Initial boundary options for Woodward study area are up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One issue I don't see much discussion on are the number of students out of boundary attending certain schools either through an approved exemption or some other method. I won't speculate on the number of students but I've been shocked the last couple of years witnessing how many of my daughter's classmates actually don't live in the school boundary. So when MCPS is looking to address overcrowding schools I would hope they would at least address the lower hanging fruit before disrupting several communities.

I will also admit I find MCPS engaging in a contentious boundary study very disappointing and tone deaf. My daughter attends BCC and there were several school lockdowns this year due to guns. There's absenteeism, lower test scores, and learning loss due to COVID. And I'm sure there are other pressing issues that are putting a strain on the county. And I'm even more frustrated because I fully support addressing the inequities within the MCPS system but redrawing boundaries would be a very poor attempt to address a complicated issue that quite honestly I believe is outside the scope of MCPS.

How the heck are they supposed to fill new schools without changing boundaries, pray tell?

Two brand new high schools with capacity for close to 5000 kids plus Northwood adding capacity for about 500 more kids means you have to change boundaries. The other stuff is bad and needs to be dealt with but if they don't change boundaries we just spent hundreds of millions of dollars on school construction for nothing.

I'd start here[u]
- Limit the boundary change to be the least disruptive across the county.
- Remove the boundary requirements for the new schools and allow anyone attending overcrowded schools in the county to be eligible to attend.
- Provide resources and special programs that would make the new schools attractive for families across the county to consider.

That is literally one of the options. They did "start here."

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Maybe what makes the most sense is to create more low income housing in the west part of the county then the farms rates at those schools will increase and it will be balanced.

I live in west county and agree. Diversify neighborhoods through housing policy and send kids to schools that minimize commuting

Agreed. But so far there is a ton of pushback on this. So it's left to MCPS to do the work the county can't manage.

What? No. That’s not the role of the schools.

Well these choices impact the schools and the quality of education that students receive.

The most offensive thing about this thread is how people talk about low income kids (which we all know in this county are mainly Black and Latino but of course some are White and Asian), as though they are all the same. They are all disruptive, none of them want to learn, their families are all bad. The rich White and Asian (and some Latino) kids are well-behaved and come from good families. GMAFB.

Most low-income kids come from families that care about their kids' education. Most low-income kids want to learn. But they are disproportionately placed in schools with much higher percentages of kids that are disruptive, whose home circumstances prevent them from learning. And in these schools there are numerous kids that want and can do advanced classes, but the numbers aren't quite enough to have the variety of classes that are available in the wealthier schools. These are tangible ways that MCPS education is directly impacted by housing segregation. Not to mention, having less diversity at the wealthy schools is not great for those kids either. I attended one of those school many years ago. I very much wish it had been more diverse.

I don't know what the answer is. I very much sympathize with families (of all backgrounds) that do not want their kids to have a long bus ride to school. I would not want that for my kid. But let's stop pretending that segregation doesn't impact education or that low-income kids don't want to learn. That's a pretty offensive and blatantly incorrect assumption.

Fwiw I’ve read all pages of this thread and no one has stated anything like what you said.

I have definitely seen these attitudes in this thread and commonly expressed on DCUM

I’m sure you have seen them on DCUM but not on this thread. You’ve made up a straw man in order to make a moral judgement.

Also, we're now talking about economic segregation, not racial or ethnic (although admittedly there's a lot of history that driving correlations between the two). I'm all for diversity at our schools as long as they can afford the UMC incomes and housing costs that go with it. However, I don't want poor, disruptive kids with all kinds of behavioral challenges at my schools. I don't think any of us do. And if there are smart, driven less affluent kids who want to attend, then give them the opportunity to attend. Oh wait, the county already does that.

As a Chevy Chase parent who sent kids to middle school magnets, which have "poor" kids and also to BCC which has a lot of wealthy kids, I can tell you your conflation of Poor=disruptive is completely wrong. MoCo has many poor immigrant kids who are extremely bright, whose families value education as the sole means to success in the US, and who have much stricter family discipline than US families. By contrast, at wealthy BCC, I saw a lot of wealthy kids who were very disruptive -- school drug dealers, rapists, and insubordinate privilege takers.

