3/26 Board of Ed meeting live thread

[Anonymous]

On a positive note I thought Natalie Zimmerman's comments showing seemingly genuine appreciation for community engagement were thoughtful and appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Montoya read off percentages of White and Asian students in SMCS at Blair and Poolesville, Ecology at Poolesville, Poolesville Humanities, and RMIB and then talk as though that is why the BOE needs to dissolve the NEC and DCC? None of these are NEC or DCC programs, one of them happens to be located in the DCC but does not serve that many DCC students. Why didn't she get data on DCC academies and magnets? Why is she perpetuating misinformation that suggests that only White and Asian kids participate in DCC programs?

Because she (and a lot of people in MCPS) think that there should be racial “proportionality” in these programs that mirrors the racial demographics of the population in MCPS. Never mind that using race as a criteria factor is actually illegal. Never mind that racial quota-esque goals are concerning. Never mind that maybe certain groups of students do not want to leave their neighborhood to attend a magnet and you can’t force people to apply and prioritize what you think is best for them if they don’t want it. Who attends these programs is largely due to who seeks them out and proactively applies for them. Never mind that the transportation isn’t sufficient so only families who can absorb this burden end up matriculating. And never mind consistent, compelling data that significant proportions of black and brown students are not proficient at grade level and would not be appropriate candidates for programs designed to be accelerated, narrowing the number of possible candidates from those groups. Plus geographically Poolesville is far from communities with larger populations of black and Hispanic residents. Is anyone pointing out that high level orchestras are also not proportional, nor are football teams, and so on and so forth.

If she thinks they should be proportional, how does the regional program model achieve this? She's calling people racist for having concerns about it but in a couple years should MCPS provide any data on the regional programs we are going to see the exact same pattern.

I'm willing to bet given that transportation is becoming less convenient, that those DCC programs and other magnets will be more White and Asian than they are now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Montoya read off percentages of White and Asian students in SMCS at Blair and Poolesville, Ecology at Poolesville, Poolesville Humanities, and RMIB and then talk as though that is why the BOE needs to dissolve the NEC and DCC? None of these are NEC or DCC programs, one of them happens to be located in the DCC but does not serve that many DCC students. Why didn't she get data on DCC academies and magnets? Why is she perpetuating misinformation that suggests that only White and Asian kids participate in DCC programs?

Because she (and a lot of people in MCPS) think that there should be racial “proportionality” in these programs that mirrors the racial demographics of the population in MCPS. Never mind that using race as a criteria factor is actually illegal. Never mind that racial quota-esque goals are concerning. Never mind that maybe certain groups of students do not want to leave their neighborhood to attend a magnet and you can’t force people to apply and prioritize what you think is best for them if they don’t want it. Who attends these programs is largely due to who seeks them out and proactively applies for them. Never mind that the transportation isn’t sufficient so only families who can absorb this burden end up matriculating. And never mind consistent, compelling data that significant proportions of black and brown students are not proficient at grade level and would not be appropriate candidates for programs designed to be accelerated, narrowing the number of possible candidates from those groups. Plus geographically Poolesville is far from communities with larger populations of black and Hispanic residents. Is anyone pointing out that high level orchestras are also not proportional, nor are football teams, and so on and so forth.

If she thinks they should be proportional, how does the regional program model achieve this? She's calling people racist for having concerns about it but in a couple years should MCPS provide any data on the regional programs we are going to see the exact same pattern.

The racism is the huge disparity in schools and the schools with lower parental income get much less in terms of courses so the higher income families flee having no option creating more division.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Montoya read off percentages of White and Asian students in SMCS at Blair and Poolesville, Ecology at Poolesville, Poolesville Humanities, and RMIB and then talk as though that is why the BOE needs to dissolve the NEC and DCC? None of these are NEC or DCC programs, one of them happens to be located in the DCC but does not serve that many DCC students. Why didn't she get data on DCC academies and magnets? Why is she perpetuating misinformation that suggests that only White and Asian kids participate in DCC programs?

She has no experience with high school and works for Mcps.

Again, since when does Montoya work for MCPS???

The is a teacher on leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Montoya read off percentages of White and Asian students in SMCS at Blair and Poolesville, Ecology at Poolesville, Poolesville Humanities, and RMIB and then talk as though that is why the BOE needs to dissolve the NEC and DCC? None of these are NEC or DCC programs, one of them happens to be located in the DCC but does not serve that many DCC students. Why didn't she get data on DCC academies and magnets? Why is she perpetuating misinformation that suggests that only White and Asian kids participate in DCC programs?

