DCC and NEC families, how do you feel about them (likely) going away?

[Anonymous]

Wow, I did not realize this was happening. I am so glad my STEM oriented younger kid got to go to the Wheaton engineering academy rather than Einstein. Our older child went to Einstein so we know it well and Einstein would not have been a good fit for our youngest. At Wheaton, our youngest got to take Multivariable Calculus and all AP Physics levels and engineering with fantastic teachers who went to places like MIT and the Naval Academy. Our oldest son's math teachers at Einstein sucked. No engineering classes. Our younger one got such a better STEM education at Wheaton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While some parents and families have been happy to be able to select a school, the consortia model has been an abject failure.

The original reason the NEC and DCC were created was so that MCPS/BOE didn't have to draw hard boundary lines when Blake opened and Northwood reopened. Boundary studies and hard boundary lines are divisive and controversial (see what is happening now with Woodward/Crown). Instead, they opted to make soft boundary lines with a promise that families would have choices.

What has happened over time is:

1. The signature programs have become less and less "signature". There really is very little difference in course offerings from school to school within the consortia.

2. The schools in the consortia have very little sense of community, with lots of vertical articulation challenges. Listen to all the outcry about splitting elementary and middle schools in the Crown/Woodward studies. There is a reason those communities are against splitting their feeder schools. In the NEC and DCC, it is splitting feeders on steroids.

3. MCPS is spending significant money by sending five buses to every DCC bus stop and three to every NEC bus stop.

4. In the NEC in particular, there was a goal to try to socially engineer demographics in the three schools through the choice lottery system. As time went on though, the NEC as a whole became more and more homogenous. Twenty years ago, Blake was the "white" school, PB the "black" school and Springbrook the "Hispanic" school. The three schools look very similar to each other now.

5. Extracurricular activity involvement becomes a real challenge in the consortia. Getting rides home after practices or rehearsals or back to school for games or concerts is a big challenge when everyone lives to spread out. Add in the challenge that families don't know each other well and carpooling to/from school activities is extremely difficult.

6. In the DCC in particular, things were never going to be on an even playing field when comparing the schools. From Blair's specialty programs to Wheaton's brand new school, some of the schools were always going to get the short end of the stick (Kennedy and Northwood in particular). Northwood's new facility will hopefully improve things, but the long layover at Woodward exacerbated the gap.

Staff at the schools will be ecstatic if/when the consortia go away. Families will initially be upset - any time choice is taken away it isn't popular. But going away from the consortia is in the best interests of MCPS and the individual schools.

It will be interesting to see if these "region" models have the same negative impacts on all 25 schools, or if the number of students going to their non-home school is minimal.

Northwood will get the CAP from Blair and has the Montgomery College program, so I am optimistic for Northwood.

And they're getting a brand-new building. Northwood is going to be in a very good place in the near future.

Does Northwood have good teachers and leadership?

As a Northwood teacher, I love the school and couldn't imagine working anywhere else. Would also like to add in, the majority of colleagues I've talked to are in favor of the DCC going away.

[Anonymous]

NEC parent, they're only adding Sherwood. In my opinion, not much will change as I don't see many Sherwood parents trying to get their kids into one of the NEC schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current DCC parent and I'm fine with it. There was little genuine choice and most kids stuck with home schools or magnets.

The new approach seems better

Current NEC parent and I agree completely. It’s time for the NEC and DCC to go.

The NEC has always been shortchanged. How will the new regional system benefit the northeast county? We'll see...

Forcing Sherwood to be a part of that region is long overdue. I know several Sherwood students who would prefer the performing arts opportunities at Blake and under the regional plan they would be able to apply.

Good luck with that. There's a good number of Paint Branch and Springbrook kids (class on 2029) interested that didn't get in due to Blake being overcrowded. The rising freshman class really got short changed in the NEC and DCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NEC parent, they're only adding Sherwood. In my opinion, not much will change as I don't see many Sherwood parents trying to get their kids into one of the NEC schools.

Do most NEC kids choose their home schools anyway? If not, then yes it will change, because you'll have to go to your home school unless you apply for and get into a special program elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NEC parent, they're only adding Sherwood. In my opinion, not much will change as I don't see many Sherwood parents trying to get their kids into one of the NEC schools.

Do most NEC kids choose their home schools anyway? If not, then yes it will change, because you'll have to go to your home school unless you apply for and get into a special program elsewhere.

Only if Blake is their home school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a DCC parent and have no issues with the consortium going away

You must not live in the Kennedy catchment area.

Yeah we are zoned for Einstein and don't see that changing. I guess I'm curious if kids zoned for Kennedy have real choices under the DCC model if they don't get into a magnet? What are the odds of getting into a different HS under the choice process?

