Should MCPS start busing or open enrollment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This. We can debate the point at which the %FARMS starts to become counterproductive, but what to do to make the theory into reality? On some other thread someone explained how school choice worked in another state -- the county published lists of schools with open slots and parents could apply for those spaces, but would need to reapply at the next stage (MS or HS) and were responsible for their own transportation. That's more or less the way that DC works, and those of us who had kids in DC and who lived through this process can attest to how chaotic it can be. We got into our first choice out of the block, and with sibling preferences, we were set for ES. But many people applied every year (and sometimes mid-year) to try to get into a school, drove their kids all over town in the meantime, and we all missed out on the concept of a neighborhood school, school friends you could visit on foot or by bike, and the simple pleasure of not spending 2 hours a day in transit. I can see where open enrollment can, on the margins, even out some places like the Cold Spring/Ritchie Park imbalance pointed out elsewhere, but it's no silver bullet for county-wide imbalances, especially in a county as big as Montgomery.

Agreed. We don't know at what point the % of FARMS becomes counter-productive for low-income kids, but the report is completely correcting that housing policy is school policy.

The problem is that this is a feature, not a bug. Housing policy reflects the desire of people with money to live over here, as far as possible from the poor people over there. And part of the reason for that desire is schools.

I don't think it's fair to say that all people who live in the green zone chose to live there to get "as far as possible from the poor people." I'm sure there are some, but there are also a bunch like us who lived in DC in very mixed neighborhoods, and who hoped to get a better academic experience in MD. Would have been great to retain more diversity, while getting what we wanted in terms of things like walkability, commute time, and yes, the high performing schools, but we couldn't have it all. The fact of the matter is that MoCo is pretty segregated -- I get that I don't help matters by choosing a green zone school instead of living in the red zone (seriously never heard these terms before two weeks ago), but it is not a situation I created because I allegedly dislike poor people. FWIW, I'm not white, and our household income is quite modest. We were able to buy here only because we were lucky to own a house in DC that appreciated a ton. Yes, we are lucky, and perhaps even "privileged" in the scheme of things -- but I don't deserve the suggestion that I must despise the poor because of where I chose to live.

Some of us here in Silver Spring have all of this. The schools may not be sufficiently high-performing for you, but they are for us.

Ditto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are places where this would work. For example, all of Kensington could go to Einstein instead of having Kensington split among Einstein, BCC and WJ.

Perfect example.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I made a lot of sacrifices to be able to afford a house in a W cluster. Needless to say, I would be extremely upset if the county decided to bus our children to another school because they wanted to "improve" the other school. Quite frankly, it is not my children's responsibility (or mine) to add stability to a school three towns over. The parents in that area are just as capable of engaging and working to improve their school as I am. I recognize that my opinion is not popular on this board, but my job is to parent my children not an entire school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I made a lot of sacrifices to be able to afford a house in a W cluster. Needless to say, I would be extremely upset if the county decided to bus our children to another school because they wanted to "improve" the other school. Quite frankly, it is not my children's responsibility (or mine) to add stability to a school three towns over. The parents in that area are just as capable of engaging and working to improve their school as I am. I recognize that my opinion is not popular on this board, but my job is to parent my children not an entire school district.

PP at 11:40, if you're wondering whom it is about -- well, it's about people like this.

PP at this post -- lots of people have made lots of sacrifices and still can't afford a house in Whitman/Wootton/Walter Johnson/Churchill. How public is a public school if only the children of affluent people get to go there?

[Anonymous]

The reality is that the MCPS system is one of the best in the country and a student can get a solid education- if they want one- in any of the schools in the district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the MCPS system is one of the best in the country and a student can get a solid education- if they want one- in any of the schools in the district.

Yes, all of the schools in MCPS are equal. And some of the schools are more equal than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not just start busing to diminish the red zone / green zone disparities? Alternatively, why not let kids choose which school they want to go to? Don't some districts do this?

Because chapter 220 was a big FAIL.

