BOE Spring Facilities and Boundaries Work Session #3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So at HS, MCPS was saying which programs will be at which school under new Regional Model for 2027. Did they ever say which programs are going where at MS level for 2027? Thought those were staying the same? This matters at MS level to have some accurate view of utilization. Or did they use some random assumption on transfers at MS in and out like they are for high school?

They postponed the decision on middle school programs because the state mandate for 60 minutes of math daily in middle school might drop kids down to only 1 elective, which would potentially destroy the middle school magnets and immersion programs altogether. So they might just eliminate them all unless that mandate gets repealed or adjusted.

There was a mention of them today at the work session, though-- they said that the current boundaries work with the current programs as is.

I'm sure they will find a way to keep Hoover's Chinese Immersion as a continuation for Potomac Immersion students, if only by teaching cohorted Math and Science in Mandarin for them. If is isn't too much of a bother, they might let Bayard Rustin Chinese Immersion students attend/participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how Edison and Wheaton High School work?

I thought they were distinct and separate high schools, but in this work session, MCPS confirmed that Edison's 500-seat capacity is factored into Wheaton's boundary and utilization rate.

They also talked about building out the unused shell space in the future as a way of alleviating overutilization at Wheaton.

So it seems that Wheaton and Edison are not in fact separate schools, but that Edison is an extension of Wheaton High School that is available to students across MCPS as a half-day program. Is that right?

Yeah, that confused me too. First it sounded like they were saying that it was based on assuming that 500 Wheaton students would be enrolled at Edison half-day, and that that's in line with current enrollment (although even that seems sketchy enough on its own since some non-Wheaton kids may choose Wheaton in the DCC because of Edison.) But then they said something about kids from the rest of the county going to Edison half-day and then walking over to Wheaton for the rest of the day, which is not how I thought it worked?

It's kind of the other way around. Students come to Edison's programs from over half the county. Those programs are half-day, with classes specific to the program delivered in the Edison building. The other half of the day is spent doing non-program classes (Math, ELA, etc.) at Wheaton. The two buildings are next to each other, basically sharing a campus.

MCPS estimates that there are/will be 500 (~125/year) non-Wheaton-catchment students attending Edison programs this way. It's different from the Regions/Programs effort, where RM's IB magnet, say, will be smaller than it is now and only from within its new region -- Edison's most-of-county catchment is not expected to change.

I'm confused. The tables show Wheaton currently has 2687 students attending and is at 98.8% capacity. But the CIP says Wheaton is overcrowded. Which is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how Edison and Wheaton High School work?

I thought they were distinct and separate high schools, but in this work session, MCPS confirmed that Edison's 500-seat capacity is factored into Wheaton's boundary and utilization rate.

They also talked about building out the unused shell space in the future as a way of alleviating overutilization at Wheaton.

So it seems that Wheaton and Edison are not in fact separate schools, but that Edison is an extension of Wheaton High School that is available to students across MCPS as a half-day program. Is that right?

You thought that because people have been arguing here that Wheaton students could never walk over to Edison (even though it happens all the time).

the mentioned shell space for the Woodward building too, i think? if needed down the road. (not anticipated needed with projections)

Woodward has unused shell space?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how Edison and Wheaton High School work?

I thought they were distinct and separate high schools, but in this work session, MCPS confirmed that Edison's 500-seat capacity is factored into Wheaton's boundary and utilization rate.

They also talked about building out the unused shell space in the future as a way of alleviating overutilization at Wheaton.

So it seems that Wheaton and Edison are not in fact separate schools, but that Edison is an extension of Wheaton High School that is available to students across MCPS as a half-day program. Is that right?

Yeah, that confused me too. First it sounded like they were saying that it was based on assuming that 500 Wheaton students would be enrolled at Edison half-day, and that that's in line with current enrollment (although even that seems sketchy enough on its own since some non-Wheaton kids may choose Wheaton in the DCC because of Edison.) But then they said something about kids from the rest of the county going to Edison half-day and then walking over to Wheaton for the rest of the day, which is not how I thought it worked?

It's kind of the other way around. Students come to Edison's programs from over half the county. Those programs are half-day, with classes specific to the program delivered in the Edison building. The other half of the day is spent doing non-program classes (Math, ELA, etc.) at Wheaton. The two buildings are next to each other, basically sharing a campus.

