Initial boundary options for Woodward study area are up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was expecting a range of options on the demographics/equalizing FARMS dimension. But options 1, 2 and 4 do basically nothing to improve on that front, or in some cases make things worse. And option 3 is only a moderate improvement, the kind of thing I would have expected as a middle-ground option between "no improvement on demographics/diversity" and "significant improvement on demographics/diversity."

I feel like all the options other than #3 are non-starters. #3 has plenty of flaws but it feels like we need to focus on iterating off of it to make it better. It's ridiculous to have some schools with 6% FARMS rates and some schools with over 60% FARMS rates (or up to 75% at some middle schools!) and have 3 of the 4 options not do a thing to try to address that.

Disasgree. Option 3 will be off the table quickly. Look at how many HS have noncontiguous boundaries. You just can't level the FARMs rates in schools in a county that has so much housing segregation.

Yeah. If kids in summit hills (which is going to be expanded in the next 10 years) go to Whitman then kids from Whitman can be bussed to Wheaton. They have to commit to something based on geographies and then level the resources based on FARMS rates to balance more.

I don't understand busing kids from Summit Hills to Whitman - those kids go to BCC now and BCC needs the diversity they provide. Even BCC is a long way for the Summit Hills kids, but at least they get to go to a neighborhood school from K-2 (Rosemary Hills) and they can take 1 bus ride along East West Highway to get back and forth to school when they can't use a school bus. I can't imagine how they are going to get home from afterschool activities from Whitman.

[Anonymous]

Option 3 is great for the DC tax base.

Any Chevy Chase parent whose kids are sent to Blair/Takoma is going to have to ask themselves why they wouldn't just move (back) into upper NW DC and send their kids to Wilson/Jackson Reed instead. There are good elementaries like Eaton, Janney, etc. Plus good preK3&4 options.

Option #3 will drain MoCo into Upper NW DC. Most of them lived in DC anyway before moving to ChCh. Their lives and work are oriented toward downtown DC not toward the outer Beltway. Many more will choose to stay in DC, thinking they will move to a new area in MS/HS or pay for private HS only if necessary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Option 3 is great for the DC tax base.

Any Chevy Chase parent whose kids are sent to Blair/Takoma is going to have to ask themselves why they wouldn't just move (back) into upper NW DC and send their kids to Wilson/Jackson Reed instead. There are good elementaries like Eaton, Janney, etc. Plus good preK3&4 options.

Option #3 will drain MoCo into Upper NW DC. Most of them lived in DC anyway before moving to ChCh. Their lives and work are oriented toward downtown DC not toward the outer Beltway. Many more will choose to stay in DC, thinking they will move to a new area in MS/HS or pay for private HS only if necessary

I think that’s what people are doing anyways. You come to MoCo for the schools. That’s the way it’s always been. Not as many jobs here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Option 3 is great for the DC tax base.

Any Chevy Chase parent whose kids are sent to Blair/Takoma is going to have to ask themselves why they wouldn't just move (back) into upper NW DC and send their kids to Wilson/Jackson Reed instead. There are good elementaries like Eaton, Janney, etc. Plus good preK3&4 options.

Option #3 will drain MoCo into Upper NW DC. Most of them lived in DC anyway before moving to ChCh. Their lives and work are oriented toward downtown DC not toward the outer Beltway. Many more will choose to stay in DC, thinking they will move to a new area in MS/HS or pay for private HS only if necessary

If you think the progressives are bad in Moco, then you have a whole other thing coming by moving into DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way Option 3 is a real option with the crazy pockets of HS zones that are 30-45 minute bus rides away, like the Blair zone near BCC and the Kennedy one near Farmland ES. It’s almost a joke it’s so insane.

I’m with PPs that Option 3 is almost a poison pill developed to ensure Options 1, 2, and 4 are picked.

NONE of them are "real" options. This is a step in the process, and MCPS did a bad job of explaining

I think you're right. I attended one of the zoom meetings this week. I read in the comments that none of these options are etched in stone and there would be a new set of options presented down the road. I didn't actually hear them say that, I just happened to catch it in the comments.

