Damascus, QO swap proposed regions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original proposal was substantially better for QO. There’s no reason for the QO community, for whom Poolesville has been a reasonable commute, to support these changes.

I'm confused why you think that. I don't see an issue with these revised regions.

You must not have skin in the game if you don’t see an issue with these revised regions.

Exactly. I'm another QO parent and this does not look good at all for us. I prefer the old model and my kid is a 2031 kid. Crossing my fingers that something happens and this sh**sh** gets postponed.

If you're happy at QO you can just stay there and not deal with the regional programs.

Problem is that QO loses the chance to get access to Poolsville which they have previously had. They will be bussing in students from other high FARMS schools and some of the best existing resources will be extracted to support the special programs. I can’t think of any benefits for QO under this new regional model scenario

QO isn't alone in this.

The region 2 schools had access to Blair but in what is currently proposed, they won't and would be in their own little island with some of the lowest performing schools in the county.

In region 3, Walter Johnson lost access to Blair as well. And is in the same region with two other schools with more than a current 50 percent FARMS rate, with Wheaton being up at 65 percent. Honestly I don't think the regional models will make a difference. Where when I've talked to students at Richard Montgomery and Blair in the past, and students both in and not in the magnet/IB programs said that they don't interact with students in/or not in the program. But am just pointing it out because it's one of the things that you mentioned and one could argue that Walter Johnson has it worse than QO.

Region 4 is kind of a strange grouping with two W schools with less than 15 percent in the same region and the other two schools have less than 50 percent FARMS.

Region 6 doesn't look too bad as well.

So instead of protesting how the proposed changes won't be fair to QO specifically, maybe protest the entire plan as a whole. Because the rest of the arguments in this thread about QO and Damascus swapping regions don't really have merit. After the swap both regions and 5 are indeed continguous. And other schools are losing access to the countywide access programs too. So instead of protesting and saying QO should be swapped back into the same region as Poolesville, which would result in another school not being in the same grouping with it, protest the whole plan.

And also remember no matter what anyone says, after the changes, chances are the existing countywide programs as we know it likely won't be the same as they were before.

I’m a QO parent (but not the one you’re responding to). I definitely oppose the entirety of the proposed changes, not just the part that affects QO — but since this is a thread about Damascus and QO swapping, yeah, I’m gonna complain that we got the short end of the stick. I’m not just a QO parent; I’m also a Poolesville parent, so I’m posting as both.

Currently, QO students who participate in special programs have the opportunity to attend a nearly whole-school magnet, Poolesville. The vast majority of students are academically advanced, engaged and serious about academics and the teachers feel lucky to teach there. Within the different academic houses at Poolesville, students form a very tight knit community because they share so many classes with the same people. It’s a small school, which also promotes a sense of community. Fights don’t happen there. Just last year, their brand new school building opened. It’s customized for each of these programs, with each having their own “hub.” The special programs at Poolesville have been honed over the years and are taught by experienced staff.

With these changes, QO-zoned families won’t have access to Poolesville anymore, and Poolesville HS won’t be the same either. Poolesville won’t be a nearly whole-school magnet filled with mostly high achievers and the pool of talent from which they can draw students will be smaller and the curricula will be new for everyone. The humanities magnet will be hit especially hard since there will no longer be ANY criteria-based humanities programs anywhere in the county. Under the proposed changes, every humanities program in the county will be interest-based.

Even for QO students who would have stayed at their home school, with boundary changes, they won’t necessarily be assigned to QO anymore. It’s a crapshoot where they’ll end up. Everything from the length of their commute to open lunch to the football program may change. No more Red Army boosters from some of the current, long time QO neighborhoods.

There’s really nothing beneficial in any of the proposed changes to special programs or boundaries that benefits the current QO community. Overnight, MCPS pulled out the rug from underneath us by changing our proposed region designation to one with lower performing schools.