[Anonymous]

Why did Woodward get released before Crown? You have to wonder about the Option 3 foreshadowing for Churchill, Wootton etc.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’ve read all 43 pages of this thread and am pretty disheartened. I have not seen one comment in favor of the more disruptive (to the current status quo) options say a single thing about the prospective quality of education improvement that the potential new Whitman and BCC students would receive. Instead, it’s all about sending Whitman and BCC bus loads of poor kids to somehow stick it to them? If those poor kids have to spend 45 minutes on a bus to (somehow?) upset the rich kids, great!

The kids being bussed from poor communities? Those are kids, not props in your vendetta fantasies. The rich kids you’re sticking it to? Also, just kids. The “foolish” communities that want to stay together? Communities of people (that just want to stay together).

Let’s make every school better and every kid’s life better. Let’s not use them as props against each other.

As a poor family. I sorry you don’t want our kids. Actually some of us aren’t that poor, we make different life choices. The best solution would be to open up another hs lower dcc.

Want to give you a big hug. Your kids are wanted. All kids are wanted. To be fair, from what I have read, I think everyone here welcomes diversity of income, culture and race. The problem is that no one of any income level wants to be bused away from their neighborhoods and rightfully so. Every school needs to be stronger and some underperforming schools need more money, support and staff. Whatever it takes, they should get it.

We are wanted as long as we are not in your schools or competition for your kids. No one wants their kids bussed but maybe this will give those kids opportunities they don’t have to get ahead. Our kids don’t have the same opportunities.

Unfortunately it’s a zero sum game and we don’t get do overs with our kids’ education. I’d support funding more opportunities for your kids through modestly higher property taxes but not at the expense of my own kids’ opportunities or busing them across town. Everyone wants the best opportunities for their children (which is why most of us moved to the best place we could afford) and are looking to preserve that as much as possible in an increasingly uncertain world.

Wow we are all on the same team PP. it’s not a zero sum game.

Are we? There's only one (or few) valedictorians and there's an implicit quota in how many kids from each school matriculate to a particular university. We're not in this together and that's been apparent since I set foot in this county or on DCUM and seen others asking questions about the "preferred preschool to get into the Ivy League" or "my DD has the following stats but they don't have a hook and therefore, didn't get into [insert highly selective university]", especially as our kids get closer and closer to high school. We're more like participants running the gauntlet in The Hunger Games where "may the odds ever be in your favor". This is the meritocracy that we find ourselves in and the system that each of us has to face (or ignore). So forgive me if I don't want my kids being bussed across town to a different school and not the neighborhood school I've already paid a high cost entry fee to get into.

You did not pay a "fee" to "get into" your neighborhood. You purchased an asset, which you can sell or rent out if you want.

I purchased an asset at a several hundred thousand dollar premium to comparable assets because of its access to a desirable public school cluster.

OK, you purchased an asset. All assets come with risk and reward. Society doesn't have an obligation to make sure your asset pays out. Your house as an asset came with the risk that you wouldn't always be zoned to the same school -- that's a headline risk you should have thought about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they go with option 3 and move the Chevy Chase students from, Bethesda Chevy Chase to Blair, with they rename Bethesda Chevy Chase to Bethesda?

As someone who lives a third of a mile directly south of B-CC (and thus by Option 3 would have to send my kid by bus to Blair instead of them walking to B-CC), I appreciate this query. It would be quite cheeky to keep Chevy as part of the school’s name if MCPS forces most Chevy kids to bus six miles east!

I'm curious. If you were zoned to Blair and Takoma, would you move out of Chevy Chase and somewhere closer to Blair? Or, if you had known that Chevy Chase south of East West was zoned for Blair, would you have even bought in Chevy Chase to begin with? If you were living in DC before, would you have even bothered to move out of DC?

DP. I would rent an apartment in that area in Rosemary Hills that would get shipped to Whitman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read all 43 pages of this thread and am pretty disheartened. I have not seen one comment in favor of the more disruptive (to the current status quo) options say a single thing about the prospective quality of education improvement that the potential new Whitman and BCC students would receive. Instead, it’s all about sending Whitman and BCC bus loads of poor kids to somehow stick it to them? If those poor kids have to spend 45 minutes on a bus to (somehow?) upset the rich kids, great!

The kids being bussed from poor communities? Those are kids, not props in your vendetta fantasies. The rich kids you’re sticking it to? Also, just kids. The “foolish” communities that want to stay together? Communities of people (that just want to stay together).

Let’s make every school better and every kid’s life better. Let’s not use them as props against each other.

As a poor family. I sorry you don’t want our kids. Actually some of us aren’t that poor, we make different life choices. The best solution would be to open up another hs lower dcc.

