Overcrowding at Bethesda Elementary (BE)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And vote for, the Planning Board is not in your school's favor with all that apartment (live/work) density in downtown Bethesda. I mean, where did you think all those kids were going to go once those apartments were full? Insult to injury, the just announced and accepted 300 apartment units being built at the church site on Old Georgetown Road. Three guesses where these kids will go to school.

How many kids is "all those kids"?

And no, "I saw a bunch of kids getting on the bus" doesn't count as data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And vote for, the Planning Board is not in your school's favor with all that apartment (live/work) density in downtown Bethesda. I mean, where did you think all those kids were going to go once those apartments were full? Insult to injury, the just announced and accepted 300 apartment units being built at the church site on Old Georgetown Road. Three guesses where these kids will go to school.

How many kids is "all those kids"?

And no, "I saw a bunch of kids getting on the bus" doesn't count as data.

I saw not one but two buses at the Westbard apartment buildings, both buses packed to the extreme. To be clear, these units were solds as being housing for the American University college students (and people were angry about that) but those students have left and moved towards Tenley since that is where the campus has expanded. Who moved into those units for the college? Families, lots of families. You've got to get these kids counted properly because it DOES affect all classroom sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, last night was back to school night at BE. I expected overcrowding, but this was a new low. Physical Education classes have been doubled up, with almost 60 kids in a period. This means that for half the time, half the kids sit while the other run around. Not kidding--this is really happening, have verified with a couple of parents. They can no longer fit all the kids into the art room, so they now wheel an "art cart" into some classrooms for the kids to do art. The school is now so overcrowded that it seems to me like an emergency. What is most frustrating is the total lack of concern by our elected officials and school administrators. We (parents) have been warning about this for years. We've all seen the construction. Whatever the cause--teardowns, condos, apartments--does it matter? What is the plan for next year? Three classes in one P.E. period? I know the boundary study is forthcoming, but this is an issue now.

I hear you. Our elementary school upcounty has had to double up on gym classes, eliminate media center as one of the specials for older grades, start serving lunch at 10:30 in the morning because only one grade can fit in the cafeteria at a time, split Back to School Night into two nights (one for K-2 and one for 3-5) because we can’t fit everybody at the same time, and my child spent two school years outside the school building in portable classrooms. For Halloween, the school implemented two concurrent costume parades, with K-2 starting at one end of the parade route and 3-5 starting at the other end and walking the parade route in opposite directions at the same time. We were enrolled at 150% or more of core capacity every year that my now sixth grader attended the school.

This is my kids school! Can’t wait to get them out.

My kids' school also. My kid has lunch ridiculously early, and then has dismissal at 3:50. It's nuts.

Plus, our ES got rid of Halloween, so no Halloween parade or celebration at all, but that's another issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My youngest just graduated from Bethesda Elementary last year and I love that school.

Ms. Seymour has worked incredibly hard for years to bring awareness of downtown overcrowding, as have the Principals at the middle school and high school level for our cluster, as well as the surrounding clusters. I hope you're not blaming each school's administration, but rather the lack of funding and inertia at the County and State level. They hold the purse-strings.

There is a study being done right now to assess where to put in a new elementary in our area, and whether to share it with the Walter Johnson cluster, also overcrowded. Woodward high school will be opened in 2025 on Old Georgetown Rd, which will provide some relief at the high school level.

MCPS IS OVERCROWDED AND IT'S SHAMEFUL HOW LATE THE STATE AND COUNTY ARE RESPONDING. DEVELOPERS ARE FRIENDS WITH OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AT EVERY LEVEL. THEY ARE GIVEN PRIORITY OVER OUR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION.

I'll tell you what we need to do: something has to give. The public school budget is already weighing extremely heavily on the State's finances. We need to take a good hard look at what we can cut from MCPS, to preserve a decent teacher:student ratio in core classes, which is the backbone of a good education. It's sad to say, but as a parent who has lived through multiple private and public school systems, here and in different countries, we cannot have our cake and eat it too. We can enact laws to stave off development, which will impact our local economy but stabilize the school system so it doesn't traumatize a generation of kids, but we can't magic money that doesn't exist to build new schools. Cuts are in order, whether we like it or not.

The question is: where?

Hold the fort on this bs! It is your elected officials who are demanding multi family low income housing in huge numbers, not the developers. This is NOT profitable on any level. And if you think the numbers being used by your representatives which usually show a negative for families in these units are accurate you are sadly mistaken. Just sit outside the apartments on Westbard any morning and watch the number of county buses picking up students, hint, it is not just one bus. Multiple elementary school buses, etc. as is the case at the condominiums in Friendship Heights. You have families living in two bedroom units sometimes with three children and YOU as the voter have got to get that considered when school population numbers are being gathered for planning purposes. I really am so sick of the blame the business mentality when it comes to this matter. This is about your politicians and your planners, wake up and take action against those people. Constantly spewing hate at developers/businesses is just a foolish waste of time.

