Redistrict Montgomery County

[Anonymous]

I have read many of the opinions on this site and cannot help but ask why not just redistrict Montgomery County Public Schools as a whole? This was no one cluster or school is a target. The county schools and population are very obviously out of control and fixing things cluster by cluster will only push the problems to adjacent clusters.

[Anonymous]

It would make too many people angry. The "wealthy" don't want their kids going to school with the "poor." "Poor" is defined as under $400K a year here.

[Anonymous]

I don't disagree with the OP. But wow, it would cause world war III. Could you imagine how long it would take?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would make too many people angry. The "wealthy" don't want their kids going to school with the "poor." "Poor" is defined as under $400K a year here.

I make less then $100K. I guess I should move back in with my parents. That may not be too bad, my kids can go to "W" Schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't disagree with the OP. But wow, it would cause world war III. Could you imagine how long it would take?

This seems like a logical solution. Will never happen due to politics, but logical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would make too many people angry. The "wealthy" don't want their kids going to school with the "poor." "Poor" is defined as under $400K a year here.

I make less then $100K. I guess I should move back in with my parents. That may not be too bad, my kids can go to "W" Schools.

Your living in absolute poverty (although I think 100K is a great income). Actually, just quit your job, get hoc housing, MEAP, day care voucher, food stamps, WIC and more...That would be a lot better than living with your parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would make too many people angry. The "wealthy" don't want their kids going to school with the "poor." "Poor" is defined as under $400K a year here.

I make less then $100K. I guess I should move back in with my parents. That may not be too bad, my kids can go to "W" Schools.

Seriously, why not?

[Anonymous]

To me it would depend on what would be the goal of such an effort? If it is to alleviate over crowding, I am all for it. If it is for "diversity" than forget it. I dont want my kid bussed across the county to some gang school. FWIW we are in RM cluster, not W

[Anonymous]

Lots of people seem to think you are already at one!

Another RM parent

[Anonymous]

how does it fix overcrowding for the long term better than the current system?

[Anonymous]

People pay a premium to live in a neighborhood that has a highly rated school cluster. In Kensington for example, a similar house in the WJ school district would sell for around $150k more than one in the Einstein neighborhood and a house in the BCC zoned part of Kensington would sell for perhaps $200-$250K more than the one in Einstein. For many middle class people, their homes are their main source of wealth and so yes people will be concerned about any redistricting plan that threatens to reduce their home's value. The county should also consider whether a massive redistricting that causes upper middle class people to leave or makes them less likely to move to Mont. County would reduce state income tax revenue and property tax revenue. That would impact school funding.
Also one of the posts in the thread on WJ's situation had some statistics on the SAT performance of FARMS kids in a "W" school and a nearby DCC school and while there is a difference, they are quite similar. Another post on the same thread noted that white students in Einstein and WJ had nearly identical SAT scores (approx. 1800/2400) which is suggestive if you assume that race is correlated with socioeconomic status. In other words, you can physically move the kids around the county in all kinds of ways but unless you address the underlying differences in the socioeconomic status of the kids it is really hard to close the achievement gap. That is not a task that MCPS can tackle on its own.
Here are the stats from the WJ thread:
"Here are the Highest Mean SAT Critical Reading, Mathematics, and Writing Scores for students who qualify for FARMS (Class of 2015):
MCPS: 1386/2400
Einstein 1392/2400
WJ: 1463/2400
BCC: 1330/2400"
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[Anonymous]

The problem with this is the current rating system itself is so flawed that it's mostly meaningless, and mostly serves to hinder any real progress for the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would make too many people angry. The "wealthy" don't want their kids going to school with the "poor." "Poor" is defined as under $400K a year here.

Then 95% of the county must be poor by your definitely.

[Anonymous]

But all those numbers would shift when the kids shifted..Your kids test scores is tied to your kid not the school s/he attends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would make too many people angry. The "wealthy" don't want their kids going to school with the "poor." "Poor" is defined as under $400K a year here.

Then 95% of the county must be poor by your definitely.

Pretty much. We know a lot of families making that much especially if both parents worked. We're in that poor category.