Want to give you a big hug. Your kids are wanted. All kids are wanted. To be fair, from what I have read, I think everyone here welcomes diversity of income, culture and race. The problem is that no one of any income level wants to be bused away from their neighborhoods and rightfully so. Every school needs to be stronger and some underperforming schools need more money, support and staff. Whatever it takes, they should get it.

We are wanted as long as we are not in your schools or competition for your kids. No one wants their kids bussed but maybe this will give those kids opportunities they don’t have to get ahead. Our kids don’t have the same opportunities.

Unfortunately it’s a zero sum game and we don’t get do overs with our kids’ education. I’d support funding more opportunities for your kids through modestly higher property taxes but not at the expense of my own kids’ opportunities or busing them across town. Everyone wants the best opportunities for their children (which is why most of us moved to the best place we could afford) and are looking to preserve that as much as possible in an increasingly uncertain world.

Wow we are all on the same team PP. it’s not a zero sum game.

Are we? There's only one (or few) valedictorians and there's an implicit quota in how many kids from each school matriculate to a particular university. We're not in this together and that's been apparent since I set foot in this county or on DCUM and seen others asking questions about the "preferred preschool to get into the Ivy League" or "my DD has the following stats but they don't have a hook and therefore, didn't get into [insert highly selective university]", especially as our kids get closer and closer to high school. We're more like participants running the gauntlet in The Hunger Games where "may the odds ever be in your favor". This is the meritocracy that we find ourselves in and the system that each of us has to face (or ignore). So forgive me if I don't want my kids being bussed across town to a different school and not the neighborhood school I've already paid a high cost entry fee to get into.

You did not pay a "fee" to "get into" your neighborhood. You purchased an asset, which you can sell or rent out if you want.

I purchased an asset at a several hundred thousand dollar premium to comparable assets because of its access to a desirable public school cluster.

OK, you purchased an asset. All assets come with risk and reward. Society doesn't have an obligation to make sure your asset pays out. Your house as an asset came with the risk that you wouldn't always be zoned to the same school -- that's a headline risk you should have thought about.

And the school board members who echo this sentiment are going to lose their jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read all 43 pages of this thread and am pretty disheartened. I have not seen one comment in favor of the more disruptive (to the current status quo) options say a single thing about the prospective quality of education improvement that the potential new Whitman and BCC students would receive. Instead, it’s all about sending Whitman and BCC bus loads of poor kids to somehow stick it to them? If those poor kids have to spend 45 minutes on a bus to (somehow?) upset the rich kids, great!

The kids being bussed from poor communities? Those are kids, not props in your vendetta fantasies. The rich kids you’re sticking it to? Also, just kids. The “foolish” communities that want to stay together? Communities of people (that just want to stay together).

Let’s make every school better and every kid’s life better. Let’s not use them as props against each other.

As a poor family. I sorry you don’t want our kids. Actually some of us aren’t that poor, we make different life choices. The best solution would be to open up another hs lower dcc.

Want to give you a big hug. Your kids are wanted. All kids are wanted. To be fair, from what I have read, I think everyone here welcomes diversity of income, culture and race. The problem is that no one of any income level wants to be bused away from their neighborhoods and rightfully so. Every school needs to be stronger and some underperforming schools need more money, support and staff. Whatever it takes, they should get it.

We are wanted as long as we are not in your schools or competition for your kids. No one wants their kids bussed but maybe this will give those kids opportunities they don’t have to get ahead. Our kids don’t have the same opportunities.

Unfortunately it’s a zero sum game and we don’t get do overs with our kids’ education. I’d support funding more opportunities for your kids through modestly higher property taxes but not at the expense of my own kids’ opportunities or busing them across town. Everyone wants the best opportunities for their children (which is why most of us moved to the best place we could afford) and are looking to preserve that as much as possible in an increasingly uncertain world.

Wow we are all on the same team PP. it’s not a zero sum game.

Are we? There's only one (or few) valedictorians and there's an implicit quota in how many kids from each school matriculate to a particular university. We're not in this together and that's been apparent since I set foot in this county or on DCUM and seen others asking questions about the "preferred preschool to get into the Ivy League" or "my DD has the following stats but they don't have a hook and therefore, didn't get into [insert highly selective university]", especially as our kids get closer and closer to high school. We're more like participants running the gauntlet in The Hunger Games where "may the odds ever be in your favor". This is the meritocracy that we find ourselves in and the system that each of us has to face (or ignore). So forgive me if I don't want my kids being bussed across town to a different school and not the neighborhood school I've already paid a high cost entry fee to get into.