In the current DCC lottery system race and socioeconomic status are part of the selection process, so it’s not a true lottery. My child is not white and got into Einstein from a different DCC home school. All of her white friends did not and were assigned their second or third choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a DCC parent and have no issues with the consortium going away

Aren't the new regional programming going to mimic the system wee already have in the NEC and DCC (except for the countywide magnets going away)?

If people are choosing their consortium school for the special academic programs, then yes, it will be largely replicated through the new regional system.

If people are choosing their consortium school for other reasons, then no. Are there many kids/families who choose their consortium school for other reasons? What are they?

Trust me - there will be plenty of people trying to change schools under the guise of wanting to get into the specialty programs.

Look at the proposed "regions" (copied from the Bethesda Magazine article):

Region one: Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Walt Whitman in Bethesda, and Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein and Northwood in Silver Spring;
Region two: James Hubert Blake and Springbrook in Silver Spring, Paint Branch in Burtonsville, and Sherwood in Sandy Spring;
Region three: Walter Johnson in Bethesda, Charles W. Woodward in Rockville, and Wheaton and John F. Kennedy in Silver Spring;
Region four: Richard Montgomery, Rockville, and Thomas S. Wootton in Rockville and Winston Churchill in Potomac;
Region five: Crown and Gaithersburg in Gaithersburg, Col. Zadok Magruder in Rockville, Damascus and Watkins Mill in Wheaton; and
Region six: Northwest in Germantown and Clarksburg, Poolesville, Seneca Valley and Quince Orchard in Gaithersburg.

MCPS will have to decide how many of each demographic they allow to switch schools. You can imagine which families/students will try to get into specific schools in each region.

There will certainly be some families and students who will opt for specific programs based on their interests. But there will absolutely be families trying to go to the "better" schools in their region any way they can, as they already do... but instead of having to apply for a COSA or lie about their addresses, the families will now have a more legitimate way of going from say, Einstein to B-CC or Blake to Sherwood, or SV to Quince Orchard.

Think of the impacts on athletics and extracurricular programs as well - an even easier way for a football player from Watkins Mill to find his way to Damascus now.

This is an old list. At the 7/24 BOE meeting they proposed 5 different options for the 6 regions.

Transportation costs and travel time will likely determine the final regions and program sizes in each building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any information on the timing of all of this? Wondering on a personal level for my rising 8th grader, but also interested more generally about the transition plan for these changes.

The changes will start going into effect fall 2027, but (unless the Board votes down the MCPS recommendation) the plan is to grandfather all kids already enrolled in academic programs or consortium schools before then. So your rising 8th grader should get to stay wherever they start 9th grade, but the classes behind them will change over to the new rules

Is this really true/how it will work, though? Because non consortium rising 8th graders are being told they may start 9th in their current boundary school but may be required to switch to the new boundary for 10th. Will DCC kids who choose their zoned school be allowed to stay or forced to switch? I know there are not answers yet to these questions. And it would be really weird to open Woodward in 2027 with only 9th graders if they don’t switch any 10th graders. But people should have clarity on their options this fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any information on the timing of all of this? Wondering on a personal level for my rising 8th grader, but also interested more generally about the transition plan for these changes.

The changes will start going into effect fall 2027, but (unless the Board votes down the MCPS recommendation) the plan is to grandfather all kids already enrolled in academic programs or consortium schools before then. So your rising 8th grader should get to stay wherever they start 9th grade, but the classes behind them will change over to the new rules

Is this really true/how it will work, though? Because non consortium rising 8th graders are being told they may start 9th in their current boundary school but may be required to switch to the new boundary for 10th. Will DCC kids who choose their zoned school be allowed to stay or forced to switch? I know there are not answers yet to these questions. And it would be really weird to open Woodward in 2027 with only 9th graders if they don’t switch any 10th graders. But people should have clarity on their options this fall.

I agree they should clarify. I heard Taylor say that he wants students who start a program at a school to be able to finish it, but it's unclear if the DCC academies are considered programs. For example, at Einstein it seems a student in the VAC would be able to stay and finish that criteria-based program, but would a student in the opt-in VAPA still be reassigned?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NEC parent, they're only adding Sherwood. In my opinion, not much will change as I don't see many Sherwood parents trying to get their kids into one of the NEC schools.

Not much will change in the direction of Sherwood kids trying to go to Blake/PB/Springbrook (which is relatively non-existent). Even with specialty programs at the three current NEC schools, not many Sherwood families will opt to leave Sherwood for one of these schools with (fair or not) lesser reputations than Sherwood.

However, there will be a mass exodus of a certain demographic from Blake/PB/Springbrook to trying to get into Sherwood though. It already exists through COSAs and other fake addresses to get into Sherwood. Now there will be an MCPS approved pathway to get out of Blake/PB/Springbrook and into Sherwood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NEC parent, they're only adding Sherwood. In my opinion, not much will change as I don't see many Sherwood parents trying to get their kids into one of the NEC schools.

