MCPS Boundary Reassessment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RPES in RM cluster is overcrowded and right next to Wootton ES with empty seats.

Leaving empty seats in schools when nearby school is over crowded, what a waste!

Then MCPS complains about lack of funding. First start using the current resources optimally and then think of adding something.

QO is overcrowded, too. I think there is already a trifecta boundary study that's going to happen with QO, Wootton and Gaithersburg HS. And then there's Crown HS.

RMHS is over capacity, and project to be over capacity by about 20% or so in about six years time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RPES in RM cluster is overcrowded and right next to Wootton ES with empty seats.

Leaving empty seats in schools when nearby school is over crowded, what a waste!

Then MCPS complains about lack of funding. First start using the current resources optimally and then think of adding something.

Didn't Richie Park used to be part of Wootton 15 years ago? I thought it was moved into RM because RM was so under capacity it was about to close and MCPs wanted more UM white kids there so they pulled the neighborhood out of W and into RM.


Just create a dual enrollment zone for Richie Park with Coldspring and Lakewood. Enough parents will switch over to balance it out.

Sorry, that’s not the way it works. A redistricting means Ritchie Park can be assigned to any pyramid the board thinks is good. It’s not back to Wooton or stay st RM. you could be assigned to Gaithersburg to help with leveling the FARMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RPES in RM cluster is overcrowded and right next to Wootton ES with empty seats.

Leaving empty seats in schools when nearby school is over crowded, what a waste!

Then MCPS complains about lack of funding. First start using the current resources optimally and then think of adding something.

Didn't Richie Park used to be part of Wootton 15 years ago? I thought it was moved into RM because RM was so under capacity it was about to close and MCPs wanted more UM white kids there so they pulled the neighborhood out of W and into RM.

Just create a dual enrollment zone for Richie Park with Coldspring and Lakewood. Enough parents will switch over to balance it out.

I think it was much earlier than 15 years. One way or another, MCPS should use the capacity in nearby schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RPES in RM cluster is overcrowded and right next to Wootton ES with empty seats.

Leaving empty seats in schools when nearby school is over crowded, what a waste!

Then MCPS complains about lack of funding. First start using the current resources optimally and then think of adding something.

Didn't Richie Park used to be part of Wootton 15 years ago? I thought it was moved into RM because RM was so under capacity it was about to close and MCPs wanted more UM white kids there so they pulled the neighborhood out of W and into RM.


Just create a dual enrollment zone for Richie Park with Coldspring and Lakewood. Enough parents will switch over to balance it out.

Sorry, that’s not the way it works. A redistricting means Ritchie Park can be assigned to any pyramid the board thinks is good. It’s not back to Wooton or stay st RM. you could be assigned to Gaithersburg to help with leveling the FARMS.

Leveling the FARMs can be done as much as possible, but there is no excuse for keeping one school at 80% and another at 120% when they are side by side. That's simply horrible way to run a school system.

[Anonymous]

Listen, the "haves" lost the election by 2% in two key BOE races, and then, inexplicably, held on to houses in the eastern boundaries of strong school districts. What do you expect? That you can stay home, stay uninformed, not mobilize, and just coast in the era of populism?

Organize. Talk to your neighbors. Donate $$$ to sane candidates, or you will lose many-fold in real estate resale and your children's diminished lifetime earnings.

[Anonymous]

People are thinking too narrowly. The purpose for hiring a consultant is to look not only at MCPS's specific issues, but to look at creative solutions beyond fixed boundaries that are used elsewhere? What if every neighborhood had two or three schools at each level that it was "zoned" to, and there was a choice lottery process to place students when they entered K, 6, or 9 based on both interest and space available? MSMC and DCC already do this. You would just localize it more. That has the long term advantage of being able to shift students gradually as the demographics of different areas change.