She has no experience with high school and works for Mcps.

Again, since when does Montoya work for MCPS???

The is a teacher on leave.

Or, is she the one who was a lawyer who has no idea of anything outside her bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Montoya read off percentages of White and Asian students in SMCS at Blair and Poolesville, Ecology at Poolesville, Poolesville Humanities, and RMIB and then talk as though that is why the BOE needs to dissolve the NEC and DCC? None of these are NEC or DCC programs, one of them happens to be located in the DCC but does not serve that many DCC students. Why didn't she get data on DCC academies and magnets? Why is she perpetuating misinformation that suggests that only White and Asian kids participate in DCC programs?

She has no experience with high school and works for Mcps.

Again, since when does Montoya work for MCPS???

The is a teacher on leave.

The teacher on leave who sits on the board is Natalie Zimmerman, NOT Rita Montoya.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a positive note I thought Natalie Zimmerman's comments showing seemingly genuine appreciation for community engagement were thoughtful and appropriate.

The Wootton folks will claim her and other BOE members’ comments were made to bolster MCPS’ subsequent defense in court that the community was sufficiently engaged for an 11th hour proposal that had the most dramatic effect on the community. Just because the BOE and others repeat something doesn’t make it true.

The Wootton folks will further claim that community engagement was pro forma for a decision that had been made back in November 2025, or possibly even May 2024 (Wootton taken off CIP) and July 2024 (Crown breaks ground). If they file suit and get discovery, this entire thing could come unraveled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Montoya read off percentages of White and Asian students in SMCS at Blair and Poolesville, Ecology at Poolesville, Poolesville Humanities, and RMIB and then talk as though that is why the BOE needs to dissolve the NEC and DCC? None of these are NEC or DCC programs, one of them happens to be located in the DCC but does not serve that many DCC students. Why didn't she get data on DCC academies and magnets? Why is she perpetuating misinformation that suggests that only White and Asian kids participate in DCC programs?

She has no experience with high school and works for Mcps.

Again, since when does Montoya work for MCPS???

The is a teacher on leave.

The teacher on leave who sits on the board is Natalie Zimmerman, NOT Rita Montoya.

My recollection is that Rita was/is a cannabis lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a positive note I thought Natalie Zimmerman's comments showing seemingly genuine appreciation for community engagement were thoughtful and appropriate.

The Wootton folks will claim her and other BOE members’ comments were made to bolster MCPS’ subsequent defense in court that the community was sufficiently engaged for an 11th hour proposal that had the most dramatic effect on the community. Just because the BOE and others repeat something doesn’t make it true.

The Wootton folks will further claim that community engagement was pro forma for a decision that had been made back in November 2025, or possibly even May 2024 (Wootton taken off CIP) and July 2024 (Crown breaks ground). If they file suit and get discovery, this entire thing could come unraveled.

This impacts far more than Wootton families. They won. They get a safe new building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Montoya read off percentages of White and Asian students in SMCS at Blair and Poolesville, Ecology at Poolesville, Poolesville Humanities, and RMIB and then talk as though that is why the BOE needs to dissolve the NEC and DCC? None of these are NEC or DCC programs, one of them happens to be located in the DCC but does not serve that many DCC students. Why didn't she get data on DCC academies and magnets? Why is she perpetuating misinformation that suggests that only White and Asian kids participate in DCC programs?

Because she (and a lot of people in MCPS) think that there should be racial “proportionality” in these programs that mirrors the racial demographics of the population in MCPS. Never mind that using race as a criteria factor is actually illegal. Never mind that racial quota-esque goals are concerning. Never mind that maybe certain groups of students do not want to leave their neighborhood to attend a magnet and you can’t force people to apply and prioritize what you think is best for them if they don’t want it. Who attends these programs is largely due to who seeks them out and proactively applies for them. Never mind that the transportation isn’t sufficient so only families who can absorb this burden end up matriculating. And never mind consistent, compelling data that significant proportions of black and brown students are not proficient at grade level and would not be appropriate candidates for programs designed to be accelerated, narrowing the number of possible candidates from those groups. Plus geographically Poolesville is far from communities with larger populations of black and Hispanic residents. Is anyone pointing out that high level orchestras are also not proportional, nor are football teams, and so on and so forth.