You did not pay a "fee" to "get into" your neighborhood. You purchased an asset, which you can sell or rent out if you want.

I purchased an asset at a several hundred thousand dollar premium to comparable assets because of its access to a desirable public school cluster.

Hard eye roll. You never signed a contract with MCPS to guarantee you that school. That’s a you problem.

You don’t need to be unkind. Even buyers without school age children can and should take school assignments into consideration because it directly impacts home value. While boundaries can and do change, it’s not an unreasonable position to feel you’re not getting what you felt you planned for or a reasonably comparable alternative. MCPS should not be in the position of making numerous families feel bait-and-switched.

Greetings from 2025. MCPS has several overcrowded high schools and has therefore worked to construct two new high schools to reduce or hopefully eliminate overcrowding. In order for that to happen, many students will need to be reassigned to different schools. There is simply no way around that.

+1 And this has been a known fact for almost a decade.

Horseshit to the idea that people should have made home purchasing decisions based on the possibility of option 3.

People should make home purchasing decisions recognizing that the government is not there to protect their home values. It is there to provide public services effectively and efficiently to serve residents. They cannot do that and guarantee that school assignments will not change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read all 43 pages of this thread and am pretty disheartened. I have not seen one comment in favor of the more disruptive (to the current status quo) options say a single thing about the prospective quality of education improvement that the potential new Whitman and BCC students would receive. Instead, it’s all about sending Whitman and BCC bus loads of poor kids to somehow stick it to them? If those poor kids have to spend 45 minutes on a bus to (somehow?) upset the rich kids, great!

The kids being bussed from poor communities? Those are kids, not props in your vendetta fantasies. The rich kids you’re sticking it to? Also, just kids. The “foolish” communities that want to stay together? Communities of people (that just want to stay together).

Let’s make every school better and every kid’s life better. Let’s not use them as props against each other.

As a poor family. I sorry you don’t want our kids. Actually some of us aren’t that poor, we make different life choices. The best solution would be to open up another hs lower dcc.

Want to give you a big hug. Your kids are wanted. All kids are wanted. To be fair, from what I have read, I think everyone here welcomes diversity of income, culture and race. The problem is that no one of any income level wants to be bused away from their neighborhoods and rightfully so. Every school needs to be stronger and some underperforming schools need more money, support and staff. Whatever it takes, they should get it.

We are wanted as long as we are not in your schools or competition for your kids. No one wants their kids bussed but maybe this will give those kids opportunities they don’t have to get ahead. Our kids don’t have the same opportunities.

Unfortunately it’s a zero sum game and we don’t get do overs with our kids’ education. I’d support funding more opportunities for your kids through modestly higher property taxes but not at the expense of my own kids’ opportunities or busing them across town. Everyone wants the best opportunities for their children (which is why most of us moved to the best place we could afford) and are looking to preserve that as much as possible in an increasingly uncertain world.

Wow we are all on the same team PP. it’s not a zero sum game.

Are we? There's only one (or few) valedictorians and there's an implicit quota in how many kids from each school matriculate to a particular university. We're not in this together and that's been apparent since I set foot in this county or on DCUM and seen others asking questions about the "preferred preschool to get into the Ivy League" or "my DD has the following stats but they don't have a hook and therefore, didn't get into [insert highly selective university]", especially as our kids get closer and closer to high school. We're more like participants running the gauntlet in The Hunger Games where "may the odds ever be in your favor". This is the meritocracy that we find ourselves in and the system that each of us has to face (or ignore). So forgive me if I don't want my kids being bussed across town to a different school and not the neighborhood school I've already paid a high cost entry fee to get into.

You did not pay a "fee" to "get into" your neighborhood. You purchased an asset, which you can sell or rent out if you want.

I purchased an asset at a several hundred thousand dollar premium to comparable assets because of its access to a desirable public school cluster.

OK, you purchased an asset. All assets come with risk and reward. Society doesn't have an obligation to make sure your asset pays out. Your house as an asset came with the risk that you wouldn't always be zoned to the same school -- that's a headline risk you should have thought about.

And the school board members who echo this sentiment are going to lose their jobs.

The candidates promoting the opposite sentiment make a lot of noise but never get elected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they go with option 3 and move the Chevy Chase students from, Bethesda Chevy Chase to Blair, with they rename Bethesda Chevy Chase to Bethesda?

