Concerned about buying in WJ cluster because of re-zoning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So that’s like April 2020?

oops I mean 2021

[Anonymous]

And thats IF they hit the "earliest possible" opening date. Chances are it will be later than that, because when has MCPS ever done anything on time, not to mention they'd have to fund it! A new HS is upwards if $120 million, and there are 3 in the 6-year CIP (Woodward, Northwood, Crown). Amy guesses as to what order they'll get built (or Northwood renovated)?

[Anonymous]

JNorthwood has a fairly large addition planned. It will add 1200 additional seats. Northwood and nearby Blair will each be around 600 over capacity by 2022. Safe bet that how that will play out.

The CIP also listed an addition at Kennedy.

The only other DCC schoolway over capacity then will be Einstein. They need another 600 to 700 seats. The obvious solution is Woodward.

[Anonymous]

The county’s projections also show Wheaton and BCC will both be around 100 seats overcapacity by 2022 so will likely play a part in this too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The county’s projections also show Wheaton and BCC will both be around 100 seats overcapacity by 2022 so will likely play a part in this too

Actually, the county's projections show Wheaton under capacity by 228 seats, while B-CC would be over capacity by 63 seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county’s projections also show Wheaton and BCC will both be around 100 seats overcapacity by 2022 so will likely play a part in this too

Actually, the county's projections show Wheaton under capacity by 228 seats, while B-CC would be over capacity by 63 seats.

You're right Wheaton is under capacity by 2022. Anyway, when looking at these projections and the CIP it's not hard to see how this will play out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county’s projections also show Wheaton and BCC will both be around 100 seats overcapacity by 2022 so will likely play a part in this too

Actually, the county's projections show Wheaton under capacity by 228 seats, while B-CC would be over capacity by 63 seats.

You're right Wheaton is under capacity by 2022. Anyway, when looking at these projections and the CIP it's not hard to see how this will play out.

Even after the obvious changes, Blair will come in about 200 seats short. I'd imagine it would be possible to move a few kids near Einstein's and B-CC's boundaries into those schools and similarly adjust Woodward's boundary to make up for these additions in the aforementioned.

[Anonymous]

Bottom line the improvements listed in the CIP will provide enough new seats to cover the projected growth.

It also easy to see which schools will be most impacted looking at the growth projections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCC will contribute bulk of 1800 empty seats in Woodward.

BCC sending 400 or Magnet with 400 has slim chance. I am saying this based on MCPS priority and what they have openly stated so far.

They are not going to fill a new school to capacity the day it opens. They will leave hundreds of seats open for growth in the region so they don't have to build another school in 5-10 years in the area.

[Anonymous]

Why doesn’t MCPS make a Western Consortium of BCC, Whitman, Woodward and WJ? Some DCC students could be moved to the Western Consortium.

[Anonymous]

To PP's point about location and buyers being fine if they stay near the Metro in the WJ zone.

Wegman's was just announced as the anchor to the Twinbrook Quarter development, which is at the northernmost point of the WJ zone. Look at the artist's rendering of the development in the article, it's going to be huge:

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2018/Wegmans-Is-Coming-to-Twinbrook-Development/

When you combine this with Pike and Rose and the White Flint development it means that Rockville Pike is going to be booming from Grosvenor-Strathmore to Twinbrook Metros. Housing prices are going to be fine anywhere within walking distance to Grosvenor, White Flint and Twinbrook Metros. Areas within the Einstein zone that are walkable to any of these Metros are going to increase in price and gentrify, which would probably equate to better test scores.

If Amazon comes its icing on the cake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn’t MCPS make a Western Consortium of BCC, Whitman, Woodward and WJ? Some DCC students could be moved to the Western Consortium.

Grouping schools into consortiums which correspond to their overall affluence is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCC will contribute bulk of 1800 empty seats in Woodward.

BCC sending 400 or Magnet with 400 has slim chance. I am saying this based on MCPS priority and what they have openly stated so far.

They are not going to fill a new school to capacity the day it opens. They will leave hundreds of seats open for growth in the region so they don't have to build another school in 5-10 years in the area.

Exactly - Woodward only has 2700 seats and they'll likely not fill it past 2500.

400 seats will go to a magnet program.

WJ needs around 800 seats based on the county's growth projections.

Einstein needs roughly another 700 seats.

That leaves around 500 seats left.

Some of the remaining seats will likely go to B-CC given it's proximity to Woodward and because its boundary is also adjacent to other overcrowded schools. Sure, that's a guess, but I can say with certainty is they will not be bussing poor kids in from across the county to avoid inconveniencing a few ignorant parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCC will contribute bulk of 1800 empty seats in Woodward.

BCC sending 400 or Magnet with 400 has slim chance. I am saying this based on MCPS priority and what they have openly stated so far.

They are not going to fill a new school to capacity the day it opens. They will leave hundreds of seats open for growth in the region so they don't have to build another school in 5-10 years in the area.

I agree with this. If you look at projections, WJ is expected to be another 300 over capacity by 2031. They will need to leave some room for future growth for students actually within the current boundaries. Also, it seems as though people are assuming Woodward is just going to absorb the excess from WJ (~700 students), when in reality, I think they will split the population more equitably (~1,500 students to each school), with the other schools taking additional space. So no, I do not believe that the DCC is going to be filling 2/3 of Woodward, with only 1/3 of the students from the actual surrounding neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That sounds...crazy....

Why would they do that. They aren’t going to purposely combine the best schools into the new zones. They will base them on distance to schools. Kensington is going to Einstein. Period.

Huh? Einstein is already projected to be way, way over capacity when Woodward opens. They're going to be moving students from Einstein to Woodward, not bringing more in.

MCPS officials are already on record saying that ES schools that currently go to WJ students might be redistricted to Woodward, but and no where else. They had to promise this so there wouldn't be an uproar.