Third round options on Woodward Boundary study

[Anonymous]

While the distance may not initially sound terrible, when you factor in the time for bus stops and travel on major roads during rush hour, the bus commute could easily be 30-40 minutes. More travel time equals less sleep for teenagers.

Or, parents make sure their kids go to bed earlier. You clearly have a stake as you are commenting.

We are talking about high school kids here, right?

[Anonymous]

Just attended a virtual session. Right at the end they mentioned that the survey allows you to comment on those initial first four options. Didn't realize those were still in play. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Option F clearly balances facility utilization, proximity and demographics quite well. And without doing anything completely insane. I love it but I wish there was an Option H to keep SSIMS open but everything else the same.

Option F flips two elementary schools (Wood Acres and Bethesda Elementary) to the others middle and high school for no apparent reason. Neither school population benefits from the switch. Both populations have a further distance for high school and Bethesda Elementary kids lose walkability to BCC in a downtown core. It increases bus, car traffic, and safety issues.

I mean I don't care if they switch them back as it doesn't affect me, but it is important to balance demographics as having a high needs population makes it harder to manage a school and they don't get extra funding for this. And neither Wood Acres nor Bethesda would be buses very far - Bethesda ES wouldn't require busing at all. And Wood Acres kids will get a bus instead of being driven by their parents/friends which will reduce traffic and increase safety. I get people will be upset but there are real benefits to this.

I have no stake here (I’m in the other study area), but have you ever been in downtown Bethesda between 7-9AM or 3-6PM? The last thing we need is more cars/buses on the road in Bethesda!

While the distance may not initially sound terrible, when you factor in the time for bus stops and travel on major roads during rush hour, the bus commute could easily be 30-40 minutes. More travel time equals less sleep for teenagers.

Or, parents make sure their kids go to bed earlier. You clearly have a stake as you are commenting.

Which kids should have to ride buses for longer, which is shown to reduce sleep and homework time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just attended a virtual session. Right at the end they mentioned that the survey allows you to comment on those initial first four options. Didn't realize those were still in play. Yikes.

Yes, all options in play. Its one of A-D if Silver Spring International Middle School stays open or one of E-G if they vote to close that down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just attended a virtual session. Right at the end they mentioned that the survey allows you to comment on those initial first four options. Didn't realize those were still in play. Yikes.

Yes, all options in play. Its one of A-D if Silver Spring International Middle School stays open or one of E-G if they vote to close that down

I think that PP is referring to the original four options called Options 1,2,3,4. Despite some ambiguous wording in recent meetings, it is safe to assume that the original four options are dead. It would make no sense to reconsider them after all community interactions that happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Option F clearly balances facility utilization, proximity and demographics quite well. And without doing anything completely insane. I love it but I wish there was an Option H to keep SSIMS open but everything else the same.

Option F flips two elementary schools (Wood Acres and Bethesda Elementary) to the others middle and high school for no apparent reason. Neither school population benefits from the switch. Both populations have a further distance for high school and Bethesda Elementary kids lose walkability to BCC in a downtown core. It increases bus, car traffic, and safety issues.

I mean I don't care if they switch them back as it doesn't affect me, but it is important to balance demographics as having a high needs population makes it harder to manage a school and they don't get extra funding for this. And neither Wood Acres nor Bethesda would be buses very far - Bethesda ES wouldn't require busing at all. And Wood Acres kids will get a bus instead of being driven by their parents/friends which will reduce traffic and increase safety. I get people will be upset but there are real benefits to this.

I have no stake here (I’m in the other study area), but have you ever been in downtown Bethesda between 7-9AM or 3-6PM? The last thing we need is more cars/buses on the road in Bethesda!

While the distance may not initially sound terrible, when you factor in the time for bus stops and travel on major roads during rush hour, the bus commute could easily be 30-40 minutes. More travel time equals less sleep for teenagers.

Or, parents make sure their kids go to bed earlier. You clearly have a stake as you are commenting.

Which kids should have to ride buses for longer, which is shown to reduce sleep and homework time?

Many of them won't need bus rides because they are within 2 miles of the school (although walk zones seem to be mysteriously smaller west county than east county... I wonder why).

[Anonymous]

Current options are A-G. The webinar had neither a chat nor Q and A - could have been a video. All it did was outline what’s on the website and show how to access it. Scheduled for 12:30-1:15 but ended at 12:50pm with “have a magical day”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just attended a virtual session. Right at the end they mentioned that the survey allows you to comment on those initial first four options. Didn't realize those were still in play. Yikes.