As someone who lives a third of a mile directly south of B-CC (and thus by Option 3 would have to send my kid by bus to Blair instead of them walking to B-CC), I appreciate this query. It would be quite cheeky to keep Chevy as part of the school’s name if MCPS forces most Chevy kids to bus six miles east!

I'm curious. If you were zoned to Blair and Takoma, would you move out of Chevy Chase and somewhere closer to Blair? Or, if you had known that Chevy Chase south of East West was zoned for Blair, would you have even bought in Chevy Chase to begin with? If you were living in DC before, would you have even bothered to move out of DC?

I live in a different part of Chevy Chase but the issue isn’t that Blair itself is undesirable. It’s a good school! The issue is really the very far and complicated commute from that neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they go with option 3 and move the Chevy Chase students from, Bethesda Chevy Chase to Blair, with they rename Bethesda Chevy Chase to Bethesda?

As someone who lives a third of a mile directly south of B-CC (and thus by Option 3 would have to send my kid by bus to Blair instead of them walking to B-CC), I appreciate this query. It would be quite cheeky to keep Chevy as part of the school’s name if MCPS forces most Chevy kids to bus six miles east!

I'm curious. If you were zoned to Blair and Takoma, would you move out of Chevy Chase and somewhere closer to Blair? Or, if you had known that Chevy Chase south of East West was zoned for Blair, would you have even bought in Chevy Chase to begin with? If you were living in DC before, would you have even bothered to move out of DC?

DP. I would rent an apartment in that area in Rosemary Hills that would get shipped to Whitman.

But, those kids in that area are currently shipped to BCC, so Whitman is a way worse deal for them in Option 3. And, TBH, I seriously doubt a lot of people in Chevy Chase are prepared to move out of a single family home and into a rental. If that were the case, why would you not just rent in Bethesda N or W and go to BCC - similar quality of education but no commute?

Personally, I would either never move out of DC or move to Takoma Park. I sent my kid to Takoma MS magnet, which has 25 seats reserved for Takoma MS in district students. Blair is an excellent HS. Kids who aren't selected for the math/science magnet can opt into classes. There is CAP at Blair and plenty of APs. There are other DCC program options. I can buy in TkPk for much less than ChCh and renovate and still be close to a metro like I am in Bethesda. I'm not sure what would attract me to begin with in ChCh in option 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they go with option 3 and move the Chevy Chase students from, Bethesda Chevy Chase to Blair, with they rename Bethesda Chevy Chase to Bethesda?

As someone who lives a third of a mile directly south of B-CC (and thus by Option 3 would have to send my kid by bus to Blair instead of them walking to B-CC), I appreciate this query. It would be quite cheeky to keep Chevy as part of the school’s name if MCPS forces most Chevy kids to bus six miles east!

I'm curious. If you were zoned to Blair and Takoma, would you move out of Chevy Chase and somewhere closer to Blair? Or, if you had known that Chevy Chase south of East West was zoned for Blair, would you have even bought in Chevy Chase to begin with? If you were living in DC before, would you have even bothered to move out of DC?

DP. I would rent an apartment in that area in Rosemary Hills that would get shipped to Whitman.

But, those kids in that area are currently shipped to BCC, so Whitman is a way worse deal for them in Option 3. And, TBH, I seriously doubt a lot of people in Chevy Chase are prepared to move out of a single family home and into a rental. If that were the case, why would you not just rent in Bethesda N or W and go to BCC - similar quality of education but no commute?

Personally, I would either never move out of DC or move to Takoma Park. I sent my kid to Takoma MS magnet, which has 25 seats reserved for Takoma MS in district students. Blair is an excellent HS. Kids who aren't selected for the math/science magnet can opt into classes. There is CAP at Blair and plenty of APs. There are other DCC program options. I can buy in TkPk for much less than ChCh and renovate and still be close to a metro like I am in Bethesda. I'm not sure what would attract me to begin with in ChCh in option 3.

Ok but guess what? They may go poof with your set asides or relocate those programs or sunset countywide magnets entirely. This is the point. Everyone made choices and home purchases based on information at the time, and it’s very legitimate to feel feelings when big impactful changes are made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read all 43 pages of this thread and am pretty disheartened. I have not seen one comment in favor of the more disruptive (to the current status quo) options say a single thing about the prospective quality of education improvement that the potential new Whitman and BCC students would receive. Instead, it’s all about sending Whitman and BCC bus loads of poor kids to somehow stick it to them? If those poor kids have to spend 45 minutes on a bus to (somehow?) upset the rich kids, great!

