timeline for Woodward/WJ decision?

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are two separate questions here.

1. Will Woodward provide as good of education as WJ? The answer to that question is not clear, but it's unlikely to be a disaster.
2. Will housing value hold up in the parts of WJ district that will be moved into Woodward? Eventually possibly, but there is likely to be at least a short-term decrease in value.

So for any family, while the effect on their kids' educations is likely to be minimal, the effect on their financial health is likely to be considerable. It is only sensible that the couple is asking the question about stability of the school boundary before purchasing.


I agree. A house is the biggest investment of most American families. As the 2008 recession showed, buying an expensive house then having the price crash on you can alter your life trajectory.


Because rezoning to Woodward/from Walter Johnson is going to make property values crash? What, exactly, do you mean by crash?



I think what this person means is that in Kensington there is an approximately $100,000 difference between similar houses in the WJ portion v. the Einstein portion. By "crash" PP means having your house decrease in value by $100,000 because of a boundary change. (Houses in the B-CC part of Kensington seem to cost more than houses in either the Einstein or the WJ part of Kensington, but they are also generally on much bigger lots than the Einstein/WJ neighborhoods so it's harder to compare directly). Would this "crash" actually happen? Should one expect a boundary change to Woodward to cause a similar change? I don't know. No one knows. But that is the "crash" that PP is suggesting will occur.
Anonymous
"Agreed, from a fellow DCC parent. It's possible that we could be rezoned to Woodward, and I really don't know how I feel about that, given how horrified so many parents are that DCC kids would mix with theirs."

I don't care one way or another, as mine are all out of mcps, but there seems to be more complaints from DCC then WJ about Woodward and what might happen there/who might go there. I am a Woodward grad (aging myself), and the school had an excellent reputation. My guess is it will again, whenever it reopens (and again a guess, but I don't think it will be 2022). The bigger question is will the mascot and colors go back to the original?
Anonymous
If they draw a boundary with 20% FARMS for Woodward, to help reduce the rate at Einstein, then it will be like quince orchard, so not quite a 'w' school, but still good. Might even make the Kensington folks happier to have one neighborhood school. If they try to be more radical, like setting a higher FARMS rate or adding it to the DCC, then yes, I would expect the houses in the Wooten parts of Kensington to lose 100K in value. Hopefully the board will be reasonable, and not go crazy with their new power, to the point where you would see a backlash and a recall campaign, similar to what happened in NC.
Anonymous
Whitman, WJ, Weaton, Northwood, Kennedy, Einstein, Blair, and BCC are included in Woodward study. DCC is only part of the story.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:"Agreed, from a fellow DCC parent. It's possible that we could be rezoned to Woodward, and I really don't know how I feel about that, given how horrified so many parents are that DCC kids would mix with theirs."

I don't care one way or another, as mine are all out of mcps, but there seems to be more complaints from DCC then WJ about Woodward and what might happen there/who might go there. I am a Woodward grad (aging myself), and the school had an excellent reputation. My guess is it will again, whenever it reopens (and again a guess, but I don't think it will be 2022). The bigger question is will the mascot and colors go back to the original?


Where, on this board? I completely disagree. There are threads, many pages long, full of sheer panic about being moved into the DCC/out of WJ. It's not all about property value, either. A few of us DCC parents have chimed in and said, hm, not sure what it would be like for our kids to go to school with families who have gone out of their way to avoid us. I have no doubt Woodward will be a terrific school, but then, I don't mind my kids attending a DCC HS.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Whitman, WJ, Weaton, Northwood, Kennedy, Einstein, Blair, and BCC are included in Woodward study. DCC is only part of the story.


What is the source of your information for this?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:If they draw a boundary with 20% FARMS for Woodward, to help reduce the rate at Einstein, then it will be like quince orchard, so not quite a 'w' school, but still good. Might even make the Kensington folks happier to have one neighborhood school. If they try to be more radical, like setting a higher FARMS rate or adding it to the DCC, then yes, I would expect the houses in the Wooten parts of Kensington to lose 100K in value. Hopefully the board will be reasonable, and not go crazy with their new power, to the point where you would see a backlash and a recall campaign, similar to what happened in NC.


Panic! Poor kids! Panic! Panic!

-person whose kid goes to a middle school (not in the DCC) where 1 in 3 kids currently qualifies for free or reduced meals, and 1 in 2 either currently qualify or have done so in the past
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Whitman, WJ, Weaton, Northwood, Kennedy, Einstein, Blair, and BCC are included in Woodward study. DCC is only part of the story.


What is the source of your information for this?


Every single planning meeting MCPS has held regarding reopening of Woodward HS.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Whitman, WJ, Weaton, Northwood, Kennedy, Einstein, Blair, and BCC are included in Woodward study. DCC is only part of the story.


What is the source of your information for this?


Every single planning meeting MCPS has held regarding reopening of Woodward HS.


Anything in writing?
Anonymous

There are a lot of families on this forum who send their kids to Einstein and who are very happy. Many of them report that their children have been highly successful post graduation from Einstein. There is however a very noticeable difference in the real estate prices for homes zoned for WJ and homes zoned for Einstein (I would say it is close to $150,000) so there is justifiable concern about how a redistricting out of WJ would impact real estate values. For many middle class families, our homes are our most important asset.

