Woodward HS boundary study - BCC, Blair, Einstein, WJ, Kennedy, Northwood, Wheaton, Whitman impacts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BCC, WJ and Woodward should become a part of DCC.

Whitman boundaries should be adjusted to include as much diversity as possible even though it's hard due to where its located.

That is never going to happen

I agree. Even in the most progressive areas, adjusting boundaries to improve diversity at schools without diversity is extremely unpopular. Also, gerrymandering and bussing for diversity is becoming less politically palatable. Back in the 70s and 80s it was de rigueur but not today. So I doubt Whitman will become more diverse and in fact may become less diverse, more wealthy, or stay the same.

Just look across the river for recent (w/in the pat 5 years) efforts to relieve overcrowding in popular schools that only further concentrated wealth in the less crowded and wealthiest schools: Redistricting in Fairfax County between McLean and Langley high schools pushed even more affluent neighborhoods to Langley. In Arlington, redistricting between W-L and Yorktown rezoned the most affluent W-L neighborhoods to Yorktown.

How long have you lived in Montgomery County (the one in Maryland)?

I grew up going to the crappy B-CC McDonalds and the old, musty Hot Shoppes with the grandparents. I know this area backwards and forwards. Optimistically, MCPS will balance demographics, but Whitman is just too far removed geographically. I don’t see it happening unless there is some major cultural-political shift. Even progressive San Fransisco reprioritized family preference in its school assignment lottery overhaul in 2011. Schools rapidly re-segregated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BCC, WJ and Woodward should become a part of DCC.

Whitman boundaries should be adjusted to include as much diversity as possible even though it's hard due to where its located.

That is never going to happen

I agree. Even in the most progressive areas, adjusting boundaries to improve diversity at schools without diversity is extremely unpopular. Also, gerrymandering and bussing for diversity is becoming less politically palatable. Back in the 70s and 80s it was de rigueur but not today. So I doubt Whitman will become more diverse and in fact may become less diverse, more wealthy, or stay the same.

Just look across the river for recent (w/in the pat 5 years) efforts to relieve overcrowding in popular schools that only further concentrated wealth in the less crowded and wealthiest schools: Redistricting in Fairfax County between McLean and Langley high schools pushed even more affluent neighborhoods to Langley. In Arlington, redistricting between W-L and Yorktown rezoned the most affluent W-L neighborhoods to Yorktown.

How long have you lived in Montgomery County (the one in Maryland)?

I grew up going to the crappy B-CC McDonalds and the old, musty Hot Shoppes with the grandparents. I know this area backwards and forwards. Optimistically, MCPS will balance demographics, but Whitman is just too far removed geographically. I don’t see it happening unless there is some major cultural-political shift. Even progressive San Fransisco reprioritized family preference in its school assignment lottery overhaul in 2011. Schools rapidly re-segregated.

Easy to solve. Just put a vocational manget at Whitman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BCC, WJ and Woodward should become a part of DCC.

Whitman boundaries should be adjusted to include as much diversity as possible even though it's hard due to where its located.

That is never going to happen

I agree. Even in the most progressive areas, adjusting boundaries to improve diversity at schools without diversity is extremely unpopular. Also, gerrymandering and bussing for diversity is becoming less politically palatable. Back in the 70s and 80s it was de rigueur but not today. So I doubt Whitman will become more diverse and in fact may become less diverse, more wealthy, or stay the same.

Just look across the river for recent (w/in the pat 5 years) efforts to relieve overcrowding in popular schools that only further concentrated wealth in the less crowded and wealthiest schools: Redistricting in Fairfax County between McLean and Langley high schools pushed even more affluent neighborhoods to Langley. In Arlington, redistricting between W-L and Yorktown rezoned the most affluent W-L neighborhoods to Yorktown.

How long have you lived in Montgomery County (the one in Maryland)?

I grew up going to the crappy B-CC McDonalds and the old, musty Hot Shoppes with the grandparents. I know this area backwards and forwards. Optimistically, MCPS will balance demographics, but Whitman is just too far removed geographically. I don’t see it happening unless there is some major cultural-political shift. Even progressive San Fransisco reprioritized family preference in its school assignment lottery overhaul in 2011. Schools rapidly re-segregated.

Easy to solve. Just put a vocational manget at Whitman.

Now that is brilliant.

[Anonymous]

I just wish that the kids who are already in Hugh school would be allowed to stay in their originally assigned high school and that MCPS would open Woodward with a freshman class only and the years freshman and sophomore etc etc. I’m sure logistics make it impossible but I think moving kids during high school is cruel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just wish that the kids who are already in Hugh school would be allowed to stay in their originally assigned high school and that MCPS would open Woodward with a freshman class only and the years freshman and sophomore etc etc. I’m sure logistics make it impossible but I think moving kids during high school is cruel.