The kids being bussed from poor communities? Those are kids, not props in your vendetta fantasies. The rich kids you’re sticking it to? Also, just kids. The “foolish” communities that want to stay together? Communities of people (that just want to stay together).

Let’s make every school better and every kid’s life better. Let’s not use them as props against each other.

As a poor family. I sorry you don’t want our kids. Actually some of us aren’t that poor, we make different life choices. The best solution would be to open up another hs lower dcc.

Want to give you a big hug. Your kids are wanted. All kids are wanted. To be fair, from what I have read, I think everyone here welcomes diversity of income, culture and race. The problem is that no one of any income level wants to be bused away from their neighborhoods and rightfully so. Every school needs to be stronger and some underperforming schools need more money, support and staff. Whatever it takes, they should get it.

We are wanted as long as we are not in your schools or competition for your kids. No one wants their kids bussed but maybe this will give those kids opportunities they don’t have to get ahead. Our kids don’t have the same opportunities.

Unfortunately it’s a zero sum game and we don’t get do overs with our kids’ education. I’d support funding more opportunities for your kids through modestly higher property taxes but not at the expense of my own kids’ opportunities or busing them across town. Everyone wants the best opportunities for their children (which is why most of us moved to the best place we could afford) and are looking to preserve that as much as possible in an increasingly uncertain world.

Wow we are all on the same team PP. it’s not a zero sum game.

Are we? There's only one (or few) valedictorians and there's an implicit quota in how many kids from each school matriculate to a particular university. We're not in this together and that's been apparent since I set foot in this county or on DCUM and seen others asking questions about the "preferred preschool to get into the Ivy League" or "my DD has the following stats but they don't have a hook and therefore, didn't get into [insert highly selective university]", especially as our kids get closer and closer to high school. We're more like participants running the gauntlet in The Hunger Games where "may the odds ever be in your favor". This is the meritocracy that we find ourselves in and the system that each of us has to face (or ignore). So forgive me if I don't want my kids being bussed across town to a different school and not the neighborhood school I've already paid a high cost entry fee to get into.

You did not pay a "fee" to "get into" your neighborhood. You purchased an asset, which you can sell or rent out if you want.

I purchased an asset at a several hundred thousand dollar premium to comparable assets because of its access to a desirable public school cluster.

OK, you purchased an asset. All assets come with risk and reward. Society doesn't have an obligation to make sure your asset pays out. Your house as an asset came with the risk that you wouldn't always be zoned to the same school -- that's a headline risk you should have thought about.

And the school board members who echo this sentiment are going to lose their jobs.

And the county will lose property tax dollars that fund MCPS. It cuts both ways when you mess with the golden goose. And this at a time when Federal spending and jobs cuts are going to blow a hole in the county's budget.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read all 43 pages of this thread and am pretty disheartened. I have not seen one comment in favor of the more disruptive (to the current status quo) options say a single thing about the prospective quality of education improvement that the potential new Whitman and BCC students would receive. Instead, it’s all about sending Whitman and BCC bus loads of poor kids to somehow stick it to them? If those poor kids have to spend 45 minutes on a bus to (somehow?) upset the rich kids, great!

The kids being bussed from poor communities? Those are kids, not props in your vendetta fantasies. The rich kids you’re sticking it to? Also, just kids. The “foolish” communities that want to stay together? Communities of people (that just want to stay together).

Let’s make every school better and every kid’s life better. Let’s not use them as props against each other.

As a poor family. I sorry you don’t want our kids. Actually some of us aren’t that poor, we make different life choices. The best solution would be to open up another hs lower dcc.

Want to give you a big hug. Your kids are wanted. All kids are wanted. To be fair, from what I have read, I think everyone here welcomes diversity of income, culture and race. The problem is that no one of any income level wants to be bused away from their neighborhoods and rightfully so. Every school needs to be stronger and some underperforming schools need more money, support and staff. Whatever it takes, they should get it.

We are wanted as long as we are not in your schools or competition for your kids. No one wants their kids bussed but maybe this will give those kids opportunities they don’t have to get ahead. Our kids don’t have the same opportunities.

Unfortunately it’s a zero sum game and we don’t get do overs with our kids’ education. I’d support funding more opportunities for your kids through modestly higher property taxes but not at the expense of my own kids’ opportunities or busing them across town. Everyone wants the best opportunities for their children (which is why most of us moved to the best place we could afford) and are looking to preserve that as much as possible in an increasingly uncertain world.