If she thinks they should be proportional, how does the regional program model achieve this? She's calling people racist for having concerns about it but in a couple years should MCPS provide any data on the regional programs we are going to see the exact same pattern.

The racism is the huge disparity in schools and the schools with lower parental income get much less in terms of courses so the higher income families flee having no option creating more division.

Right. And literally everyone from every school wants better offerings at their own neighborhood school. But they haven’t found out the secret sauce as to how to make the lower performing schools better since a lot of it is tied to complications of poverty. So instead of investing money and research into strengthening the local schools, they got swept up in this giant vortex of programs, thinking that if they could plop a few of these in other neighborhoods they might attract different demographics. Maybe they should not be so focused on the skin color of the kids and be more focused on matching appropriate educational offerings to the actual human children who exist and mostly want to stay with their friends and neighbors close to home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took the bus to high school. 15 - 20 min each way. I did afterschool activities. In fact once I made friends with those with cars they drove me everywhere. Or my parents. Or the activity bus. Or the ride on bus. He’ll when I was a kid we didn’t have cell phones and the bus actually cost money and I still got everywhere I needed to go without being able to walk home. FFS people these are teens. They can get around.

Honestly, if the concern is transportation, time/money would be much better spent advocating that RideOn increase/expand/make more frequent the relevant routes.

Honestly, I think MoCo officials would be HAPPY to facilitate such a practical and productive constituent request.

This is a genuinely good idea. A convenient ride on bus route from Crown down Wootton Parkway without transfers could help the situation a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you hop on 54, how long does it take right now to go from Wootton to Crown?

You can’t hop on on Tide on 54, it doesn’t stop near Wootton .

Sure it does. The stop is well inside the walk zone. Depending on where you live, it may be closer to your house than old Wootton.

No it doesn’t stop next to Wootton. The closest stop is Darnestown and Research which is a mile away from Wootton and more than 2 miles away for kids who live next to Villages of Rockville for example. The only Wootton kids close enough to walk to the stop are those who live along Hurley.

There will be an MCPS bus to Crown for kids who live next to Villages. I'm not clear on the problem/issue.

Really? Show me where MoCo said this magical bus is going to be available.

Has MCPS put out the bus stop list for Crown already? The Villages is over 2 miles to Crown (google maps puts it at 3.4 walking) - high school students more than 2 miles to a high school get bus transportation. There will be MCPS bus transportation from that area. You are fear mongering for no reason.

DP
I think they are talking about public bus routes for kids that play sports/do other activities before and after school.

High schools also have MCPS activity buses for after-school activities.

Activity busses are a joke and are useless for anyone who plays a sport. Kids can't play sports unless they are in the walk zone, have a car, have a friend with a car, or have parents who don't work and can come pick them up. That's extremely limiting to single parents or families where both parents work. That's part of the outrage over moving the school and changing a large number of kids from walkers to bussers.

OMG What?!? You actually IRL believe that no kids in America can play high school sports unless they are in the walk zone? STOP with the absurdity, honestly. The vast majority of kids going to any public high school take the bus. At Wootton. In MoCo. In MD. In the country. And those kids play sports too! And their parents manage to pick them up or they carpool just like everyone else does. Tons of us work full time, our kids take the bus to Wootton, and our kids play sports. We make it work. Now it's your turn to make it work also.

There are ways to make it work but they're not necessarily feasible for everyone. Parents who knew they couldn't make it work decided to buy houses in a walk zone, that's how they make it work. With this decision, they are no longer in a walk zone. It's great that other students can now walk to Crown, but those parents did not have any expectation that their children would be able to walk to their school when their houses were purchased.

[Anonymous]

Question, how much money did Brenda Wolff and Rita Montoya demand be allocated to address the massive disparities by race in test scores? Wolff seems to believe she is part of a righteous battle but my understanding is you don't fight racism by allocating zero actual resources to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Montoya read off percentages of White and Asian students in SMCS at Blair and Poolesville, Ecology at Poolesville, Poolesville Humanities, and RMIB and then talk as though that is why the BOE needs to dissolve the NEC and DCC? None of these are NEC or DCC programs, one of them happens to be located in the DCC but does not serve that many DCC students. Why didn't she get data on DCC academies and magnets? Why is she perpetuating misinformation that suggests that only White and Asian kids participate in DCC programs?

