Baltimore Sun article about Howard County rezoning

[Anonymous]

One of my big issues with this redistricting is why now?

A new high school will open in 2023 which will force another redistricting.

Why go through such a huge redistricting now when it's going to happen again in another few years? I think Atholton HS is going to turn over something like 40% of its student body. Crazy.

You can't tell me that won't have some kind of impact.

Why not wait until 2023? Do it once instead of twice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my big issues with this redistricting is why now?

A new high school will open in 2023 which will force another redistricting.

Why go through such a huge redistricting now when it's going to happen again in another few years? I think Atholton HS is going to turn over something like 40% of its student body. Crazy.

You can't tell me that won't have some kind of impact.

Why not wait until 2023? Do it once instead of twice.

Because there are several schools that are very, very overcrowded now. Fulton ES is at 120% capacity. Several other schools at the ES, MS and HS level are over 110% capacity. The schools don't have any place to put the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my big issues with this redistricting is why now?

A new high school will open in 2023 which will force another redistricting.

Why go through such a huge redistricting now when it's going to happen again in another few years? I think Atholton HS is going to turn over something like 40% of its student body. Crazy.

You can't tell me that won't have some kind of impact.

Why not wait until 2023? Do it once instead of twice.

Because there are several schools that are very, very overcrowded now. Fulton ES is at 120% capacity. Several other schools at the ES, MS and HS level are over 110% capacity. The schools don't have any place to put the students.

In addition, while some schools are severely overcrowded, adjacent schools are under capacity. State funding for construction of needed new schools depends on making use of existing capacity. Filling schools is the only way to get new schools built. It needs to happen sooner, rather than later. At the rate we are going, HS 13 is going to be over capacity by the time it opens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my big issues with this redistricting is why now?

A new high school will open in 2023 which will force another redistricting.

Why go through such a huge redistricting now when it's going to happen again in another few years? I think Atholton HS is going to turn over something like 40% of its student body. Crazy.

You can't tell me that won't have some kind of impact.

Why not wait until 2023? Do it once instead of twice.

Because there are several schools that are very, very overcrowded now. Fulton ES is at 120% capacity. Several other schools at the ES, MS and HS level are over 110% capacity. The schools don't have any place to put the students.

110 and 120% capacity is not that bad. MCPS has schools with 130-145% capacity and just add portables. Your county is so spoiled. LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think the majority of people fighting this change aren’t as much concerned about an increase in farms for their kids school as they are about losing 50-100k in home value overnight.


Anybody, social justice warrior or not, would be upset if you took that much money away from them.

Real estate agents are predicting up to 1/3 equity loss.

NP. We were told 500K homes redistricted out of RH will lose about $125 to 150K. I am sick to my stomach. We will never regain that back. I don't care about the schools or who goes where. So thankful we never pulled home equity, but there are plenty people that have and it will affect them much more.

I’m not from here, so I don’t understand why the homes are losing value. Can you please explain it to me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think the majority of people fighting this change aren’t as much concerned about an increase in farms for their kids school as they are about losing 50-100k in home value overnight.


Anybody, social justice warrior or not, would be upset if you took that much money away from them.

Real estate agents are predicting up to 1/3 equity loss.

NP. We were told 500K homes redistricted out of RH will lose about $125 to 150K. I am sick to my stomach. We will never regain that back. I don't care about the schools or who goes where. So thankful we never pulled home equity, but there are plenty people that have and it will affect them much more.

I’m not from here, so I don’t understand why the homes are losing value. Can you please explain it to me?

really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not theft and it’s dumb for people to argue that it is. It’s not and it just makes you look stupid.

It sucks to potentially lose a lot of equity in your home. But it can happen for a variety of reasons. It sucked when people who bought in 2006 and 2007 were “underwater” in 2010, and this will suck for some people too. But it’s not theft.

It sucks when the counties around here decide that they deliberately want to screw over those that worked hard to get what they have. Which is EXACTLY what this is. Government will make this change and cause people to lose value in their homes, in favor of others. That is the very definition of Robin Hood style theft.

Probably lots of people in Howard County have worked hard to get what they have, not just people who own homes currently zoned for River Hill High School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not theft and it’s dumb for people to argue that it is. It’s not and it just makes you look stupid.

It sucks to potentially lose a lot of equity in your home. But it can happen for a variety of reasons. It sucked when people who bought in 2006 and 2007 were “underwater” in 2010, and this will suck for some people too. But it’s not theft.

It sucks when the counties around here decide that they deliberately want to screw over those that worked hard to get what they have. Which is EXACTLY what this is. Government will make this change and cause people to lose value in their homes, in favor of others. That is the very definition of Robin Hood style theft.