Short term, I'd bet that a fair amount of underutilization could be solved if they allowed COSAs to move from a school over 110% to one under 90%, parents arrange transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are thinking too narrowly. The purpose for hiring a consultant is to look not only at MCPS's specific issues, but to look at creative solutions beyond fixed boundaries that are used elsewhere? What if every neighborhood had two or three schools at each level that it was "zoned" to, and there was a choice lottery process to place students when they entered K, 6, or 9 based on both interest and space available? MSMC and DCC already do this. You would just localize it more. That has the long term advantage of being able to shift students gradually as the demographics of different areas change.

Short term, I'd bet that a fair amount of underutilization could be solved if they allowed COSAs to move from a school over 110% to one under 90%, parents arrange transportation.

For this type of creative study, can it be achieved within half a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RPES in RM cluster is overcrowded and right next to Wootton ES with empty seats.

Leaving empty seats in schools when nearby school is over crowded, what a waste!

Then MCPS complains about lack of funding. First start using the current resources optimally and then think of adding something.

Didn't Richie Park used to be part of Wootton 15 years ago? I thought it was moved into RM because RM was so under capacity it was about to close and MCPs wanted more UM white kids there so they pulled the neighborhood out of W and into RM.


Just create a dual enrollment zone for Richie Park with Coldspring and Lakewood. Enough parents will switch over to balance it out.

Sorry, that’s not the way it works. A redistricting means Ritchie Park can be assigned to any pyramid the board thinks is good. It’s not back to Wooton or stay st RM. you could be assigned to Gaithersburg to help with leveling the FARMS.

Leveling the FARMs can be done as much as possible, but there is no excuse for keeping one school at 80% and another at 120% when they are side by side. That's simply horrible way to run a school system.

It’s aftuslly required. Optimizing a complex system requires deoptiimizing its subsystems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Although we cannot address housing patterns or solve socioeconomic inequity challenges within
our county, we can examine how such factors might impact, or be mitigated by, how school
boundaries are drawn and/or where academic programs are placed and provide the Board with an
opportunity to be intentional in creating equitable learning environments that leverage the assets
of Montgomery County. In particular, the current conditions create a unique opportunity to take
an in depth look at promoting diverse student bodies and maximizing facility utilization.
It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with
adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial
demographics and disparities in facility utilization. Examining the possibility of altering the
boundaries for these schools can present opportunities for progress toward ensuring that all
students are able to reap the significant benefits of attending school with a diverse student body,
and having class sizes that allow time and space for enhanced educational experiences."

If you read this, my interpretation is that this is the first step to try and redraw boundaries in a much broader way than has ever been seen with the main goal being reducing socioeconomic disparity.

And more and more people will go private or flee.

again, doubtful it will happen - The transportation issues are far too logistically complex to address. And kids aren't going to sit on a bus for hours for the purpose of addressing disparities.

You don't need to sit on a bus for hours to go to an adjacent school. If there are nearby schools, one overcrowded and one with space available, I'm in favor of them redrawing boundaries to take advantage of that. Whether they need to hire a consultant to figure that out is another question.

Well, perhaps your bus rides were a cake walk, but when we lived in Brookeville (the "outer part,"), my kids were on the bus for an hour, as the boundaries for the Sherwood cluster reach up to the intersection of New Hampshire and Georgia avenues.

You see. . . when you're used to more of a suburban setting, you don't get the full picture, as the homes in the outer burbs are much more spread out. In fact, in our former 'hood, we were a stone's throw away from Howard County.

Regarding redrawing boundaries, imagine sending Sherwood kids to Gaithersburg. b/c where else would they go? The ride would be just as brutal.

You could force Sherwood into the NEC, but I can guarantee many parents would head into private, as this was a proposal they balked out years ago when the NEC was forming. And you clearly wouldn't "swap" Sherwood kids with Damascus kids. What's the point of that?

So for densely packed areas, you worry about traffic. In more rural settings, you have traffic, winding roads, and distance. And if there's an accident on a two-lane road, kids aren't getting to school.

just sharing MY perspective

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are thinking too narrowly. The purpose for hiring a consultant is to look not only at MCPS's specific issues, but to look at creative solutions beyond fixed boundaries that are used elsewhere? What if every neighborhood had two or three schools at each level that it was "zoned" to, and there was a choice lottery process to place students when they entered K, 6, or 9 based on both interest and space available? MSMC and DCC already do this. You would just localize it more. That has the long term advantage of being able to shift students gradually as the demographics of different areas change.