MCPS estimates that there are/will be 500 (~125/year) non-Wheaton-catchment students attending Edison programs this way. It's different from the Regions/Programs effort, where RM's IB magnet, say, will be smaller than it is now and only from within its new region -- Edison's most-of-county catchment is not expected to change.

I'm confused. The tables show Wheaton currently has 2687 students attending and is at 98.8% capacity. But the CIP says Wheaton is overcrowded. Which is it?

How can non-Wheaton students attend Edison every day for half day? Logistically it sounds like a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how Edison and Wheaton High School work?

I thought they were distinct and separate high schools, but in this work session, MCPS confirmed that Edison's 500-seat capacity is factored into Wheaton's boundary and utilization rate.

They also talked about building out the unused shell space in the future as a way of alleviating overutilization at Wheaton.

So it seems that Wheaton and Edison are not in fact separate schools, but that Edison is an extension of Wheaton High School that is available to students across MCPS as a half-day program. Is that right?

You thought that because people have been arguing here that Wheaton students could never walk over to Edison (even though it happens all the time).

the mentioned shell space for the Woodward building too, i think? if needed down the road. (not anticipated needed with projections)

Woodward has unused shell space?

Most schools are built with shell space now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like they are just done with this and are going to rubber stamp.

That may be too bad for Julie Yang and Karla Silvestre then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how Edison and Wheaton High School work?

I thought they were distinct and separate high schools, but in this work session, MCPS confirmed that Edison's 500-seat capacity is factored into Wheaton's boundary and utilization rate.

They also talked about building out the unused shell space in the future as a way of alleviating overutilization at Wheaton.

So it seems that Wheaton and Edison are not in fact separate schools, but that Edison is an extension of Wheaton High School that is available to students across MCPS as a half-day program. Is that right?

You thought that because people have been arguing here that Wheaton students could never walk over to Edison (even though it happens all the time).

the mentioned shell space for the Woodward building too, i think? if needed down the road. (not anticipated needed with projections)

Woodward has unused shell space?

Most schools are built with shell space now.

Interesting. Is there a reason?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Julie is behaving like a rookie, and not as if she's been on the board for years or even been board president before. How is Rita Montoya schooling her on what's been brought up and discussed before? I don't get it.

You might have missed the board meeting when Julie was still president and kept cutting off Rita for wanting to delay SSIMS closure because of community objections. Now Julie is sweating bullets about her council election. I guess Rita gave it right back at Yang.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Julie is behaving like a rookie, and not as if she's been on the board for years or even been board president before. How is Rita Montoya schooling her on what's been brought up and discussed before? I don't get it.

You might have missed the board meeting when Julie was still president and kept cutting off Rita for wanting to delay SSIMS closure because of community objections. Now Julie is sweating bullets about her council election. I guess Rita gave it right back at Yang.

Oh, I saw that. And Julie was much more firm, certain and authoritative, which was not what she was in today's work session.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how Edison and Wheaton High School work?

I thought they were distinct and separate high schools, but in this work session, MCPS confirmed that Edison's 500-seat capacity is factored into Wheaton's boundary and utilization rate.

They also talked about building out the unused shell space in the future as a way of alleviating overutilization at Wheaton.

So it seems that Wheaton and Edison are not in fact separate schools, but that Edison is an extension of Wheaton High School that is available to students across MCPS as a half-day program. Is that right?

Yeah, that confused me too. First it sounded like they were saying that it was based on assuming that 500 Wheaton students would be enrolled at Edison half-day, and that that's in line with current enrollment (although even that seems sketchy enough on its own since some non-Wheaton kids may choose Wheaton in the DCC because of Edison.) But then they said something about kids from the rest of the county going to Edison half-day and then walking over to Wheaton for the rest of the day, which is not how I thought it worked?

It's kind of the other way around. Students come to Edison's programs from over half the county. Those programs are half-day, with classes specific to the program delivered in the Edison building. The other half of the day is spent doing non-program classes (Math, ELA, etc.) at Wheaton. The two buildings are next to each other, basically sharing a campus.

MCPS estimates that there are/will be 500 (~125/year) non-Wheaton-catchment students attending Edison programs this way. It's different from the Regions/Programs effort, where RM's IB magnet, say, will be smaller than it is now and only from within its new region -- Edison's most-of-county catchment is not expected to change.

I'm confused. The tables show Wheaton currently has 2687 students attending and is at 98.8% capacity. But the CIP says Wheaton is overcrowded. Which is it?

