue to build up Park Potomac, Rockvlle Town enter, and Twinbrook urbanization. All areas that go to the cluster that has at least 4-5 portables in every school. . Ridiculous.

2007 (when the renovated RM opened) is not brand new. MCPS enrollment in 2007-2008 was 138,256. It's now 153,852.

But the projections were there since Fallsgrove was getting growing families, Park Potomac, Rockville Town Center, condos in Twinbrook and new Townhomes/condos in Beall. They chose not to make the school bigger. It was close to 95% filled at opening. They could have added an unfinished level. They have ZERO room for an addition. It was not well thought out. My guess is they will move IB instead. Probably to Rockville High School