Because she (and a lot of people in MCPS) think that there should be racial “proportionality” in these programs that mirrors the racial demographics of the population in MCPS. Never mind that using race as a criteria factor is actually illegal. Never mind that racial quota-esque goals are concerning. Never mind that maybe certain groups of students do not want to leave their neighborhood to attend a magnet and you can’t force people to apply and prioritize what you think is best for them if they don’t want it. Who attends these programs is largely due to who seeks them out and proactively applies for them. Never mind that the transportation isn’t sufficient so only families who can absorb this burden end up matriculating. And never mind consistent, compelling data that significant proportions of black and brown students are not proficient at grade level and would not be appropriate candidates for programs designed to be accelerated, narrowing the number of possible candidates from those groups. Plus geographically Poolesville is far from communities with larger populations of black and Hispanic residents. Is anyone pointing out that high level orchestras are also not proportional, nor are football teams, and so on and so forth.

If she thinks they should be proportional, how does the regional program model achieve this? She's calling people racist for having concerns about it but in a couple years should MCPS provide any data on the regional programs we are going to see the exact same pattern.

The racism is the huge disparity in schools and the schools with lower parental income get much less in terms of courses so the higher income families flee having no option creating more division.

Right. And literally everyone from every school wants better offerings at their own neighborhood school. But they haven’t found out the secret sauce as to how to make the lower performing schools better since a lot of it is tied to complications of poverty. So instead of investing money and research into strengthening the local schools, they got swept up in this giant vortex of programs, thinking that if they could plop a few of these in other neighborhoods they might attract different demographics. Maybe they should not be so focused on the skin color of the kids and be more focused on matching appropriate educational offerings to the actual human children who exist and mostly want to stay with their friends and neighbors close to home.

The secret sauce is starting in the elementary schools and making sure every child is reading, writing and doing math by second grade or remediate. Stop denying 594 and ieps for documented concerns. Go back to teaching the basics. Provide more reading specifically, math specialists, ot, slp and pts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you hop on 54, how long does it take right now to go from Wootton to Crown?

You can’t hop on on Tide on 54, it doesn’t stop near Wootton .

Sure it does. The stop is well inside the walk zone. Depending on where you live, it may be closer to your house than old Wootton.

No it doesn’t stop next to Wootton. The closest stop is Darnestown and Research which is a mile away from Wootton and more than 2 miles away for kids who live next to Villages of Rockville for example. The only Wootton kids close enough to walk to the stop are those who live along Hurley.

There will be an MCPS bus to Crown for kids who live next to Villages. I'm not clear on the problem/issue.

Really? Show me where MoCo said this magical bus is going to be available.

Has MCPS put out the bus stop list for Crown already? The Villages is over 2 miles to Crown (google maps puts it at 3.4 walking) - high school students more than 2 miles to a high school get bus transportation. There will be MCPS bus transportation from that area. You are fear mongering for no reason.

DP
I think they are talking about public bus routes for kids that play sports/do other activities before and after school.

High schools also have MCPS activity buses for after-school activities.

Activity busses are a joke and are useless for anyone who plays a sport. Kids can't play sports unless they are in the walk zone, have a car, have a friend with a car, or have parents who don't work and can come pick them up. That's extremely limiting to single parents or families where both parents work. That's part of the outrage over moving the school and changing a large number of kids from walkers to bussers.

OMG What?!? You actually IRL believe that no kids in America can play high school sports unless they are in the walk zone? STOP with the absurdity, honestly. The vast majority of kids going to any public high school take the bus. At Wootton. In MoCo. In MD. In the country. And those kids play sports too! And their parents manage to pick them up or they carpool just like everyone else does. Tons of us work full time, our kids take the bus to Wootton, and our kids play sports. We make it work. Now it's your turn to make it work also.

There are ways to make it work but they're not necessarily feasible for everyone. Parents who knew they couldn't make it work decided to buy houses in a walk zone, that's how they make it work. With this decision, they are no longer in a walk zone. It's great that other students can now walk to Crown, but those parents did not have any expectation that their children would be able to walk to their school when their houses were purchased.

We going to have to go private. I wish our kids could just be bussed to a brand new school with lots of offerings.