I have to agree.

They make BS projections saying that there are not many kids living in 2BR apartments and condos, and yet the apartment complex that feeds into my kid's elementary school has not one, but two (2!) bus routes assigned to it.

Plus, our neighborhood has had a proliferation of SFHs being turned into multi-family rentals, with zero enforcement of housing code violations. MCPS projections must be way out of whack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And vote for, the Planning Board is not in your school's favor with all that apartment (live/work) density in downtown Bethesda. I mean, where did you think all those kids were going to go once those apartments were full? Insult to injury, the just announced and accepted 300 apartment units being built at the church site on Old Georgetown Road. Three guesses where these kids will go to school.

How many kids is "all those kids"?

And no, "I saw a bunch of kids getting on the bus" doesn't count as data.

DP

Sure it does.

If the pro-development crowd is arguing that you don't have many kids living in 1 and 2BR apartments, yet the bus routes from those apartments are full, then MCPS needs to change the way it makes projections.

[Anonymous]

MCPS has been growing 2000-2500 each year for the past 5-10 years. The increase on recording and property taxes, originally planed for reducing student numbers in each classroom, all went to the new students.
The housing market is strong so MC enjoys both in higher tax rate and higher tax on each house. Currently, many houses are assessed at its market value. If the real estate market goes down 5%, county will lose income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, last night was back to school night at BE. I expected overcrowding, but this was a new low. Physical Education classes have been doubled up, with almost 60 kids in a period. This means that for half the time, half the kids sit while the other run around. Not kidding--this is really happening, have verified with a couple of parents. They can no longer fit all the kids into the art room, so they now wheel an "art cart" into some classrooms for the kids to do art. The school is now so overcrowded that it seems to me like an emergency. What is most frustrating is the total lack of concern by our elected officials and school administrators. We (parents) have been warning about this for years. We've all seen the construction. Whatever the cause--teardowns, condos, apartments--does it matter? What is the plan for next year? Three classes in one P.E. period? I know the boundary study is forthcoming, but this is an issue now.

There is no plan. The BOE cares about equity and transgender restrooms. Seriously. They do not care about overcrowded classrooms. A group of parents from our nonW cluster testified about this last year and we were completely shut down.

The schools Principals are left to piece together coverage and classrooms and hallways are filled to capacity.

+1 Million

Think about how much those bathrooms cost? Yet, they don’t have money to hire new teachers or add space

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has been growing 2000-2500 each year for the past 5-10 years. The increase on recording and property taxes, originally planed for reducing student numbers in each classroom, all went to the new students.
The housing market is strong so MC enjoys both in higher tax rate and higher tax on each house. Currently, many houses are assessed at its market value. If the real estate market goes down 5%, county will lose income.

Agree that when the real estate market cools, it will be an issue.

It’s also not that simple.

The proliferation of illegal (cash only/unreported) rentals has meant that the County is losing out on a good deal of revenue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, last night was back to school night at BE. I expected overcrowding, but this was a new low. Physical Education classes have been doubled up, with almost 60 kids in a period. This means that for half the time, half the kids sit while the other run around. Not kidding--this is really happening, have verified with a couple of parents. They can no longer fit all the kids into the art room, so they now wheel an "art cart" into some classrooms for the kids to do art. The school is now so overcrowded that it seems to me like an emergency. What is most frustrating is the total lack of concern by our elected officials and school administrators. We (parents) have been warning about this for years. We've all seen the construction. Whatever the cause--teardowns, condos, apartments--does it matter? What is the plan for next year? Three classes in one P.E. period? I know the boundary study is forthcoming, but this is an issue now.

There is no plan. The BOE cares about equity and transgender restrooms. Seriously. They do not care about overcrowded classrooms. A group of parents from our nonW cluster testified about this last year and we were completely shut down.

The schools Principals are left to piece together coverage and classrooms and hallways are filled to capacity.

+1 Million

Think about how much those bathrooms cost? Yet, they don’t have money to hire new teachers or add space

If they don't care about overcrowding, why have they approved and funded all these additions and new buildings?

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/projects.aspx

Of course there is still much more to do for overcrowding, but it's disingenuous to suggest nothing has been done.

And they just hired 1000+ new teachers.