Good news, PP. If MCPS continues past practice, the only students who will move during high school will be students who were in 9th grade in School A and will be in 10th grade in School B.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just wish that the kids who are already in Hugh school would be allowed to stay in their originally assigned high school and that MCPS would open Woodward with a freshman class only and the years freshman and sophomore etc etc. I’m sure logistics make it impossible but I think moving kids during high school is cruel.

You know what's even more cruel? Making them stay at overcrowded schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish that the kids who are already in Hugh school would be allowed to stay in their originally assigned high school and that MCPS would open Woodward with a freshman class only and the years freshman and sophomore etc etc. I’m sure logistics make it impossible but I think moving kids during high school is cruel.

You know what's even more cruel? Making them stay at overcrowded schools.

Why don’t MCPS let existing high school students decide which school to attend? Let’s see if more students rather stay at overcrowded schools or move to a brand new high school with very few long term friends. Give them the choice then if you want to be not cruel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish that the kids who are already in Hugh school would be allowed to stay in their originally assigned high school and that MCPS would open Woodward with a freshman class only and the years freshman and sophomore etc etc. I’m sure logistics make it impossible but I think moving kids during high school is cruel.

You know what's even more cruel? Making them stay at overcrowded schools.

Why don’t MCPS let existing high school students decide which school to attend? Let’s see if more students rather stay at overcrowded schools or move to a brand new high school with very few long term friends. Give them the choice then if you want to be not cruel.

As said earlier, only the rising sophomores would be moving. Rising juniors and seniors would stay where they were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman should give one elementary to WJ and take one elementary from BCC. That will open up space in BCC to take one from DCC.

I think this makes sense. Which school though? I thought maybe Burning Tree or Bradley Hills since they are fairly close to North Bethesda MS, but both of those schools have a good number of kids who live so close to Whitman. Perhaps Carderock goes? They are really far away from Whitman in the first place?

Carderock or any school which is not in the walk zone of Whitman can move to WJ. Carderock is a good candidate. It's anyway far from Whitman and bus ride time may not change much by moving to WJ or even Woodward. I have not looked at roads to see which will be easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman should give one elementary to WJ and take one elementary from BCC. That will open up space in BCC to take one from DCC.

I think this makes sense. Which school though? I thought maybe Burning Tree or Bradley Hills since they are fairly close to North Bethesda MS, but both of those schools have a good number of kids who live so close to Whitman. Perhaps Carderock goes? They are really far away from Whitman in the first place?

Carderock or any school which is not in the walk zone of Whitman can move to WJ. Carderock is a good candidate. It's anyway far from Whitman and bus ride time may not change much by moving to WJ or even Woodward. I have not looked at roads to see which will be easier.

You're going to send the Carderock kids to Walter Johnson but leave at Whitman the children in the parts of the Burning Tree Elementary and Bradley Hills Elementary zones who are much closer to Walter Johnson than the Carderock kids are? I don't think so.

The most logical thing is to redraw the several of elementary school attendance zone boundaries at the same time that you figure out which kids are going to new high schools. I would carve off some Burning Tree and Bradley Hills kids and send them to Walter Johnson before I'd drag the Carderock kids in that direction. Look at a map of the elementary school zones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman should give one elementary to WJ and take one elementary from BCC. That will open up space in BCC to take one from DCC.

I think this makes sense. Which school though? I thought maybe Burning Tree or Bradley Hills since they are fairly close to North Bethesda MS, but both of those schools have a good number of kids who live so close to Whitman. Perhaps Carderock goes? They are really far away from Whitman in the first place?

Carderock or any school which is not in the walk zone of Whitman can move to WJ. Carderock is a good candidate. It's anyway far from Whitman and bus ride time may not change much by moving to WJ or even Woodward. I have not looked at roads to see which will be easier.

You're going to send the Carderock kids to Walter Johnson but leave at Whitman the children in the parts of the Burning Tree Elementary and Bradley Hills Elementary zones who are much closer to Walter Johnson than the Carderock kids are? I don't think so.

The most logical thing is to redraw the several of elementary school attendance zone boundaries at the same time that you figure out which kids are going to new high schools. I would carve off some Burning Tree and Bradley Hills kids and send them to Walter Johnson before I'd drag the Carderock kids in that direction. Look at a map of the elementary school zones.

But that's not what they're doing. They excluded elementary school boundaries from the study. So only middle and high school boundaries may be redrawn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman should give one elementary to WJ and take one elementary from BCC. That will open up space in BCC to take one from DCC.

I think this makes sense. Which school though? I thought maybe Burning Tree or Bradley Hills since they are fairly close to North Bethesda MS, but both of those schools have a good number of kids who live so close to Whitman. Perhaps Carderock goes? They are really far away from Whitman in the first place?