It's been clearly spelled out on the website and elsewhere that there will be another set of options in the fall. The real question is whether they will just be tweaks to each of these for, or versions that try to balance the factors like they should have done in the first place, or something else entirely.

[Anonymous]

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/05/28/mcpss-insane-boundary-maps/

[Anonymous]

Farmland Elementary is 1.7 miles to the new Woodward High and 1.1 miles to Tilden Middle (walking distances - which means limited bus cost required).

Option 3 has Farmland going to Parkland Middle (5+ miles driving) and Kennedy High (6+ miles driving). This will cause disruption for students, increased cost for the County to bus students, and is not proximate. Three of the four priorities of the Boundary Study are NOT supported.

It is important for students and parents to be located close to schools/work. Shorter commutes result in more happiness and life satisfaction (NIH).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The Rosemary Hills/Chevy Chase Elementary schools already have a mix of students from affluent and less affluent homes and a mix of races from Chevy Chase and Silver Springs. Under option 3, instead of these kids attending the same middle school (Silver Creek) and high school (BCC) they will divide this
cohort of students, who have been together for 6 years, so that they can increase diversity rates at Whitman and Blair. The BCC cluster schools already has diversity. Option 3 has Silver Spring kids being bussed past BCC to get to Whitman and Chevy Chase kids who live within 1-2 miles from BCC bussed 6 miles to Blair.

Rosemary Hills students split into two elementary schools (North Bethesda and Chevy. Chase), and option 3 ends up splitting students again.

Agree for this particular group of Rosemary Hills kids, it is completely unfair and their cluster needs to be taken off the table. They were the first and only bussed students for years and deserve stability. The diversity by bussing is already there and has been for decades. Pick on someone else.

This has been happening for many years to other families.

Rosemary Hills among was the very first (in the country) to do cross county bussing. Those familes have been dealing with this since 1983. Kingergartners in Chevy Chase have been bussed miles away from home to Silver Spring and then split away from their friends in 2nd grade for diversity purposes. Then the opposite happens for the Silver Spring kids when they are bussed out of theiir neighborhoods to CCES in third grade. My kids bus ride was 45 minutes each way every day. They’d get off the bus with motion sickness. The bus driver also lost my kindergartener and other kids when they all got off on the wrong stop in Silver Spring. They were found walking down the road. You all think MCPS isn’t serious about option 3? Think again! Rosemary Hills is their model.

I live in Rosemary Hills. There's no part of the CCES area that takes 45 minutes to get to RHPS. Maybe on a very rare occasion if there was an accident somewhere on the way, but not as the norm. And it's a very small slice of the Silver Spring kids who get bused to CCES, the poorest kids from a particular apartment complex, who are bused just to make wealthy CCES families feel better that there's diversity at their school. The rest go to NCC like my kids did. Stop being such a martyr.

The buses stop multiple times at multiple bus stops along the way. It isn’t a straight shot. You aren’t taking that into account. By the time they get they get to the last stop in Chevy Chase, it’s been 45 minutes! Obviously you didn’t live this but I DID!!!!

And you are right it’s only a small slice of the poorest kids sent to CCES, the rest go to NCC which is much closer. It’s like one school bus of kids leaving CCES for Rosemary Hills/Silver Spring to one location (the apartments) so one stop whereas there are multiple buses leaving RHPS for Chevy Chase every day with multiple stops. Your experience was cushy and as you sit on your progressive throne looking down, good for you!

My progressive throne is the actually diverse Rosemary Hills neighborhood. CCES families tend to be big Democratic donors who don't walk the walk, other than the big sacrifice you make to send your kids on the bus to RHPS for 3 years.

DC might be a better fit for you in terms of diversity. Why don’t you live there?

Because I like suburban living and I can have that AND diversity by living in Rosemary Hills. It's not that complicated.