Not much will change in the direction of Sherwood kids trying to go to Blake/PB/Springbrook (which is relatively non-existent). Even with specialty programs at the three current NEC schools, not many Sherwood families will opt to leave Sherwood for one of these schools with (fair or not) lesser reputations than Sherwood.

However, there will be a mass exodus of a certain demographic from Blake/PB/Springbrook to trying to get into Sherwood though. It already exists through COSAs and other fake addresses to get into Sherwood. Now there will be an MCPS approved pathway to get out of Blake/PB/Springbrook and into Sherwood.

LOL. The delusion!
Blake is 10x better than Sherweed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I did not realize this was happening. I am so glad my STEM oriented younger kid got to go to the Wheaton engineering academy rather than Einstein. Our older child went to Einstein so we know it well and Einstein would not have been a good fit for our youngest. At Wheaton, our youngest got to take Multivariable Calculus and all AP Physics levels and engineering with fantastic teachers who went to places like MIT and the Naval Academy. Our oldest son's math teachers at Einstein sucked. No engineering classes. Our younger one got such a better STEM education at Wheaton.

Einstein is very hit or miss with teachers, but that’s similar to most schools. Some teachers refuse to use the math textbooks but hand them out and the curriculum they make up is terrible. Best teacher we had was more formal and taught from a book. They need new leadership and accountability. When the school was run by the principal intern last year it went more smoothly and the kids respected him. The kids don’t respect the principal who is more of a friend than authority figure. The vps are very hit or miss. Ours is beyond bad and not responsive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any information on the timing of all of this? Wondering on a personal level for my rising 8th grader, but also interested more generally about the transition plan for these changes.

The changes will start going into effect fall 2027, but (unless the Board votes down the MCPS recommendation) the plan is to grandfather all kids already enrolled in academic programs or consortium schools before then. So your rising 8th grader should get to stay wherever they start 9th grade, but the classes behind them will change over to the new rules

Is this really true/how it will work, though? Because non consortium rising 8th graders are being told they may start 9th in their current boundary school but may be required to switch to the new boundary for 10th. Will DCC kids who choose their zoned school be allowed to stay or forced to switch? I know there are not answers yet to these questions. And it would be really weird to open Woodward in 2027 with only 9th graders if they don’t switch any 10th graders. But people should have clarity on their options this fall.

I agree they should clarify. I heard Taylor say that he wants students who start a program at a school to be able to finish it, but it's unclear if the DCC academies are considered programs. For example, at Einstein it seems a student in the VAC would be able to stay and finish that criteria-based program, but would a student in the opt-in VAPA still be reassigned?

This was included in the slides at last week's meeting:

"Students entering Grades in 2025–2026, who have been accepted into a
centrally-managed application program or assigned to a consortium may
remain in their current program/school."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While some parents and families have been happy to be able to select a school, the consortia model has been an abject failure.

The original reason the NEC and DCC were created was so that MCPS/BOE didn't have to draw hard boundary lines when Blake opened and Northwood reopened. Boundary studies and hard boundary lines are divisive and controversial (see what is happening now with Woodward/Crown). Instead, they opted to make soft boundary lines with a promise that families would have choices.

What has happened over time is:

1. The signature programs have become less and less "signature". There really is very little difference in course offerings from school to school within the consortia.

2. The schools in the consortia have very little sense of community, with lots of vertical articulation challenges. Listen to all the outcry about splitting elementary and middle schools in the Crown/Woodward studies. There is a reason those communities are against splitting their feeder schools. In the NEC and DCC, it is splitting feeders on steroids.

3. MCPS is spending significant money by sending five buses to every DCC bus stop and three to every NEC bus stop.

4. In the NEC in particular, there was a goal to try to socially engineer demographics in the three schools through the choice lottery system. As time went on though, the NEC as a whole became more and more homogenous. Twenty years ago, Blake was the "white" school, PB the "black" school and Springbrook the "Hispanic" school. The three schools look very similar to each other now.

5. Extracurricular activity involvement becomes a real challenge in the consortia. Getting rides home after practices or rehearsals or back to school for games or concerts is a big challenge when everyone lives to spread out. Add in the challenge that families don't know each other well and carpooling to/from school activities is extremely difficult.

6. In the DCC in particular, things were never going to be on an even playing field when comparing the schools. From Blair's specialty programs to Wheaton's brand new school, some of the schools were always going to get the short end of the stick (Kennedy and Northwood in particular). Northwood's new facility will hopefully improve things, but the long layover at Woodward exacerbated the gap.

Staff at the schools will be ecstatic if/when the consortia go away. Families will initially be upset - any time choice is taken away it isn't popular. But going away from the consortia is in the best interests of MCPS and the individual schools.

It will be interesting to see if these "region" models have the same negative impacts on all 25 schools, or if the number of students going to their non-home school is minimal.

Northwood will get the CAP from Blair and has the Montgomery College program, so I am optimistic for Northwood.

What is the source of the information that CAP will move to Northwood?