MoCo is diverse, for sure, but MCPS schools are not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to mention the obvious self segregation. Spanish speaking people have moved into certain areas with the most Spanish speaking businesses and services. That's why certain schools are nearly 100% Hispanic (Weller Rd Elem). No one forced them to move to that area. They chose it to be close to their friends, family and support network. And they love their school and community. It's a bit paternalistic for us to assume they would prefer to bus their kids elsewhere to have the benefit of sitting in a classroom with white kids.

Oh please.

They move to places they can afford, as we all do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to mention the obvious self segregation. Spanish speaking people have moved into certain areas with the most Spanish speaking businesses and services. That's why certain schools are nearly 100% Hispanic (Weller Rd Elem). No one forced them to move to that area. They chose it to be close to their friends, family and support network. And they love their school and community. It's a bit paternalistic for us to assume they would prefer to bus their kids elsewhere to have the benefit of sitting in a classroom with white kids.

And it is not paternalistic to pronounce that an entire ethnic group of people "love their school and community"?

You know this, how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the big deal about redrawing school boundaries to increase diversity? Or busing? Or really anything that the school district could do to lessen the segregation of the schools? Is your expensive house really going to suddenly drastically drop in value? Should it matter if the market value of your house does drop? Will it lead to massive white flight to... somewhere else? I just really don't think it would be that big of a deal to have the schools become a little more reflective of the socioeconomic and racial diversity of our area. As some posters have pointed out, their schools already are diverse. I'm sure the sky wouldn't fall if more schools were like those. Honestly, who doesn't value and benefit from a diverse student population?

Hahahahahah! You're very funny!

Bet you weren't a kid in the 70s!!

Do you even own a house?

Let me answer some questions for you: yes busing is a big deal -- for everyone involved. Yes, it has led to major conflicts and tension in the past, even violence and yes, gasp, even white flight.

Yes, if your house gets rezoned for a low-performing school it will drop in value. Why the hell do you think teeny tiny houses in Bethesda go for so much? Proximity to le Pain Quotidien?

Should it matter if the market value of your house drops? Umm, considering it is the single biggest purchase most people will ever make, I'm going to go with yeah, it matters.

Some people think diversity is the vale that trumps all others. Other people place a higher value on having a community school, one you can walk to etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the big deal about redrawing school boundaries to increase diversity? Or busing? Or really anything that the school district could do to lessen the segregation of the schools? Is your expensive house really going to suddenly drastically drop in value? Should it matter if the market value of your house does drop? Will it lead to massive white flight to... somewhere else? I just really don't think it would be that big of a deal to have the schools become a little more reflective of the socioeconomic and racial diversity of our area. As some posters have pointed out, their schools already are diverse. I'm sure the sky wouldn't fall if more schools were like those. Honestly, who doesn't value and benefit from a diverse student population?

Yes, housing values could change. It might not matter to you, but a drop in housing price can be a big deal to another family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to mention the obvious self segregation. Spanish speaking people have moved into certain areas with the most Spanish speaking businesses and services. That's why certain schools are nearly 100% Hispanic (Weller Rd Elem). No one forced them to move to that area. They chose it to be close to their friends, family and support network. And they love their school and community. It's a bit paternalistic for us to assume they would prefer to bus their kids elsewhere to have the benefit of sitting in a classroom with white kids.

Oh please.

They move to places they can afford, as we all do.

I don't buy it. Let's say you have $X to spend on a house. There are various parts of the county where you can get similar housing, so why wouldn't people choose the one that's closer to family, friends, and services?

Same reason there's so many Asians in Rockville. There is similar-priced housing in other parts of the county, but those areas don't have nearly the choice of Asian groceries, restaurants, etc.

[Anonymous]

"Besides, the school district is factored into property values. Property values are higher in areas with good schools. Why should MCPS make a change that would reduce the equity (property values) of so many residents in the name of diversity?"

You say it as if diversity is just some abstract concept that might be good in theory. In reality though we are talking about whether it is a good idea or not to allow schools that are highly well off in the same county as those that are al sot all FARMs kids. It is clearly not good for the latter group of kids. Whether fixing the situation might impact housing investments by those in Cc and Bethesda should be a secondary concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever, the white kids are disappearing from MCPS and soon this type of analysis will be completely irrelevant. Even now, it's not remotely realistic to think about spreading them out more broadly to make some urban policy twits happy.

#2 location in the country for illegal aliens means ESL will be SSL in 20 more years. Hispanic population has tripled in 10yrs alone. Looking more and more like inner city LA around here.