Short term, I'd bet that a fair amount of underutilization could be solved if they allowed COSAs to move from a school over 110% to one under 90%, parents arrange transportation.

I just responded about urban/suburban vs. "rural" (or outer burbs). If you look at the map - zoom in - you'll note that your suggestion could NEVER happen, as there are fewer schools in the outer burbs. Transportation for kids in less densely populated areas would be a nightmare.

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/Viewer.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Although we cannot address housing patterns or solve socioeconomic inequity challenges within
our county, we can examine how such factors might impact, or be mitigated by, how school
boundaries are drawn and/or where academic programs are placed and provide the Board with an
opportunity to be intentional in creating equitable learning environments that leverage the assets
of Montgomery County. In particular, the current conditions create a unique opportunity to take
an in depth look at promoting diverse student bodies and maximizing facility utilization.
It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with
adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial
demographics and disparities in facility utilization. Examining the possibility of altering the
boundaries for these schools can present opportunities for progress toward ensuring that all
students are able to reap the significant benefits of attending school with a diverse student body,
and having class sizes that allow time and space for enhanced educational experiences."

If you read this, my interpretation is that this is the first step to try and redraw boundaries in a much broader way than has ever been seen with the main goal being reducing socioeconomic disparity.

And more and more people will go private or flee.

again, doubtful it will happen - The transportation issues are far too logistically complex to address. And kids aren't going to sit on a bus for hours for the purpose of addressing disparities.

You don't need to sit on a bus for hours to go to an adjacent school. If there are nearby schools, one overcrowded and one with space available, I'm in favor of them redrawing boundaries to take advantage of that. Whether they need to hire a consultant to figure that out is another question.

Well, perhaps your bus rides were a cake walk, but when we lived in Brookeville (the "outer part,"), my kids were on the bus for an hour, as the boundaries for the Sherwood cluster reach up to the intersection of New Hampshire and Georgia avenues.

You see. . . when you're used to more of a suburban setting, you don't get the full picture, as the homes in the outer burbs are much more spread out. In fact, in our former 'hood, we were a stone's throw away from Howard County.

Regarding redrawing boundaries, imagine sending Sherwood kids to Gaithersburg. b/c where else would they go? The ride would be just as brutal.

You could force Sherwood into the NEC, but I can guarantee many parents would head into private, as this was a proposal they balked out years ago when the NEC was forming. And you clearly wouldn't "swap" Sherwood kids with Damascus kids. What's the point of that?

So for densely packed areas, you worry about traffic. In more rural settings, you have traffic, winding roads, and distance. And if there's an accident on a two-lane road, kids aren't getting to school.

just sharing MY perspective

Sure. But I don't see how that's inconsistent with the above: "It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with
adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial demographics and disparities in facility utilization."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Although we cannot address housing patterns or solve socioeconomic inequity challenges within
our county, we can examine how such factors might impact, or be mitigated by, how school
boundaries are drawn and/or where academic programs are placed and provide the Board with an
opportunity to be intentional in creating equitable learning environments that leverage the assets
of Montgomery County. In particular, the current conditions create a unique opportunity to take
an in depth look at promoting diverse student bodies and maximizing facility utilization.
It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with
adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial
demographics and disparities in facility utilization. Examining the possibility of altering the
boundaries for these schools can present opportunities for progress toward ensuring that all
students are able to reap the significant benefits of attending school with a diverse student body,
and having class sizes that allow time and space for enhanced educational experiences."

If you read this, my interpretation is that this is the first step to try and redraw boundaries in a much broader way than has ever been seen with the main goal being reducing socioeconomic disparity.

And more and more people will go private or flee.

again, doubtful it will happen - The transportation issues are far too logistically complex to address. And kids aren't going to sit on a bus for hours for the purpose of addressing disparities.