This. I'm one of the other QO parents posting and this is exactly what I was thinking. We are now grouped with all the low performing schools and the regional magnet cohort is going to be so watered down that I don't see any benefit for my kid.

At least with region 6, we would have had NorthWest and Clarksburg and Poolesville which are better performing schools.

I don't understand this comment. The boundaries will be redrawn for all the high schools so there's no way to know which schools after the boundary changes are going to be low performing or high performing.

🤔 It’s almost like MCPS doesn’t want anyone to have any concrete information they could use to oppose the changes they’re proposing.

You can’t complain about boundary changes because now you’ll have more access to special programs, so you don’t even have to stay at your home school.

You can’t complain about proposed changes to special programs because boundaries will change and you don’t even know which neighborhoods will be in your region.

[Anonymous]

It's outrageous to see unelected bureaucrats like the Superintendent act as the puppet master, rearranging the strings to hurt high performing students in the name of equity and DEI. It would be nice to have an adult in the room who prioritized education over equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still don't know why families in kentlands/Lakeland can put up with all these that their home high school will stay at QO ( region 5, no access to poolesville magnet), or go to crown or Gaithersburg HS. No one talks about it at all. The house value should go down in that area once all are approved.

I’m concerned about that.

+2

I'm concerned too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original proposal was substantially better for QO. There’s no reason for the QO community, for whom Poolesville has been a reasonable commute, to support these changes.

I'm confused why you think that. I don't see an issue with these revised regions.

You must not have skin in the game if you don’t see an issue with these revised regions.

Exactly. I'm another QO parent and this does not look good at all for us. I prefer the old model and my kid is a 2031 kid. Crossing my fingers that something happens and this sh**sh** gets postponed.

If you're happy at QO you can just stay there and not deal with the regional programs.

Problem is that QO loses the chance to get access to Poolsville which they have previously had. They will be bussing in students from other high FARMS schools and some of the best existing resources will be extracted to support the special programs. I can’t think of any benefits for QO under this new regional model scenario

QO isn't alone in this.

The region 2 schools had access to Blair but in what is currently proposed, they won't and would be in their own little island with some of the lowest performing schools in the county.

In region 3, Walter Johnson lost access to Blair as well. And is in the same region with two other schools with more than a current 50 percent FARMS rate, with Wheaton being up at 65 percent. Honestly I don't think the regional models will make a difference. Where when I've talked to students at Richard Montgomery and Blair in the past, and students both in and not in the magnet/IB programs said that they don't interact with students in/or not in the program. But am just pointing it out because it's one of the things that you mentioned and one could argue that Walter Johnson has it worse than QO.

Region 4 is kind of a strange grouping with two W schools with less than 15 percent in the same region and the other two schools have less than 50 percent FARMS.

Region 6 doesn't look too bad as well.

So instead of protesting how the proposed changes won't be fair to QO specifically, maybe protest the entire plan as a whole. Because the rest of the arguments in this thread about QO and Damascus swapping regions don't really have merit. After the swap both regions and 5 are indeed continguous. And other schools are losing access to the countywide access programs too. So instead of protesting and saying QO should be swapped back into the same region as Poolesville, which would result in another school not being in the same grouping with it, protest the whole plan.

And also remember no matter what anyone says, after the changes, chances are the existing countywide programs as we know it likely won't be the same as they were before.

I’m a QO parent (but not the one you’re responding to). I definitely oppose the entirety of the proposed changes, not just the part that affects QO — but since this is a thread about Damascus and QO swapping, yeah, I’m gonna complain that we got the short end of the stick. I’m not just a QO parent; I’m also a Poolesville parent, so I’m posting as both.

Currently, QO students who participate in special programs have the opportunity to attend a nearly whole-school magnet, Poolesville. The vast majority of students are academically advanced, engaged and serious about academics and the teachers feel lucky to teach there. Within the different academic houses at Poolesville, students form a very tight knit community because they share so many classes with the same people. It’s a small school, which also promotes a sense of community. Fights don’t happen there. Just last year, their brand new school building opened. It’s customized for each of these programs, with each having their own “hub.” The special programs at Poolesville have been honed over the years and are taught by experienced staff.