Carderock or any school which is not in the walk zone of Whitman can move to WJ. Carderock is a good candidate. It's anyway far from Whitman and bus ride time may not change much by moving to WJ or even Woodward. I have not looked at roads to see which will be easier.

You're going to send the Carderock kids to Walter Johnson but leave at Whitman the children in the parts of the Burning Tree Elementary and Bradley Hills Elementary zones who are much closer to Walter Johnson than the Carderock kids are? I don't think so.

The most logical thing is to redraw the several of elementary school attendance zone boundaries at the same time that you figure out which kids are going to new high schools. I would carve off some Burning Tree and Bradley Hills kids and send them to Walter Johnson before I'd drag the Carderock kids in that direction. Look at a map of the elementary school zones.

But that's not what they're doing. They excluded elementary school boundaries from the study. So only middle and high school boundaries may be redrawn.

For now. WPES may be split up yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish that the kids who are already in Hugh school would be allowed to stay in their originally assigned high school and that MCPS would open Woodward with a freshman class only and the years freshman and sophomore etc etc. I’m sure logistics make it impossible but I think moving kids during high school is cruel.

You know what's even more cruel? Making them stay at overcrowded schools.

Why don’t MCPS let existing high school students decide which school to attend? Let’s see if more students rather stay at overcrowded schools or move to a brand new high school with very few long term friends. Give them the choice then if you want to be not cruel.

PP, I'm not sure if you're aware that their whole neighborhood will move with them? Maybe you had a bad experience changing schools; if so, I'm sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman should give one elementary to WJ and take one elementary from BCC. That will open up space in BCC to take one from DCC.

I think this makes sense. Which school though? I thought maybe Burning Tree or Bradley Hills since they are fairly close to North Bethesda MS, but both of those schools have a good number of kids who live so close to Whitman. Perhaps Carderock goes? They are really far away from Whitman in the first place?

Carderock or any school which is not in the walk zone of Whitman can move to WJ. Carderock is a good candidate. It's anyway far from Whitman and bus ride time may not change much by moving to WJ or even Woodward. I have not looked at roads to see which will be easier.

You're going to send the Carderock kids to Walter Johnson but leave at Whitman the children in the parts of the Burning Tree Elementary and Bradley Hills Elementary zones who are much closer to Walter Johnson than the Carderock kids are? I don't think so.

The most logical thing is to redraw the several of elementary school attendance zone boundaries at the same time that you figure out which kids are going to new high schools. I would carve off some Burning Tree and Bradley Hills kids and send them to Walter Johnson before I'd drag the Carderock kids in that direction. Look at a map of the elementary school zones.

But that's not what they're doing. They excluded elementary school boundaries from the study. So only middle and high school boundaries may be redrawn.

If you start messing with elementary school boundaries, then you have a way bigger scope here. I don’t think they’ll do that. I think what they have in front of them is a big enough challenge. I’ve heard people say Wood Acres will move to BCC because it is so close to Westland, and Whitman gets an elem school from BCC. Or I can see Carderock going to WJ. They aren’t that close to Whitman, and it doesn’t really make sense they are there. So I don’t think going to WJ really matters. Both entail a bus ride for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman should give one elementary to WJ and take one elementary from BCC. That will open up space in BCC to take one from DCC.

I think this makes sense. Which school though? I thought maybe Burning Tree or Bradley Hills since they are fairly close to North Bethesda MS, but both of those schools have a good number of kids who live so close to Whitman. Perhaps Carderock goes? They are really far away from Whitman in the first place?

Carderock or any school which is not in the walk zone of Whitman can move to WJ. Carderock is a good candidate. It's anyway far from Whitman and bus ride time may not change much by moving to WJ or even Woodward. I have not looked at roads to see which will be easier.

You're going to send the Carderock kids to Walter Johnson but leave at Whitman the children in the parts of the Burning Tree Elementary and Bradley Hills Elementary zones who are much closer to Walter Johnson than the Carderock kids are? I don't think so.

The most logical thing is to redraw the several of elementary school attendance zone boundaries at the same time that you figure out which kids are going to new high schools. I would carve off some Burning Tree and Bradley Hills kids and send them to Walter Johnson before I'd drag the Carderock kids in that direction. Look at a map of the elementary school zones.

But that's not what they're doing. They excluded elementary school boundaries from the study. So only middle and high school boundaries may be redrawn.

If you start messing with elementary school boundaries, then you have a way bigger scope here. I don’t think they’ll do that. I think what they have in front of them is a big enough challenge. I’ve heard people say Wood Acres will move to BCC because it is so close to Westland, and Whitman gets an elem school from BCC. Or I can see Carderock going to WJ. They aren’t that close to Whitman, and it doesn’t really make sense they are there. So I don’t think going to WJ really matters. Both entail a bus ride for everyone.

I think it's more likely that Westbrook moves from BCC to Whitman, but still stays at Westland. Things need to shift westward.