Probably lots of people in Howard County have worked hard to get what they have, not just people who own homes currently zoned for River Hill High School.

^^^In addition, the homes zoned for River Hill High School have their current high value BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT DECISIONS. Which favored some people (the people zoned for River Hill High School) and disfavored others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not theft and it’s dumb for people to argue that it is. It’s not and it just makes you look stupid.

It sucks to potentially lose a lot of equity in your home. But it can happen for a variety of reasons. It sucked when people who bought in 2006 and 2007 were “underwater” in 2010, and this will suck for some people too. But it’s not theft.

It sucks when the counties around here decide that they deliberately want to screw over those that worked hard to get what they have. Which is EXACTLY what this is. Government will make this change and cause people to lose value in their homes, in favor of others. That is the very definition of Robin Hood style theft.

Probably lots of people in Howard County have worked hard to get what they have, not just people who own homes currently zoned for River Hill High School.

^^^In addition, the homes zoned for River Hill High School have their current high value BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT DECISIONS. Which favored some people (the people zoned for River Hill High School) and disfavored others.

Goverment doesn't dectate where people settle their families. The families make their own decision on where to purchase and to move. schools dont determine the outcome of the students. Incontrast, the students determine the outcome of the school. Moving whole River Hill HS to anywhere in HC will change the fact that RHHS is a great school. Students who perform well on test will perform well in any school. Students who are acadamically challenged will not perform well no matter where they attend school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Goverment doesn't dectate where people settle their families. The families make their own decision on where to purchase and to move. schools dont determine the outcome of the students. Incontrast, the students determine the outcome of the school. Moving whole River Hill HS to anywhere in HC will change the fact that RHHS is a great school. Students who perform well on test will perform well in any school. Students who are acadamically challenged will not perform well no matter where they attend school.

If it's true that schools don't determine the outcome of the students, then what did you move to River Hill for? The salubrious climate?

Government doesn't dictate where you move, but government does dictate school boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think the majority of people fighting this change aren’t as much concerned about an increase in farms for their kids school as they are about losing 50-100k in home value overnight.


Anybody, social justice warrior or not, would be upset if you took that much money away from them.

Agree. Some people spend a lot of money just to get here in Montgomery County. I am not talking about people who pay for W schools zones. I am talking about people who nickel and dimed their way into an expensive county and bought a starter home. Now their equity just shot down 50K and there is no way they could sell if they wanted to. It is a huge financial loss for the lower and middle class.

Even if there isn't a lose of equity, I also think it has to do with moving away from a neighborhood school. Bussing kids in an overcrowded, traffic-filled county, past 2-4 other schools to their destination is too much. Not only do younger K students or even high school kids have to get up another 30+min earlier for this type of thing, but it also does not make a very cohesive environment. You can't play on school sport teams because they aren't local anymore. Much easier to play on a school team near you. PTA and events decrease because they have a speckled boundary spots all over and the families don't feel like driving far if they are the odd neighborhood out. Girl Scouts and Cub scouts made up of local boundaries are now more chopped up. Neighborhoods that grew up together and share events, swim clubs, parks/playgrounds are now going to 2-3 different schools.

Agreed. These are all valid points, and it’s irritating when the BOE (at least in MCPS) is incredibly dismissive to those concerns. And labels anyone who brings them up as an automatic xenophobic.

No, they're not valid points in the context of the MCPS discussion BECAUSE NOBODY IS PROPOSING ANYTHING LIKE THIS. And WHEN NOBODY IS PROPOSING ANYTHING LIKE THIS and yet people keep bringing it up over and over and over and over and over again, then yeah, it makes you look like a xenophobe.

Isn't this argument kind of hypocritical? Nobody is proposing anything like this...until they actually do. People concerned with bussing are just trying to pre-empt these discussions because they see the writing on the wall if you look at Policy FAA. They get criticized for not being open-minded when they bring up concerns about busing, but it's actually the pro-busing people are not open minded because they're not open to the discussion at all because their excuse is nobody has proposed it. Let's discuss all options that Policy FAA offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my big issues with this redistricting is why now?

A new high school will open in 2023 which will force another redistricting.

Why go through such a huge redistricting now when it's going to happen again in another few years? I think Atholton HS is going to turn over something like 40% of its student body. Crazy.

You can't tell me that won't have some kind of impact.

Why not wait until 2023? Do it once instead of twice.

Because there are several schools that are very, very overcrowded now. Fulton ES is at 120% capacity. Several other schools at the ES, MS and HS level are over 110% capacity. The schools don't have any place to put the students.