Yes, all options in play. Its one of A-D if Silver Spring International Middle School stays open or one of E-G if they vote to close that down

I think that PP is referring to the original four options called Options 1,2,3,4. Despite some ambiguous wording in recent meetings, it is safe to assume that the original four options are dead. It would make no sense to reconsider them after all community interactions that happened.

I am the PP. Yes, I was referring to Options 1-4. The woman at the end (maybe MCPS exec director?) who wished us all a "magical day" absolutely said that the survey invites us to share feedback on these four options, as well as A-G. Does that not suggest options 1-4 are still in play?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just attended a virtual session. Right at the end they mentioned that the survey allows you to comment on those initial first four options. Didn't realize those were still in play. Yikes.

Yes, all options in play. Its one of A-D if Silver Spring International Middle School stays open or one of E-G if they vote to close that down

I think that PP is referring to the original four options called Options 1,2,3,4. Despite some ambiguous wording in recent meetings, it is safe to assume that the original four options are dead. It would make no sense to reconsider them after all community interactions that happened.

I am the PP. Yes, I was referring to Options 1-4. The woman at the end (maybe MCPS exec director?) who wished us all a "magical day" absolutely said that the survey invites us to share feedback on these four options, as well as A-G. Does that not suggest options 1-4 are still in play?

I mean, literally anything under the sun is in play, the Superintendent could recommend something none of us have seen before or the Board could pass something none of us have seen before. But they probably won't, just like they probably won't do 1-4. I think it's more so people can say "I liked X about this option" so they can keep it in mind

[Anonymous]

If they are asking about 1-4 on the survey, then I presume that 1-4 are in play. Why else would they ask?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are asking about 1-4 on the survey, then I presume that 1-4 are in play. Why else would they ask?

1. To make it harder and more confusing to provide feedback
2. To give the impression that they are considering all options when in fact other decisions like the regional model and the closure of SSIMS will automatically eliminate all but 3 options.
3. To collect feedback against Option 3 in the initial options to justify increasing FARMS rates in high poverty schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While the distance may not initially sound terrible, when you factor in the time for bus stops and travel on major roads during rush hour, the bus commute could easily be 30-40 minutes. More travel time equals less sleep for teenagers.

Or, parents make sure their kids go to bed earlier. You clearly have a stake as you are commenting.

We are talking about high school kids here, right?

Yes, you do realize you still have to parent high school kids.

[Anonymous]

More time on bus = fewer hours available for school, homework, family, extra curricular. True even if you sleep the same number of hours. Why is this hard to recognize?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Option F clearly balances facility utilization, proximity and demographics quite well. And without doing anything completely insane. I love it but I wish there was an Option H to keep SSIMS open but everything else the same.

Option F flips two elementary schools (Wood Acres and Bethesda Elementary) to the others middle and high school for no apparent reason. Neither school population benefits from the switch. Both populations have a further distance for high school and Bethesda Elementary kids lose walkability to BCC in a downtown core. It increases bus, car traffic, and safety issues.

I mean I don't care if they switch them back as it doesn't affect me, but it is important to balance demographics as having a high needs population makes it harder to manage a school and they don't get extra funding for this. And neither Wood Acres nor Bethesda would be buses very far - Bethesda ES wouldn't require busing at all. And Wood Acres kids will get a bus instead of being driven by their parents/friends which will reduce traffic and increase safety. I get people will be upset but there are real benefits to this.

I have no stake here (I’m in the other study area), but have you ever been in downtown Bethesda between 7-9AM or 3-6PM? The last thing we need is more cars/buses on the road in Bethesda!

While the distance may not initially sound terrible, when you factor in the time for bus stops and travel on major roads during rush hour, the bus commute could easily be 30-40 minutes. More travel time equals less sleep for teenagers.

Or, parents make sure their kids go to bed earlier. You clearly have a stake as you are commenting.

Which kids should have to ride buses for longer, which is shown to reduce sleep and homework time?

Many of them won't need bus rides because they are within 2 miles of the school (although walk zones seem to be mysteriously smaller west county than east county... I wonder why).

Not really and some of our kids have very dangerous walks.

[Anonymous]

The survey asks which of the option(s) A-G you prefer with the choice of selecting up to all 7 options.

The 2 optional feedback sections (one for option A-G and another for initial options 1-4) feel like lip service. Cannot imagine MCPS has the time to read all the feedback; however, asking for it means they can check the box that states they elicited feedback. Just like today’s lunchtime meeting was billed as community engagement when it really was just talking heads reading what we can all see on the website.