With these changes, QO-zoned families won’t have access to Poolesville anymore, and Poolesville HS won’t be the same either. Poolesville won’t be a nearly whole-school magnet filled with mostly high achievers and the pool of talent from which they can draw students will be smaller and the curricula will be new for everyone. The humanities magnet will be hit especially hard since there will no longer be ANY criteria-based humanities programs anywhere in the county. Under the proposed changes, every humanities program in the county will be interest-based.

Even for QO students who would have stayed at their home school, with boundary changes, they won’t necessarily be assigned to QO anymore. It’s a crapshoot where they’ll end up. Everything from the length of their commute to open lunch to the football program may change. No more Red Army boosters from some of the current, long time QO neighborhoods.

There’s really nothing beneficial in any of the proposed changes to special programs or boundaries that benefits the current QO community. Overnight, MCPS pulled out the rug from underneath us by changing our proposed region designation to one with lower performing schools.

This. I'm one of the other QO parents posting and this is exactly what I was thinking. We are now grouped with all the low performing schools and the regional magnet cohort is going to be so watered down that I don't see any benefit for my kid.

At least with region 6, we would have had NorthWest and Clarksburg and Poolesville which are better performing schools.

I don't understand this comment. The boundaries will be redrawn for all the high schools so there's no way to know which schools after the boundary changes are going to be low performing or high performing.

🤔 It’s almost like MCPS doesn’t want anyone to have any concrete information they could use to oppose the changes they’re proposing.

You can’t complain about boundary changes because now you’ll have more access to special programs, so you don’t even have to stay at your home school.

You can’t complain about proposed changes to special programs because boundaries will change and you don’t even know which neighborhoods will be in your region.

But then with all these proposed redistricting plans, it is obvious that Crown will still end up being a high FARMS school. And region 5 will have the most FARMS rate up county and QO which is currently at 50% FARMS gets the short end of the stick with being in Region 5. Because of the lack of access to Poolesville magnet, our home prices will fall and I am concerned.

[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:The original proposal was substantially better for QO. There’s no reason for the QO community, for whom Poolesville has been a reasonable commute, to support these changes.

I'm confused why you think that. I don't see an issue with these revised regions.

You must not have skin in the game if you don’t see an issue with these revised regions.

Exactly. I'm another QO parent and this does not look good at all for us. I prefer the old model and my kid is a 2031 kid. Crossing my fingers that something happens and this sh**sh** gets postponed.

If you're happy at QO you can just stay there and not deal with the regional programs.

Problem is that QO loses the chance to get access to Poolsville which they have previously had. They will be bussing in students from other high FARMS schools and some of the best existing resources will be extracted to support the special programs. I can’t think of any benefits for QO under this new regional model scenario

QO isn't alone in this.

The region 2 schools had access to Blair but in what is currently proposed, they won't and would be in their own little island with some of the lowest performing schools in the county.

In region 3, Walter Johnson lost access to Blair as well. And is in the same region with two other schools with more than a current 50 percent FARMS rate, with Wheaton being up at 65 percent. Honestly I don't think the regional models will make a difference. Where when I've talked to students at Richard Montgomery and Blair in the past, and students both in and not in the magnet/IB programs said that they don't interact with students in/or not in the program. But am just pointing it out because it's one of the things that you mentioned and one could argue that Walter Johnson has it worse than QO.

Region 4 is kind of a strange grouping with two W schools with less than 15 percent in the same region and the other two schools have less than 50 percent FARMS.

Region 6 doesn't look too bad as well.