[Anonymous]

Bussing is not the answer, at least not significant distances to drastically different schools. Unless you're ok with middle class flight, but that would undermine the purpose of the bussing, right? I think MCPS has been flailing to keep up with overcrowding and coming up with a plan to zone for demographic reasons just isn't as pressing as the immediate need to find enough seats for everyone.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine bought a single family home in a majority hispanic neighbourhood because it is in a magnet school district and he prefer a single family home over a townhouse in Rockville. He discovered that his neighbors have 4-5 cars parked on street, often block his driveway; they play lord music in their houses that they can hear it in his back yard; many front yards are not up kept; front doors can be bright blue, yellow, pink or orange; and they really love to party and are very happy. On education side, they are happy that their kids can go to school and get everything free, the teen girl gets pregnant and starts to have babies. By the way, they all go to church on Sunday morning.
It is a different culture and will stay with them. American is not a melting pot anymore, instead, it is a salad bowl, no dressing will melt them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see an easy solution nor if we really need one. We bought a house in X area because we liked the area and it had good schools. If the area is rezoned for bad schools, won't people who can afford to just move to areas zoned for good schools?

Besides, the school district is factored into property values. Property values are higher in areas with good schools. Why should MCPS make a change that would reduce the equity (property values) of so many residents in the name of diversity?

I think that you just answered your own question -- assuming that you believe that all children deserve to go to good schools, regardless of how much money their parents have or don't have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To 21:14 - Bussing will never happen. It's way too costly and controversial. If we can't afford to adjust the bus schedules so the HS kids don't need to be at the bus stop at 6:30, then fat chance we can afford to bus kids across the county in the name of diversity.

If they magically decided to bus wealthy white kids, parents would yank their kids out and put them in private.

Where is there tons of open land to be developed in Bethseda and Potomac? I'm not talking about tear downs or a smattering of McMansions. You need a large enough development for mpdu laws to apply...and even so, it's a small portion of essentially workforce housing (which often means white people who are cops, firefighters, teachers.. People with steady incomes).

Unfortunately, the low income housing is concentrated in certain areas of the county. It is what it is.

No, it isn't what it is. It is what we made it. On purpose. The residential economic segregation of Montgomery County is a feature, not a bug.

I'm also interested in your assumption that police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other people with steady incomes are white people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to mention the obvious self segregation. Spanish speaking people have moved into certain areas with the most Spanish speaking businesses and services. That's why certain schools are nearly 100% Hispanic (Weller Rd Elem). No one forced them to move to that area. They chose it to be close to their friends, family and support network. And they love their school and community. It's a bit paternalistic for us to assume they would prefer to bus their kids elsewhere to have the benefit of sitting in a classroom with white kids.

Oh please.

They move to places they can afford, as we all do.

I don't buy it. Let's say you have $X to spend on a house. There are various parts of the county where you can get similar housing, so why wouldn't people choose the one that's closer to family, friends, and services?

Same reason there's so many Asians in Rockville. There is similar-priced housing in other parts of the county, but those areas don't have nearly the choice of Asian groceries, restaurants, etc.

Let's say you have $1,600 a month to spend on rent. And you want to live in Bethesda, or Potomac, or Chevy Chase -- you know, where the "good" schools are. Well, too bad for you, because you can't.

[Anonymous]

MCPS is not doing this:
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/edu/documents/watsonmem.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see an easy solution nor if we really need one. We bought a house in X area because we liked the area and it had good schools. If the area is rezoned for bad schools, won't people who can afford to just move to areas zoned for good schools?

Besides, the school district is factored into property values. Property values are higher in areas with good schools. Why should MCPS make a change that would reduce the equity (property values) of so many residents in the name of diversity?

I guess it depends on what you think the main purpose of MCPS is -- maintaining property values, or educating children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see an easy solution nor if we really need one. We bought a house in X area because we liked the area and it had good schools. If the area is rezoned for bad schools, won't people who can afford to just move to areas zoned for good schools?

Besides, the school district is factored into property values. Property values are higher in areas with good schools. Why should MCPS make a change that would reduce the equity (property values) of so many residents in the name of diversity?

I think that you just answered your own question -- assuming that you believe that all children deserve to go to good schools, regardless of how much money their parents have or don't have.

"The good school is made with kids whose parents care about education". And "bad school is often made with kids from poor family". It is not the school buildings, the teachers and administrators that make school good or bad.
Diversity is not going to enhance the academic performance of the kids in "bad" school. Diversity only benefit the kids in good school so the kids will have a rich experience to learn life from kids come from difference culture and social economics. After being bused back to their home, the kids will keep speak ingt Spanish and watch Spanish TV program and baby sit their young siblings.