How can non-Wheaton students attend Edison every day for half day? Logistically it sounds like a nightmare.

There are mid-day buses to and from Edison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how Edison and Wheaton High School work?

I thought they were distinct and separate high schools, but in this work session, MCPS confirmed that Edison's 500-seat capacity is factored into Wheaton's boundary and utilization rate.

They also talked about building out the unused shell space in the future as a way of alleviating overutilization at Wheaton.

So it seems that Wheaton and Edison are not in fact separate schools, but that Edison is an extension of Wheaton High School that is available to students across MCPS as a half-day program. Is that right?

Yeah, that confused me too. First it sounded like they were saying that it was based on assuming that 500 Wheaton students would be enrolled at Edison half-day, and that that's in line with current enrollment (although even that seems sketchy enough on its own since some non-Wheaton kids may choose Wheaton in the DCC because of Edison.) But then they said something about kids from the rest of the county going to Edison half-day and then walking over to Wheaton for the rest of the day, which is not how I thought it worked?

It's kind of the other way around. Students come to Edison's programs from over half the county. Those programs are half-day, with classes specific to the program delivered in the Edison building. The other half of the day is spent doing non-program classes (Math, ELA, etc.) at Wheaton. The two buildings are next to each other, basically sharing a campus.

MCPS estimates that there are/will be 500 (~125/year) non-Wheaton-catchment students attending Edison programs this way. It's different from the Regions/Programs effort, where RM's IB magnet, say, will be smaller than it is now and only from within its new region -- Edison's most-of-county catchment is not expected to change.

I'm confused. The tables show Wheaton currently has 2687 students attending and is at 98.8% capacity. But the CIP says Wheaton is overcrowded. Which is it?

The CIP numbers include DCC students who don't live within the Wheaton boundaries but attend there currently. The boundary study tables only include resident students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how Edison and Wheaton High School work?

I thought they were distinct and separate high schools, but in this work session, MCPS confirmed that Edison's 500-seat capacity is factored into Wheaton's boundary and utilization rate.

They also talked about building out the unused shell space in the future as a way of alleviating overutilization at Wheaton.

So it seems that Wheaton and Edison are not in fact separate schools, but that Edison is an extension of Wheaton High School that is available to students across MCPS as a half-day program. Is that right?

Yeah, that confused me too. First it sounded like they were saying that it was based on assuming that 500 Wheaton students would be enrolled at Edison half-day, and that that's in line with current enrollment (although even that seems sketchy enough on its own since some non-Wheaton kids may choose Wheaton in the DCC because of Edison.) But then they said something about kids from the rest of the county going to Edison half-day and then walking over to Wheaton for the rest of the day, which is not how I thought it worked?

It's kind of the other way around. Students come to Edison's programs from over half the county. Those programs are half-day, with classes specific to the program delivered in the Edison building. The other half of the day is spent doing non-program classes (Math, ELA, etc.) at Wheaton. The two buildings are next to each other, basically sharing a campus.

MCPS estimates that there are/will be 500 (~125/year) non-Wheaton-catchment students attending Edison programs this way. It's different from the Regions/Programs effort, where RM's IB magnet, say, will be smaller than it is now and only from within its new region -- Edison's most-of-county catchment is not expected to change.

I'm confused. The tables show Wheaton currently has 2687 students attending and is at 98.8% capacity. But the CIP says Wheaton is overcrowded. Which is it?

The CIP numbers include DCC students who don't live within the Wheaton boundaries but attend there currently. The boundary study tables only include resident students.

Look at the boundary study tables again. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cdtTBaAd7ZcPh5mczdbJc4MS_HkOVfuJ/view

There is one column with current enrollment and another column with current resident students. The column that shows current enrollment matches the CIP - 2,687 students currently enrolled. (see CIP numbers for DCC which show Wheaton is over capacity by 467 students as the total capacity of the school is 2220: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/planning/fy2027/cip27_chapter4_downcountycluster.pdf )

So currently, according to the CIP, Wheaton HS is at 121% capacity. The Superintendent's recommendation places 2,340 resident students at Wheaton which would put it at 105% of capacity according to the CIP. It says under the boundary study table that the capacity of Edison HS is included in the capacity of Wheaton HS and that is why they are saying Wheaton HS actually has a capacity of 2,720, and that the 2,340 number assumes "Assumes 500 students attend Wheaton HS for CTE programs". Currently about 1,000 students attend Edison HS. Not sure how many of those are resident students of Wheaton HS. But either way, if 500 resident students of Wheaton attend Edison HS they still have to go to Wheaton HS classes part time. Where does that 500 number come from? Do students that reside within the Wheaton catchment area currently comprise half of the Edison HS enrollment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how Edison and Wheaton High School work?