So instead of protesting how the proposed changes won't be fair to QO specifically, maybe protest the entire plan as a whole. Because the rest of the arguments in this thread about QO and Damascus swapping regions don't really have merit. After the swap both regions and 5 are indeed continguous. And other schools are losing access to the countywide access programs too. So instead of protesting and saying QO should be swapped back into the same region as Poolesville, which would result in another school not being in the same grouping with it, protest the whole plan.

And also remember no matter what anyone says, after the changes, chances are the existing countywide programs as we know it likely won't be the same as they were before.

I’m a QO parent (but not the one you’re responding to). I definitely oppose the entirety of the proposed changes, not just the part that affects QO — but since this is a thread about Damascus and QO swapping, yeah, I’m gonna complain that we got the short end of the stick. I’m not just a QO parent; I’m also a Poolesville parent, so I’m posting as both.

Currently, QO students who participate in special programs have the opportunity to attend a nearly whole-school magnet, Poolesville. The vast majority of students are academically advanced, engaged and serious about academics and the teachers feel lucky to teach there. Within the different academic houses at Poolesville, students form a very tight knit community because they share so many classes with the same people. It’s a small school, which also promotes a sense of community. Fights don’t happen there. Just last year, their brand new school building opened. It’s customized for each of these programs, with each having their own “hub.” The special programs at Poolesville have been honed over the years and are taught by experienced staff.

With these changes, QO-zoned families won’t have access to Poolesville anymore, and Poolesville HS won’t be the same either. Poolesville won’t be a nearly whole-school magnet filled with mostly high achievers and the pool of talent from which they can draw students will be smaller and the curricula will be new for everyone. The humanities magnet will be hit especially hard since there will no longer be ANY criteria-based humanities programs anywhere in the county. Under the proposed changes, every humanities program in the county will be interest-based.

Even for QO students who would have stayed at their home school, with boundary changes, they won’t necessarily be assigned to QO anymore. It’s a crapshoot where they’ll end up. Everything from the length of their commute to open lunch to the football program may change. No more Red Army boosters from some of the current, long time QO neighborhoods.

There’s really nothing beneficial in any of the proposed changes to special programs or boundaries that benefits the current QO community. Overnight, MCPS pulled out the rug from underneath us by changing our proposed region designation to one with lower performing schools.

This. I'm one of the other QO parents posting and this is exactly what I was thinking. We are now grouped with all the low performing schools and the regional magnet cohort is going to be so watered down that I don't see any benefit for my kid.

At least with region 6, we would have had NorthWest and Clarksburg and Poolesville which are better performing schools.

I don't understand this comment. The boundaries will be redrawn for all the high schools so there's no way to know which schools after the boundary changes are going to be low performing or high performing.

🤔 It’s almost like MCPS doesn’t want anyone to have any concrete information they could use to oppose the changes they’re proposing.

You can’t complain about boundary changes because now you’ll have more access to special programs, so you don’t even have to stay at your home school.

You can’t complain about proposed changes to special programs because boundaries will change and you don’t even know which neighborhoods will be in your region.

But then with all these proposed redistricting plans, it is obvious that Crown will still end up being a high FARMS school. And region 5 will have the most FARMS rate up county and QO which is currently at 50% FARMS gets the short end of the stick with being in Region 5. Because of the lack of access to Poolesville magnet, our home prices will fall and I am concerned.

Last year’s FARMs rates:

Proposed Region 5:

Crown ?
QO 38%
Magruder 48%
Gaithersburg 57%
Watkins Mill 66%


Proposed Region 6:

Poolesville 12%
*Damascas 31% *Was switched with QO
Northwest 36%
Clarksburg 37%
Seneca Valley 50%


Yeah, it’s all bad news for QO.

[Anonymous]

They said on the program analysis call today that they did this swap to make the boundaries work out better for the boundary study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They said on the program analysis call today that they did this swap to make the boundaries work out better for the boundary study.

So if Crown as a holding school is approved, which seems to be likely the case, QO is still over-utilized, grouped in a weak region, and need to shoulder one or more programs that supposed to be hosted by Crown? Nothing good to QO residents.