Wow we are all on the same team PP. it’s not a zero sum game.

Are we? There's only one (or few) valedictorians and there's an implicit quota in how many kids from each school matriculate to a particular university. We're not in this together and that's been apparent since I set foot in this county or on DCUM and seen others asking questions about the "preferred preschool to get into the Ivy League" or "my DD has the following stats but they don't have a hook and therefore, didn't get into [insert highly selective university]", especially as our kids get closer and closer to high school. We're more like participants running the gauntlet in The Hunger Games where "may the odds ever be in your favor". This is the meritocracy that we find ourselves in and the system that each of us has to face (or ignore). So forgive me if I don't want my kids being bussed across town to a different school and not the neighborhood school I've already paid a high cost entry fee to get into.

You did not pay a "fee" to "get into" your neighborhood. You purchased an asset, which you can sell or rent out if you want.

I purchased an asset at a several hundred thousand dollar premium to comparable assets because of its access to a desirable public school cluster.

Hard eye roll. You never signed a contract with MCPS to guarantee you that school. That’s a you problem.

You don’t need to be unkind. Even buyers without school age children can and should take school assignments into consideration because it directly impacts home value. While boundaries can and do change, it’s not an unreasonable position to feel you’re not getting what you felt you planned for or a reasonably comparable alternative. MCPS should not be in the position of making numerous families feel bait-and-switched.

Greetings from 2025. MCPS has several overcrowded high schools and has therefore worked to construct two new high schools to reduce or hopefully eliminate overcrowding. In order for that to happen, many students will need to be reassigned to different schools. There is simply no way around that.

Obviously some people will need to shift. But certain proposed options on the table create big changes that no one could have reasonably expected or anticipated. I’m not even personally in this position but it’s obviously upsetting for those who are and I don’t like all the anonymous victim blaming.

There are no victims right now. Nobody has been impacted by these decisions. Some may be worried that their home values are impacted by the simple consideration of them, but you have to understand how entitled and whiny that sounds. MCPS needs to manage its facilities effectively and efficiently. Having schools that are over capacity and others that are under capacity is not efficient. Concentrating poverty in certain schools undermines the kids' education, kids who by and large want to learn, despite some of the truly disgusting stereotypes articulated just in the last few pages of this thread.

I absolutely agree that long bus rides can be disruptive to families of all backgrounds and should be avoided. But this notion that MCPS should be held responsible for your property values is truly absurd and entitled. Learn a little something about how you have personally benefited from the history of oppression perpetrated by the government. Your home value would not be what it is today with is it redlining and racist exclusionary zoning. Jfc.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’ve read all 43 pages of this thread and am pretty disheartened. I have not seen one comment in favor of the more disruptive (to the current status quo) options say a single thing about the prospective quality of education improvement that the potential new Whitman and BCC students would receive. Instead, it’s all about sending Whitman and BCC bus loads of poor kids to somehow stick it to them? If those poor kids have to spend 45 minutes on a bus to (somehow?) upset the rich kids, great!

The kids being bussed from poor communities? Those are kids, not props in your vendetta fantasies. The rich kids you’re sticking it to? Also, just kids. The “foolish” communities that want to stay together? Communities of people (that just want to stay together).

Let’s make every school better and every kid’s life better. Let’s not use them as props against each other.

As a poor family. I sorry you don’t want our kids. Actually some of us aren’t that poor, we make different life choices. The best solution would be to open up another hs lower dcc.

Want to give you a big hug. Your kids are wanted. All kids are wanted. To be fair, from what I have read, I think everyone here welcomes diversity of income, culture and race. The problem is that no one of any income level wants to be bused away from their neighborhoods and rightfully so. Every school needs to be stronger and some underperforming schools need more money, support and staff. Whatever it takes, they should get it.

We are wanted as long as we are not in your schools or competition for your kids. No one wants their kids bussed but maybe this will give those kids opportunities they don’t have to get ahead. Our kids don’t have the same opportunities.

Unfortunately it’s a zero sum game and we don’t get do overs with our kids’ education. I’d support funding more opportunities for your kids through modestly higher property taxes but not at the expense of my own kids’ opportunities or busing them across town. Everyone wants the best opportunities for their children (which is why most of us moved to the best place we could afford) and are looking to preserve that as much as possible in an increasingly uncertain world.