110 and 120% capacity is not that bad. MCPS has schools with 130-145% capacity and just add portables. Your county is so spoiled. LOL

Agree. Are they really doing massive redistricting for a few middle and high schools at 110% capacity? Over half of MCPS are over capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think the majority of people fighting this change aren’t as much concerned about an increase in farms for their kids school as they are about losing 50-100k in home value overnight.


Anybody, social justice warrior or not, would be upset if you took that much money away from them.

Agree. Some people spend a lot of money just to get here in Montgomery County. I am not talking about people who pay for W schools zones. I am talking about people who nickel and dimed their way into an expensive county and bought a starter home. Now their equity just shot down 50K and there is no way they could sell if they wanted to. It is a huge financial loss for the lower and middle class.

Even if there isn't a lose of equity, I also think it has to do with moving away from a neighborhood school. Bussing kids in an overcrowded, traffic-filled county, past 2-4 other schools to their destination is too much. Not only do younger K students or even high school kids have to get up another 30+min earlier for this type of thing, but it also does not make a very cohesive environment. You can't play on school sport teams because they aren't local anymore. Much easier to play on a school team near you. PTA and events decrease because they have a speckled boundary spots all over and the families don't feel like driving far if they are the odd neighborhood out. Girl Scouts and Cub scouts made up of local boundaries are now more chopped up. Neighborhoods that grew up together and share events, swim clubs, parks/playgrounds are now going to 2-3 different schools.

Agreed. These are all valid points, and it’s irritating when the BOE (at least in MCPS) is incredibly dismissive to those concerns. And labels anyone who brings them up as an automatic xenophobic.

No, they're not valid points in the context of the MCPS discussion BECAUSE NOBODY IS PROPOSING ANYTHING LIKE THIS. And WHEN NOBODY IS PROPOSING ANYTHING LIKE THIS and yet people keep bringing it up over and over and over and over and over again, then yeah, it makes you look like a xenophobe.

Isn't this argument kind of hypocritical? Nobody is proposing anything like this...until they actually do. People concerned with bussing are just trying to pre-empt these discussions because they see the writing on the wall if you look at Policy FAA. They get criticized for not being open-minded when they bring up concerns about busing, but it's actually the pro-busing people are not open minded because they're not open to the discussion at all because their excuse is nobody has proposed it. Let's discuss all options that Policy FAA offers.

That goes for everything, though. Nobody proposes to do ANYTHING until they actually do...

I'm not criticizing you for being closed-minded. I'm criticizing you (and similar posters on DCUM) for endless threads panicking about imminent doom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my big issues with this redistricting is why now?

A new high school will open in 2023 which will force another redistricting.

Why go through such a huge redistricting now when it's going to happen again in another few years? I think Atholton HS is going to turn over something like 40% of its student body. Crazy.

You can't tell me that won't have some kind of impact.

Why not wait until 2023? Do it once instead of twice.

Because there are several schools that are very, very overcrowded now. Fulton ES is at 120% capacity. Several other schools at the ES, MS and HS level are over 110% capacity. The schools don't have any place to put the students.

110 and 120% capacity is not that bad. MCPS has schools with 130-145% capacity and just add portables. Your county is so spoiled. LOL

These capacities already include portables. One of the most crowded high schools, Howard High, has 15 portables. There is no space to add more. The portables add classroom space, but hallways are extremely crowded, making lunches and school events (like Homecoming) difficult. Plus, it is not just who is in the school now. There are thousands of residential units being built, with few available seats.

Agree. Are they really doing massive redistricting for a few middle and high schools at 110% capacity? Over half of MCPS are over capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my big issues with this redistricting is why now?

A new high school will open in 2023 which will force another redistricting.

Why go through such a huge redistricting now when it's going to happen again in another few years? I think Atholton HS is going to turn over something like 40% of its student body. Crazy.

You can't tell me that won't have some kind of impact.

Why not wait until 2023? Do it once instead of twice.

Because there are several schools that are very, very overcrowded now. Fulton ES is at 120% capacity. Several other schools at the ES, MS and HS level are over 110% capacity. The schools don't have any place to put the students.

Ok, a few schools are overcrowded. Fix those schools then. You don't need to impact 7300+ students to fix overcrowding.

Make the big moves in 2023 when you have to make them anyway. Instead, they want to make a huge move now when everyone knows another huge move is coming a couple years later. We'll be talking about redistricting again right after finishing this one.

Families are being tossed around like ping pong balls. The proposal should have been much more modest.