No one cares. But that “make the rich suffer” progressive chip on your shoulder is clouding your brain. The rich never suffer. Everyone else suffers for these stupid busing ideas, especially ALL kids and especially the poor families working two to three jobs who struggle with time to get to a school in their own neighborhood (though they want to) much less a school miles away. They rely on their communities. The Rich? They just pack up and leave.

Stop using others as talking points because you are unhappy.

I’m not unhappy. My kids are in private schools now because of MCPS lunacy. But as a former public school parent (elementary through middle school) and a multiple hour a week (for years) volunteer in MCPS who was a also booster who raised so many thousands of $ for public schools on the PTA, I’ve seen it play out. And I am one of a flood of similar parents who left. I have skin in this situation. People aren’t talking points. The reality is busing to far corners of the county hits the poor harder than the rich but they can’t just up and leave because of MCPS politucs. anyone who actually cares about those not well off knows busing is a sham to cover up poor outcomes and does zero to actually help kids or families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way Option 3 is a real option with the crazy pockets of HS zones that are 30-45 minute bus rides away, like the Blair zone near BCC and the Kennedy one near Farmland ES. It’s almost a joke it’s so insane.

I’m with PPs that Option 3 is almost a poison pill developed to ensure Options 1, 2, and 4 are picked.

NONE of them are "real" options. This is a step in the process, and MCPS did a bad job of explaining

I think you're right. I attended one of the zoom meetings this week. I read in the comments that none of these options are etched in stone and there would be a new set of options presented down the road. I didn't actually hear them say that, I just happened to catch it in the comments.

It's been clearly spelled out on the website and elsewhere that there will be another set of options in the fall. The real question is whether they will just be tweaks to each of these for, or versions that try to balance the factors like they should have done in the first place, or something else entirely.

Ok so these are not final options. I'm uncertain what these options are supposed to be accomplish, then. They just released options that ONLY accounted for one of the factors and none of the other three? Why? To start discussion?

[Anonymous]

So they can get public feedback. We may not get as much time to provide feedback later on other options. This may be it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So they can get public feedback. We may not get as much time to provide feedback later on other options. This may be it.

but then these options have to be at least possible. You don't put out completely fake and unrealistic options. If you did, then all feedback would be useless.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:The Rosemary Hills/Chevy Chase Elementary schools already have a mix of students from affluent and less affluent homes and a mix of races from Chevy Chase and Silver Springs. Under option 3, instead of these kids attending the same middle school (Silver Creek) and high school (BCC) they will divide this
cohort of students, who have been together for 6 years, so that they can increase diversity rates at Whitman and Blair. The BCC cluster schools already has diversity. Option 3 has Silver Spring kids being bussed past BCC to get to Whitman and Chevy Chase kids who live within 1-2 miles from BCC bussed 6 miles to Blair.

Rosemary Hills students split into two elementary schools (North Bethesda and Chevy. Chase), and option 3 ends up splitting students again.

Agree for this particular group of Rosemary Hills kids, it is completely unfair and their cluster needs to be taken off the table. They were the first and only bussed students for years and deserve stability. The diversity by bussing is already there and has been for decades. Pick on someone else.

This has been happening for many years to other families.

Rosemary Hills among was the very first (in the country) to do cross county bussing. Those familes have been dealing with this since 1983. Kingergartners in Chevy Chase have been bussed miles away from home to Silver Spring and then split away from their friends in 2nd grade for diversity purposes. Then the opposite happens for the Silver Spring kids when they are bussed out of theiir neighborhoods to CCES in third grade. My kids bus ride was 45 minutes each way every day. They’d get off the bus with motion sickness. The bus driver also lost my kindergartener and other kids when they all got off on the wrong stop in Silver Spring. They were found walking down the road. You all think MCPS isn’t serious about option 3? Think again! Rosemary Hills is their model.

I live in Rosemary Hills. There's no part of the CCES area that takes 45 minutes to get to RHPS. Maybe on a very rare occasion if there was an accident somewhere on the way, but not as the norm. And it's a very small slice of the Silver Spring kids who get bused to CCES, the poorest kids from a particular apartment complex, who are bused just to make wealthy CCES families feel better that there's diversity at their school. The rest go to NCC like my kids did. Stop being such a martyr.