[Anonymous]

I swear this is like reading the DCPS threads from 10 years ago before all the school renovations. Time to move back to DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, last night was back to school night at BE. I expected overcrowding, but this was a new low. Physical Education classes have been doubled up, with almost 60 kids in a period. This means that for half the time, half the kids sit while the other run around. Not kidding--this is really happening, have verified with a couple of parents. They can no longer fit all the kids into the art room, so they now wheel an "art cart" into some classrooms for the kids to do art. The school is now so overcrowded that it seems to me like an emergency. What is most frustrating is the total lack of concern by our elected officials and school administrators. We (parents) have been warning about this for years. We've all seen the construction. Whatever the cause--teardowns, condos, apartments--does it matter? What is the plan for next year? Three classes in one P.E. period? I know the boundary study is forthcoming, but this is an issue now.

There is no plan. The BOE cares about equity and transgender restrooms. Seriously. They do not care about overcrowded classrooms. A group of parents from our nonW cluster testified about this last year and we were completely shut down.

The schools Principals are left to piece together coverage and classrooms and hallways are filled to capacity.

+1 Million

Think about how much those bathrooms cost? Yet, they don’t have money to hire new teachers or add space

If they don't care about overcrowding, why have they approved and funded all these additions and new buildings?

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/projects.aspx

Of course there is still much more to do for overcrowding, but it's disingenuous to suggest nothing has been done.

And they just hired 1000+ new teachers.

Maybe PP means that it feels as if MCPS has not made overcrowding a priority. IMO, this is something that affects kids and kids’ learning on a daily basis. It is WAY more important than transgender bathrooms! I have no issue with MCPS converting restrooms to transgender bathrooms, once they fix the issue of overcrowding.

The overcrowded classrooms and overcrowded schools need to be the Number One Priority. It affects kids of all races and all SES levels.

It’s great they they hired more teachers and I agree that there is lots more to do regarding overcrowding.

There is only so much money in the budget. Sometimes (often times) it feels like MCPS is not focusing on the things that are really important and need to be addressed immediately. And instead, MCPS is focusing on other issues that only affect a small number of students (like transgender bathrooms).

Overcrowded classrooms affect all kids - LGBQTIA, Focus schools, W schools, predominantly Latino schools, predominantly AA schools. They are almost ALL over crowded. But it’s not as politically popular and doesn’t get as much politically favorable attention to talk about that at the BOE meetings and in the media. So it has not been a priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

+1 Million

Think about how much those bathrooms cost? Yet, they don’t have money to hire new teachers or add space

How many bathrooms have been installed, and how much did they cost? Please tell us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And vote for, the Planning Board is not in your school's favor with all that apartment (live/work) density in downtown Bethesda. I mean, where did you think all those kids were going to go once those apartments were full? Insult to injury, the just announced and accepted 300 apartment units being built at the church site on Old Georgetown Road. Three guesses where these kids will go to school.

How many kids is "all those kids"?

And no, "I saw a bunch of kids getting on the bus" doesn't count as data.

I saw not one but two buses at the Westbard apartment buildings, both buses packed to the extreme. To be clear, these units were solds as being housing for the American University college students (and people were angry about that) but those students have left and moved towards Tenley since that is where the campus has expanded. Who moved into those units for the college? Families, lots of families. You've got to get these kids counted properly because it DOES affect all classroom sizes.

What Westbard apartment buildings are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe PP means that it feels as if MCPS has not made overcrowding a priority. IMO, this is something that affects kids and kids’ learning on a daily basis. It is WAY more important than transgender bathrooms! I have no issue with MCPS converting restrooms to transgender bathrooms, once they fix the issue of overcrowding.

The overcrowded classrooms and overcrowded schools need to be the Number One Priority. It affects kids of all races and all SES levels.

It’s great they they hired more teachers and I agree that there is lots more to do regarding overcrowding.

There is only so much money in the budget. Sometimes (often times) it feels like MCPS is not focusing on the things that are really important and need to be addressed immediately. And instead, MCPS is focusing on other issues that only affect a small number of students (like transgender bathrooms).

Overcrowded classrooms affect all kids - LGBQTIA, Focus schools, W schools, predominantly Latino schools, predominantly AA schools. They are almost ALL over crowded. But it’s not as politically popular and doesn’t get as much politically favorable attention to talk about that at the BOE meetings and in the media. So it has not been a priority.

MCPS has a $1.82 billion five-year capital budget. $281.5 million for fiscal year 2020. The MCPS capital budget accounts for just under 1/4 of the total county capital budget. Does that look to you like they haven't made it a priority?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1 Million

Think about how much those bathrooms cost? Yet, they don’t have money to hire new teachers or add space

How many bathrooms have been installed, and how much did they cost? Please tell us.

DP

Would have to find the link. There was a link last year about a ridiculous amount of money that MCPS had already spent on this cause. And then additional funding that would potentially also be used for it.