I have looked at a couple of reports to see if there are objective differences in the performance of students at WJ and Einstein so we can go beyond anecdotes.

The first looks at SAT scores by school and breaks scores down by race etc. for each school . It is long but a lot of good information can be found on just one page (Table A8 in the Appendix)
https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2017/1771102HS%20Princ_SAT%20Partic_Perf%20Class%20of%202017.pdf
Every single student subgroup performs better in WJ by at least 100 points.

The second report looks at AP and IB results. It is even longer and harder to find one table that lays it all out. It looks like AP results are better at WJ. There is however a small group of students at Einstein that take IB tests (only 66 students at Einstein took one or more IB test compared to 282 at BCC and 189 at Rockville). These 66 students do well and 85% of them score 4 or higher on the test. See Table D3a and D3b
https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2018/2017%20AP%20IB%20Course%20Enrollment%20and%20Exam%20Participation%20Performance.pdf


Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Whitman, WJ, Weaton, Northwood, Kennedy, Einstein, Blair, and BCC are included in Woodward study. DCC is only part of the story.


What is the source of your information for this?


Every single planning meeting MCPS has held regarding reopening of Woodward HS.


Anything in writing?


Slides from one of the meetings:https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/planning/PIM2.23.17presentation(1).pdf
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
There are a lot of families on this forum who send their kids to Einstein and who are very happy. Many of them report that their children have been highly successful post graduation from Einstein. There is however a very noticeable difference in the real estate prices for homes zoned for WJ and homes zoned for Einstein (I would say it is close to $150,000) so there is justifiable concern about how a redistricting out of WJ would impact real estate values. For many middle class families, our homes are our most important asset.

I have looked at a couple of reports to see if there are objective differences in the performance of students at WJ and Einstein so we can go beyond anecdotes.

The first looks at SAT scores by school and breaks scores down by race etc. for each school . It is long but a lot of good information can be found on just one page (Table A8 in the Appendix)
https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2017/1771102HS%20Princ_SAT%20Partic_Perf%20Class%20of%202017.pdf
Every single student subgroup performs better in WJ by at least 100 points.

The second report looks at AP and IB results. It is even longer and harder to find one table that lays it all out. It looks like AP results are better at WJ. There is however a small group of students at Einstein that take IB tests (only 66 students at Einstein took one or more IB test compared to 282 at BCC and 189 at Rockville). These 66 students do well and 85% of them score 4 or higher on the test. See Table D3a and D3b
https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2018/2017%20AP%20IB%20Course%20Enrollment%20and%20Exam%20Participation%20Performance.pdf




WJ’s current boundary will change. Whether some of WJ will end up at Einstein or some of Einstein will attend Woodward, we don’t know. But you’re going to have to deal with the changes. I personally don’t care about your house value going up or down.

Fun fact: Einstein students can get into great universities with lower SAT scores, sometimes at the expense of stundents at higher performing local high schools with higher SAT scores!

Anonymous
I think there are some very ethically challenged people on here who are saying “no really, I don’t have any issue with low-income or brown kids, I just really want to protect my investment.”
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I think there are some very ethically challenged people on here who are saying “no really, I don’t have any issue with low-income or brown kids, I just really want to protect my investment.”

Nothing wrong with caring about your home’s value.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
There are a lot of families on this forum who send their kids to Einstein and who are very happy. Many of them report that their children have been highly successful post graduation from Einstein. There is however a very noticeable difference in the real estate prices for homes zoned for WJ and homes zoned for Einstein (I would say it is close to $150,000) so there is justifiable concern about how a redistricting out of WJ would impact real estate values. For many middle class families, our homes are our most important asset.

I have looked at a couple of reports to see if there are objective differences in the performance of students at WJ and Einstein so we can go beyond anecdotes.

The first looks at SAT scores by school and breaks scores down by race etc. for each school . It is long but a lot of good information can be found on just one page (Table A8 in the Appendix)
https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2017/1771102HS%20Princ_SAT%20Partic_Perf%20Class%20of%202017.pdf
Every single student subgroup performs better in WJ by at least 100 points.

The second report looks at AP and IB results. It is even longer and harder to find one table that lays it all out. It looks like AP results are better at WJ. There is however a small group of students at Einstein that take IB tests (only 66 students at Einstein took one or more IB test compared to 282 at BCC and 189 at Rockville). These 66 students do well and 85% of them score 4 or higher on the test. See Table D3a and D3b
https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2018/2017%20AP%20IB%20Course%20Enrollment%20and%20Exam%20Participation%20Performance.pdf




WJ’s current boundary will change. Whether some of WJ will end up at Einstein or some of Einstein will attend Woodward, we don’t know. But you’re going to have to deal with the changes. I personally don’t care about your house value going up or down.

Fun fact: Einstein students can get into great universities with lower SAT scores, sometimes at the expense of stundents at higher performing local high schools with higher SAT scores!


You might not care but it is a legitimate concern for homeowners in the WJ school cluster.
Good to hear about college placements for Einstein grads. It is unfortunate that there isn’t a list of college destinations for Einstein. Bethesda Magazine publishes the list for Bethesda area schools and Blair and RM but there isn’t a comparable list for the DCC and NEC. So the above two reports unfortunately remain the only objective source for comparison
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