More likely the county will do as NYC, Tokyo, etc do. Academic tests to enter highest quality public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I made a lot of sacrifices to be able to afford a house in a W cluster. Needless to say, I would be extremely upset if the county decided to bus our children to another school because they wanted to "improve" the other school. Quite frankly, it is not my children's responsibility (or mine) to add stability to a school three towns over. The parents in that area are just as capable of engaging and working to improve their school as I am. I recognize that my opinion is not popular on this board, but my job is to parent my children not an entire school district.

PP at 11:40, if you're wondering whom it is about -- well, it's about people like this.

PP at this post -- lots of people have made lots of sacrifices and still can't afford a house in Whitman/Wootton/Walter Johnson/Churchill. How public is a public school if only the children of affluent people get to go there?

You do realize that the whole country's school system, tax structure, property values, etc are based the same way. On where you live (rent or buy).

Good luck pontifying on changing the whole entire system just because you don't make as much income as someone else with and entirely different human capital earnings function.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I made a lot of sacrifices to be able to afford a house in a W cluster. Needless to say, I would be extremely upset if the county decided to bus our children to another school because they wanted to "improve" the other school. Quite frankly, it is not my children's responsibility (or mine) to add stability to a school three towns over. The parents in that area are just as capable of engaging and working to improve their school as I am. I recognize that my opinion is not popular on this board, but my job is to parent my children not an entire school district.

PP at 11:40, if you're wondering whom it is about -- well, it's about people like this.

PP at this post -- lots of people have made lots of sacrifices and still can't afford a house in Whitman/Wootton/Walter Johnson/Churchill. How public is a public school if only the children of affluent people get to go there?

But that's the reality of life. I would love a house in St.Barts. No matter how much I sacrifice, it's not going to happen. My boss is moving to a beautiful new custom built home. The master bedroom suite will fit my entire house. In my wildest dreams, in my best earning year, I will never be able to afford a multi million dollar house----again I would love to be able to afford to live there, but it is not in my realm of possibility. Sometimes you just have to accept what you can have and do the best you can.

[Anonymous]

Are you suggesting that more tax dollars per students goes to schools in the W clusters? If that is the case I agree that is a serious problem that needs to be rectified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But that's the reality of life. I would love a house in St.Barts. No matter how much I sacrifice, it's not going to happen. My boss is moving to a beautiful new custom built home. The master bedroom suite will fit my entire house. In my wildest dreams, in my best earning year, I will never be able to afford a multi million dollar house----again I would love to be able to afford to live there, but it is not in my realm of possibility. Sometimes you just have to accept what you can have and do the best you can.

We are not talking about where you would like to live. We are talking about the public school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You do realize that the whole country's school system, tax structure, property values, etc are based the same way. On where you live (rent or buy).

Good luck pontifying on changing the whole entire system just because you don't make as much income as someone else with and entirely different human capital earnings function.

Yes, I do realize this. I also realize that it's unjust for children to have unequal educational opportunities based on how much money their parents have.

[Anonymous]

Which is why I asked the question about tax dollars. Are our tax dollars being split equally amount MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I made a lot of sacrifices to be able to afford a house in a W cluster. Needless to say, I would be extremely upset if the county decided to bus our children to another school because they wanted to "improve" the other school. Quite frankly, it is not my children's responsibility (or mine) to add stability to a school three towns over. The parents in that area are just as capable of engaging and working to improve their school as I am. I recognize that my opinion is not popular on this board, but my job is to parent my children not an entire school district.

Well, it happened before when they redistricted parts of Rockville from Wootton to RM, and those people had to live with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But that's the reality of life. I would love a house in St.Barts. No matter how much I sacrifice, it's not going to happen. My boss is moving to a beautiful new custom built home. The master bedroom suite will fit my entire house. In my wildest dreams, in my best earning year, I will never be able to afford a multi million dollar house----again I would love to be able to afford to live there, but it is not in my realm of possibility. Sometimes you just have to accept what you can have and do the best you can.

We are not talking about where you would like to live. We are talking about the public school system.

But currently the public school that you attend is based in where you live. Many people on here are saying they would like to live in the W districts for the schools but cannot afford to do so. They feel that just because try cannot afford to live in the area, their children should still be able to attend the W district schools.

I think school achievement is a function if parent involvement.
Schools that have higher parent involvement have students that do better academically. One suggestion might be to over haul parent involvement in the local schools.