I thought they were distinct and separate high schools, but in this work session, MCPS confirmed that Edison's 500-seat capacity is factored into Wheaton's boundary and utilization rate.

They also talked about building out the unused shell space in the future as a way of alleviating overutilization at Wheaton.

So it seems that Wheaton and Edison are not in fact separate schools, but that Edison is an extension of Wheaton High School that is available to students across MCPS as a half-day program. Is that right?

Yeah, that confused me too. First it sounded like they were saying that it was based on assuming that 500 Wheaton students would be enrolled at Edison half-day, and that that's in line with current enrollment (although even that seems sketchy enough on its own since some non-Wheaton kids may choose Wheaton in the DCC because of Edison.) But then they said something about kids from the rest of the county going to Edison half-day and then walking over to Wheaton for the rest of the day, which is not how I thought it worked?

It's kind of the other way around. Students come to Edison's programs from over half the county. Those programs are half-day, with classes specific to the program delivered in the Edison building. The other half of the day is spent doing non-program classes (Math, ELA, etc.) at Wheaton. The two buildings are next to each other, basically sharing a campus.

MCPS estimates that there are/will be 500 (~125/year) non-Wheaton-catchment students attending Edison programs this way. It's different from the Regions/Programs effort, where RM's IB magnet, say, will be smaller than it is now and only from within its new region -- Edison's most-of-county catchment is not expected to change.

I'm confused. The tables show Wheaton currently has 2687 students attending and is at 98.8% capacity. But the CIP says Wheaton is overcrowded. Which is it?

The CIP numbers include DCC students who don't live within the Wheaton boundaries but attend there currently. The boundary study tables only include resident students.

Look at the boundary study tables again. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cdtTBaAd7ZcPh5mczdbJc4MS_HkOVfuJ/view

There is one column with current enrollment and another column with current resident students. The column that shows current enrollment matches the CIP - 2,687 students currently enrolled. (see CIP numbers for DCC which show Wheaton is over capacity by 467 students as the total capacity of the school is 2220: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/planning/fy2027/cip27_chapter4_downcountycluster.pdf )

So currently, according to the CIP, Wheaton HS is at 121% capacity. The Superintendent's recommendation places 2,340 resident students at Wheaton which would put it at 105% of capacity according to the CIP. It says under the boundary study table that the capacity of Edison HS is included in the capacity of Wheaton HS and that is why they are saying Wheaton HS actually has a capacity of 2,720, and that the 2,340 number assumes "Assumes 500 students attend Wheaton HS for CTE programs". Currently about 1,000 students attend Edison HS. Not sure how many of those are resident students of Wheaton HS. But either way, if 500 resident students of Wheaton attend Edison HS they still have to go to Wheaton HS classes part time. Where does that 500 number come from? Do students that reside within the Wheaton catchment area currently comprise half of the Edison HS enrollment?

Can someone transcribe what they said during yesterday's work session about this? I think having the exact wording would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Where I grew up, every public school is taught at least bilingual and sometimes triligual in my hometown. Pretty much I could say that all public school in my hometown are immersion schools by default. All public schools are taught 50 percent to 80 percent in English by teachers as our second language and those curriculum/exams are in English. We were taught about phonics, grammar, sentence structure, spelling and writing etc in early elementary school. Our strength is English writing and reading comprehension & weakness are speaking and listening due to lack of environments. I think our English proficiency rate for kids overall is higher than what is shown here by mcps. Why is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where I grew up, every public school is taught at least bilingual and sometimes triligual in my hometown. Pretty much I could say that all public school in my hometown are immersion schools by default. All public schools are taught 50 percent to 80 percent in English by teachers as our second language and those curriculum/exams are in English. We were taught about phonics, grammar, sentence structure, spelling and writing etc in early elementary school. Our strength is English writing and reading comprehension & weakness are speaking and listening due to lack of environments. I think our English proficiency rate for kids overall is higher than what is shown here by mcps. Why is that?

I imagine there are numerous reasons for what you have observed and could generate an entire school research paper. Student achievement varies based on a lot of different factors, not just whether there is language immersion.