Wow we are all on the same team PP. it’s not a zero sum game.

Are we? There's only one (or few) valedictorians and there's an implicit quota in how many kids from each school matriculate to a particular university. We're not in this together and that's been apparent since I set foot in this county or on DCUM and seen others asking questions about the "preferred preschool to get into the Ivy League" or "my DD has the following stats but they don't have a hook and therefore, didn't get into [insert highly selective university]", especially as our kids get closer and closer to high school. We're more like participants running the gauntlet in The Hunger Games where "may the odds ever be in your favor". This is the meritocracy that we find ourselves in and the system that each of us has to face (or ignore). So forgive me if I don't want my kids being bussed across town to a different school and not the neighborhood school I've already paid a high cost entry fee to get into.

You did not pay a "fee" to "get into" your neighborhood. You purchased an asset, which you can sell or rent out if you want.

I purchased an asset at a several hundred thousand dollar premium to comparable assets because of its access to a desirable public school cluster.

OK, you purchased an asset. All assets come with risk and reward. Society doesn't have an obligation to make sure your asset pays out. Your house as an asset came with the risk that you wouldn't always be zoned to the same school -- that's a headline risk you should have thought about.

And the school board members who echo this sentiment are going to lose their jobs.

And the county will lose property tax dollars that fund MCPS. It cuts both ways when you mess with the golden goose. And this at a time when Federal spending and jobs cuts are going to blow a hole in the county's budget.

Daddy Donald is not going to save you here. Boundary revisions are within the purview of local school districts, as long as they do not intentionally promote or maintain segregation. You might claim that one option is "DEI" but it's one thing to make that claim rhetorically. It's another to demonstrate it in court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read all 43 pages of this thread and am pretty disheartened. I have not seen one comment in favor of the more disruptive (to the current status quo) options say a single thing about the prospective quality of education improvement that the potential new Whitman and BCC students would receive. Instead, it’s all about sending Whitman and BCC bus loads of poor kids to somehow stick it to them? If those poor kids have to spend 45 minutes on a bus to (somehow?) upset the rich kids, great!

The kids being bussed from poor communities? Those are kids, not props in your vendetta fantasies. The rich kids you’re sticking it to? Also, just kids. The “foolish” communities that want to stay together? Communities of people (that just want to stay together).

Let’s make every school better and every kid’s life better. Let’s not use them as props against each other.

As a poor family. I sorry you don’t want our kids. Actually some of us aren’t that poor, we make different life choices. The best solution would be to open up another hs lower dcc.

Want to give you a big hug. Your kids are wanted. All kids are wanted. To be fair, from what I have read, I think everyone here welcomes diversity of income, culture and race. The problem is that no one of any income level wants to be bused away from their neighborhoods and rightfully so. Every school needs to be stronger and some underperforming schools need more money, support and staff. Whatever it takes, they should get it.

We are wanted as long as we are not in your schools or competition for your kids. No one wants their kids bussed but maybe this will give those kids opportunities they don’t have to get ahead. Our kids don’t have the same opportunities.

Unfortunately it’s a zero sum game and we don’t get do overs with our kids’ education. I’d support funding more opportunities for your kids through modestly higher property taxes but not at the expense of my own kids’ opportunities or busing them across town. Everyone wants the best opportunities for their children (which is why most of us moved to the best place we could afford) and are looking to preserve that as much as possible in an increasingly uncertain world.

Wow we are all on the same team PP. it’s not a zero sum game.

Are we? There's only one (or few) valedictorians and there's an implicit quota in how many kids from each school matriculate to a particular university. We're not in this together and that's been apparent since I set foot in this county or on DCUM and seen others asking questions about the "preferred preschool to get into the Ivy League" or "my DD has the following stats but they don't have a hook and therefore, didn't get into [insert highly selective university]", especially as our kids get closer and closer to high school. We're more like participants running the gauntlet in The Hunger Games where "may the odds ever be in your favor". This is the meritocracy that we find ourselves in and the system that each of us has to face (or ignore). So forgive me if I don't want my kids being bussed across town to a different school and not the neighborhood school I've already paid a high cost entry fee to get into.

You did not pay a "fee" to "get into" your neighborhood. You purchased an asset, which you can sell or rent out if you want.

I purchased an asset at a several hundred thousand dollar premium to comparable assets because of its access to a desirable public school cluster.

Hard eye roll. You never signed a contract with MCPS to guarantee you that school. That’s a you problem.

You don’t need to be unkind. