Concerned about buying in WJ cluster because of re-zoning

[Anonymous]

We’re in the market for home. We love Kensington (Walter Johnson school cluster) and also old farm. But should we be concerned if we buy a home and then the schools get re-zoned? Will that make the property value go down? Are they just thinking of re-zoning the high school or the elementary and middle too, any insight would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

From what I've read Kensington, if anything, would get rezoned to the new Woodward High School that's planned to open in the next few years. If kids from Kensington-Parkwood are rezoned, kids from Garrett Park will be as well, and I doubt the high school will be a drop off academically from Walter Johnson.

Also, rezoning might actually work out for residents of Kensington proper. There's no reason to think that kids in Kensington-Parkwood wouldn't be rezoned for the middle school that just opened on Saul Road in Kensington (Silver Creek) and then on to Woodward.

But if you want to live in Kensington and not have to worry about being rezoned out of WJ, a surer bet would be to just search for homes in Kensington that are zoned for BCC.

[Anonymous]

I will avoid WJ cluster. You can do a simple math here.

WJ will be overcapacity by 700 students in 2022-2023 when Woodward is expected. Woodward will have capacity of 2700 kids.

That means WJ and Woodward will look totally different with new boundary no matter how you slice it. I will stick my neck out and say that WJ and Woodward should go down in test scores and property value will also take a hit. Not by a whole lot, but school is the major reason for housing having so high prices. Kensington area outside of WJ is cheaper for a reason.

There was some thread and you can look it up. Many posters started attacking OP, but it helped us to decide to avoid WJ. I don't want to be underwater after few years of buying. You never know when you have to sell.

Find a house in Kensington which is in BCC. Much safer for housing value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what I've read Kensington, if anything, would get rezoned to the new Woodward High School that's planned to open in the next few years. If kids from Kensington-Parkwood are rezoned, kids from Garrett Park will be as well, and I doubt the high school will be a drop off academically from Walter Johnson.

Also, rezoning might actually work out for residents of Kensington proper. There's no reason to think that kids in Kensington-Parkwood wouldn't be rezoned for the middle school that just opened on Saul Road in Kensington (Silver Creek) and then on to Woodward.

But if you want to live in Kensington and not have to worry about being rezoned out of WJ, a surer bet would be to just search for homes in Kensington that are zoned for BCC.

Why do you think it won't drop? MCPS is not going to open Woodward with 2 WJ elementary schools in it. Woodward will have some elementary which are outside of WJ cluster right now. They will pull score down. If you don't believe me then simply take a look at test scores of nearby schools. I will be happy to be corrected.

[Anonymous]

I think Woodward will be better than Einstein or Wheaton due to some elementary schools from WJ joining it, but your concern is not unjustified.

[Anonymous]

You should buy in area just outside of WJ boundary. Price of those area will go up and price in current WJ will go down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will avoid WJ cluster. You can do a simple math here.

WJ will be overcapacity by 700 students in 2022-2023 when Woodward is expected. Woodward will have capacity of 2700 kids.

That means WJ and Woodward will look totally different with new boundary no matter how you slice it. I will stick my neck out and say that WJ and Woodward should go down in test scores and property value will also take a hit. Not by a whole lot, but school is the major reason for housing having so high prices. Kensington area outside of WJ is cheaper for a reason.

There was some thread and you can look it up. Many posters started attacking OP, but it helped us to decide to avoid WJ. I don't want to be underwater after few years of buying. You never know when you have to sell.

Find a house in Kensington which is in BCC. Much safer for housing value.

BCC is also overcapacity. In the next redistricting, there is no way that it’s boundaries will not change. I wouldn’t be too sure that the parts of Kensington zoned for BCC will still be there in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will avoid WJ cluster. You can do a simple math here.

WJ will be overcapacity by 700 students in 2022-2023 when Woodward is expected. Woodward will have capacity of 2700 kids.

That means WJ and Woodward will look totally different with new boundary no matter how you slice it. I will stick my neck out and say that WJ and Woodward should go down in test scores and property value will also take a hit. Not by a whole lot, but school is the major reason for housing having so high prices. Kensington area outside of WJ is cheaper for a reason.

There was some thread and you can look it up. Many posters started attacking OP, but it helped us to decide to avoid WJ. I don't want to be underwater after few years of buying. You never know when you have to sell.

Find a house in Kensington which is in BCC. Much safer for housing value.

BCC is also overcapacity. In the next redistricting, there is no way that it’s boundaries will not change. I wouldn’t be too sure that the parts of Kensington zoned for BCC will still be there in a few years.

BCC is getting addition in next few years and boundary will be decided in the next few years. Any school can change any time , but BCC doesn't need to send kids outside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've read Kensington, if anything, would get rezoned to the new Woodward High School that's planned to open in the next few years. If kids from Kensington-Parkwood are rezoned, kids from Garrett Park will be as well, and I doubt the high school will be a drop off academically from Walter Johnson.

Also, rezoning might actually work out for residents of Kensington proper. There's no reason to think that kids in Kensington-Parkwood wouldn't be rezoned for the middle school that just opened on Saul Road in Kensington (Silver Creek) and then on to Woodward.

But if you want to live in Kensington and not have to worry about being rezoned out of WJ, a surer bet would be to just search for homes in Kensington that are zoned for BCC.

Why do you think it won't drop? MCPS is not going to open Woodward with 2 WJ elementary schools in it. Woodward will have some elementary which are outside of WJ cluster right now. They will pull score down. If you don't believe me then simply take a look at test scores of nearby schools. I will be happy to be corrected.

What low-scoring ES do you think they'll be pulling from? Shiver? Rock Creek? Both of these are schools are within walking distance of Wheaton HS and Einstein HS, respectively. For the test scores and demographics to change dramatically, they'd have to bus kids from 2+ miles away, from areas that are extremely close to existing high schools. Why do you think that's a sure possibility?

The anticipated overcrowding at WJ is due to high-end developments that are being built, or scheduled to be built, along and around Rockville Pike. The kids that live in these developments are going to be living in $600k 2br condos or $1M+ townhomes, ie, not something that will have a negative affect on the atmosphere or test scores when kids from WJ go to Woodward. Moreover, rather than being a negative, it might be a positive. I think the test scores and atmosphere might be better considering these kids are going into a brand new school.

Also, as I said before, what makes anyone think that kids in Kensington proper won't be rezoned for Silver Creek when all this rezoning happens considering it is within a half mile of downtown Kensington? That is more likely than this alternate reality where housing prices in Kensington drop because everyone's kids are going to some 3/10 school at Woodward. Stop being alarmist. Montgomery County created a plan to revitalize Kensington and it's one of the nicest areas in the whole county. Why would they purposefully subvert economic development in a place they already earmarked for economic growth?

[Anonymous]

I think much of the WJ section of Kensington will end up at Woodward. Too soon to know if that's a bad thing, but it will probably be a more diverse HS than WJ is presently. However BCC is already reasonably diverse and is very highly ranked, and house values are at least as high around the BCC zone as they are for WH.

One correction though-- I think it's highly unlikely there will ever be a split articulation where some Woodward-bound students go to Silver Creek for MS. If you look back on the debates over the SC boundary, the school will be at capacity itself pretty quickly as is. They won't have room to absorb kids from other elementaries.

BCC is less likely to be rezoned in whole since they are doing an addition now. But I'd be a tiny bit concerned that some of the Kensington streets that currently feed into BCC. It's crazy given the siting of SC as the second BCC MS, but there are lots of examples where students within walking distance of one MS wind up zoned elsewhere. That's the case for many of the streets near Westland.

[Anonymous]

The BOE resolution that asked the school system to investigate reopening Woodward said they should do so "to address spaces issues at Walter Johnson HS and other high schools including: [BCC, Blair, Einstein, Kennedy, Northwood, Whitman, Wheaton]" see here: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/workgroups.aspx

While there are neighborhoods right around Woodward where the odds of redistricting are particularly high, I wouldn't treat any zone border area as set in stone right now. There's a lot of rebalancing potentially needed to address capacity issues and new developments. Even after the planned expansion, BCC is expected to be at or over capacity again three years later. Same for Whitman. And that's probably using MoCo's usual assumptions about how building apartments doesn't add kids to neighboring schools.

The most recent documents posted are from last May and there they estimate the earliest date for Woodward opening as fall 2022, with redistricting studies occurring 18 months prior. A lot of uncertainty for the next five years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will avoid WJ cluster. You can do a simple math here.

WJ will be overcapacity by 700 students in 2022-2023 when Woodward is expected. Woodward will have capacity of 2700 kids.

That means WJ and Woodward will look totally different with new boundary no matter how you slice it. I will stick my neck out and say that WJ and Woodward should go down in test scores and property value will also take a hit. Not by a whole lot, but school is the major reason for housing having so high prices. Kensington area outside of WJ is cheaper for a reason.

There was some thread and you can look it up. Many posters started attacking OP, but it helped us to decide to avoid WJ. I don't want to be underwater after few years of buying. You never know when you have to sell.

Find a house in Kensington which is in BCC. Much safer for housing value.

BCC is also overcapacity. In the next redistricting, there is no way that it’s boundaries will not change. I wouldn’t be too sure that the parts of Kensington zoned for BCC will still be there in a few years.

BCC is getting addition in next few years and boundary will be decided in the next few years. Any school can change any time , but BCC doesn't need to send kids outside.

The county's forecasts have BCC hitting capacity again within three years of the addition opening. And my understanding is that they be out of room to expand further at that point, unless they start acquiring and converting nearby office buildings. BCC may well need to send kids outside soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will avoid WJ cluster. You can do a simple math here.

WJ will be overcapacity by 700 students in 2022-2023 when Woodward is expected. Woodward will have capacity of 2700 kids.

That means WJ and Woodward will look totally different with new boundary no matter how you slice it. I will stick my neck out and say that WJ and Woodward should go down in test scores and property value will also take a hit. Not by a whole lot, but school is the major reason for housing having so high prices. Kensington area outside of WJ is cheaper for a reason.

There was some thread and you can look it up. Many posters started attacking OP, but it helped us to decide to avoid WJ. I don't want to be underwater after few years of buying. You never know when you have to sell.

Find a house in Kensington which is in BCC. Much safer for housing value.

BCC is also overcapacity. In the next redistricting, there is no way that it’s boundaries will not change. I wouldn’t be too sure that the parts of Kensington zoned for BCC will still be there in a few years.

BCC is getting addition in next few years and boundary will be decided in the next few years. Any school can change any time , but BCC doesn't need to send kids outside.

The county's forecasts have BCC hitting capacity again within three years of the addition opening. And my understanding is that they be out of room to expand further at that point, unless they start acquiring and converting nearby office buildings. BCC may well need to send kids outside soon.

**they _will_ be out of room

[Anonymous]

A post from another thread that the alarmists should take note of:

Woodward used to be a high school up till about 1990. MCPS closed the high school and combined the Woodward population with WJ. They thought they could sell the Woodward property until the Woodward family came forward to remind them of the teams of the deed to the property. The Woodward family had deeded the land to MCPS as long as the land was used for educational purposes. So the plan for selling the land was scrapped.

If MCPS goes back to the original Woodward boundaries, students would not be pulled from Wheaton and Einstein. Even if there are boundaries adjusted to dip into these areas, you are not in the neighborhoods that truly are issues for these high schools. Woodward would still be a predominantly low minority, high income school. It would actually make WJ lower income because most of the high income families come from the Luxmanor and Farmland neighborhoods that are closer to Woodward than WJ.

As far as who pays what to live in what school district, any neighborhood can be redistricted at anytime. Boundaries do shift for various reasons. Many families paid a premium to go to Woodward when it was a high school. They were in an uproar when MCPS picked to combine the school with WJ. MCPS will do whatever MCPS wants. Any focus group of parents is just a shell game to make you think you have input.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think much of the WJ section of Kensington will end up at Woodward. Too soon to know if that's a bad thing, but it will probably be a more diverse HS than WJ is presently. However BCC is already reasonably diverse and is very highly ranked, and house values are at least as high around the BCC zone as they are for WH.

One correction though-- I think it's highly unlikely there will ever be a split articulation where some Woodward-bound students go to Silver Creek for MS. If you look back on the debates over the SC boundary, the school will be at capacity itself pretty quickly as is. They won't have room to absorb kids from other elementaries.

BCC is less likely to be rezoned in whole since they are doing an addition now. But I'd be a tiny bit concerned that some of the Kensington streets that currently feed into BCC. It's crazy given the siting of SC as the second BCC MS, but there are lots of examples where students within walking distance of one MS wind up zoned elsewhere. That's the case for many of the streets near Westland.

My point was not that these kids would go to Silver Creek and then Woodward, but that they would go to Silver Creek and then BCC. Downtown Kensington is actually closer to BCC than it is to WJ. It's just as possible that kids in Kensington would be rezoned to Silver Creek and then on to BCC.

The point is that no one knows and that my guess is as good as yours. What I don't think will happen, however, is that MCPS makes a decision that negatively affects a commercial corridor (downtown Kensington) that has been eyed by the county for economic redevelopment. There is big $ in Kensington...they're not sending kids from those $1.8M Victorians to a 3/10 high school...