The buses stop multiple times at multiple bus stops along the way. It isn’t a straight shot. You aren’t taking that into account. By the time they get they get to the last stop in Chevy Chase, it’s been 45 minutes! Obviously you didn’t live this but I DID!!!!

And you are right it’s only a small slice of the poorest kids sent to CCES, the rest go to NCC which is much closer. It’s like one school bus of kids leaving CCES for Rosemary Hills/Silver Spring to one location (the apartments) so one stop whereas there are multiple buses leaving RHPS for Chevy Chase every day with multiple stops. Your experience was cushy and as you sit on your progressive throne looking down, good for you!

My progressive throne is the actually diverse Rosemary Hills neighborhood. CCES families tend to be big Democratic donors who don't walk the walk, other than the big sacrifice you make to send your kids on the bus to RHPS for 3 years.

DC might be a better fit for you in terms of diversity. Why don’t you live there?

Because I like suburban living and I can have that AND diversity by living in Rosemary Hills. It's not that complicated.

No one cares. But that “make the rich suffer” progressive chip on your shoulder is clouding your brain. The rich never suffer. Everyone else suffers for these stupid busing ideas, especially ALL kids and especially the poor families working two to three jobs who struggle with time to get to a school in their own neighborhood (though they want to) much less a school miles away. They rely on their communities. The Rich? They just pack up and leave.

Stop using others as talking points because you are unhappy.

I’m not unhappy. My kids are in private schools now because of MCPS lunacy. But as a former public school parent (elementary through middle school) and a multiple hour a week (for years) volunteer in MCPS who was a also booster who raised so many thousands of $ for public schools on the PTA, I’ve seen it play out. And I am one of a flood of similar parents who left. I have skin in this situation. People aren’t talking points. The reality is busing to far corners of the county hits the poor harder than the rich but they can’t just up and leave because of MCPS politucs. anyone who actually cares about those not well off knows busing is a sham to cover up poor outcomes and does zero to actually help kids or families.

There are not enough privates and most cannot afford them. Most aren’t leaving. Just the rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way Option 3 is a real option with the crazy pockets of HS zones that are 30-45 minute bus rides away, like the Blair zone near BCC and the Kennedy one near Farmland ES. It’s almost a joke it’s so insane.

I’m with PPs that Option 3 is almost a poison pill developed to ensure Options 1, 2, and 4 are picked.

NONE of them are "real" options. This is a step in the process, and MCPS did a bad job of explaining

I think you're right. I attended one of the zoom meetings this week. I read in the comments that none of these options are etched in stone and there would be a new set of options presented down the road. I didn't actually hear them say that, I just happened to catch it in the comments.

It's been clearly spelled out on the website and elsewhere that there will be another set of options in the fall. The real question is whether they will just be tweaks to each of these for, or versions that try to balance the factors like they should have done in the first place, or something else entirely.

They may have done just what ever to meet the contract deadlines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Option 3 is great for the DC tax base.

Any Chevy Chase parent whose kids are sent to Blair/Takoma is going to have to ask themselves why they wouldn't just move (back) into upper NW DC and send their kids to Wilson/Jackson Reed instead. There are good elementaries like Eaton, Janney, etc. Plus good preK3&4 options.

Option #3 will drain MoCo into Upper NW DC. Most of them lived in DC anyway before moving to ChCh. Their lives and work are oriented toward downtown DC not toward the outer Beltway. Many more will choose to stay in DC, thinking they will move to a new area in MS/HS or pay for private HS only if necessary

This is us to a tee (ChCh family staring down Option 3), including the conversation we had last night about whether we would just move back to DC. Came here for the schools...

[Anonymous]

Some people really stretch on real estate to be in MoCo public schools. They are truly wonderful.

Others are just rich but choose public over private, probably because they went to public themselves.