You don't need to sit on a bus for hours to go to an adjacent school. If there are nearby schools, one overcrowded and one with space available, I'm in favor of them redrawing boundaries to take advantage of that. Whether they need to hire a consultant to figure that out is another question.

Well, perhaps your bus rides were a cake walk, but when we lived in Brookeville (the "outer part,"), my kids were on the bus for an hour, as the boundaries for the Sherwood cluster reach up to the intersection of New Hampshire and Georgia avenues.

You see. . . when you're used to more of a suburban setting, you don't get the full picture, as the homes in the outer burbs are much more spread out. In fact, in our former 'hood, we were a stone's throw away from Howard County.

Regarding redrawing boundaries, imagine sending Sherwood kids to Gaithersburg. b/c where else would they go? The ride would be just as brutal.

You could force Sherwood into the NEC, but I can guarantee many parents would head into private, as this was a proposal they balked out years ago when the NEC was forming. And you clearly wouldn't "swap" Sherwood kids with Damascus kids. What's the point of that?

So for densely packed areas, you worry about traffic. In more rural settings, you have traffic, winding roads, and distance. And if there's an accident on a two-lane road, kids aren't getting to school.

just sharing MY perspective

Sure. But I don't see how that's inconsistent with the above: "It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with
adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial demographics and disparities in facility utilization."

If they redraw boundaries, it will be done for every school, as the goal is to balance out FARMs, no? After all, it's done in the name of equity. It will, however, cause an uproar no matter what. If, for example, the county does focus on schools in the Rockville/Gaithersburg (densely populated) areas but ignores Sherwood and Damascus, guess what parents will do?

Blake may be the closest school (geographically) to Sherwood, yet Blake has twice as many FARMs. Blake, which is part of the NEC, is already pulling from areas around Colesville Road b/c it never had a true geographical feeder pattern. So you can either ignore the FARMs disparity, or you can force schools into another redistricting move.

Here's the truth - Forceful measures RARELY work on people with means, as FARMs, sadly, represent a "threat" to property values.

[Anonymous]

With the trifecta boundary study going on Upcounty now, the boundary study for DCC/Northwood that will happen soon, the one for Woodward within the next year or two or maybe three, who knows, and another one for Crown, are they going to redistrict all those people twice in a matter of a few years? Or will this boundary study only affect the people not going through a boundary study now?

Kind of seems like a waste of valuable resources to me, when we've already got half the county scheduled for boundary studies in the next few years. I also don't believe it's possible for a consultant to understand the complex system that MCPS is, between January 8th, and June. In five months, they're going to come in, evaluate, understand, and make recommendations that will actually make a difference? Sure...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RPES in RM cluster is overcrowded and right next to Wootton ES with empty seats.

Leaving empty seats in schools when nearby school is over crowded, what a waste!

Then MCPS complains about lack of funding. First start using the current resources optimally and then think of adding something.

Didn't Richie Park used to be part of Wootton 15 years ago? I thought it was moved into RM because RM was so under capacity it was about to close and MCPs wanted more UM white kids there so they pulled the neighborhood out of W and into RM.

Just create a dual enrollment zone for Richie Park with Coldspring and Lakewood. Enough parents will switch over to balance it out.

This happened in 1987. 31 years ago. Ronald Reagan told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, the Dow Jones went above 2,000 for the first time (and then crashed), and the #1 song was Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: With the trifecta boundary study going on Upcounty now, the boundary study for DCC/Northwood that will happen soon, the one for Woodward within the next year or two or maybe three, who knows, and another one for Crown, are they going to redistrict all those people twice in a matter of a few years? Or will this boundary study only affect the people not going through a boundary study now?

Kind of seems like a waste of valuable resources to me, when we've already got half the county scheduled for boundary studies in the next few years. I also don't believe it's possible for a consultant to understand the complex system that MCPS is, between January 8th, and June. In five months, they're going to come in, evaluate, understand, and make recommendations that will actually make a difference? Sure...

Trifecta? It's a boundary study involving Clarksburg HS, Seneca Valley HS, and Northwest HS, so that some of the overenrollment at Clarksburg and Northwest can be accommodated at the new, much larger Seneca Valley building.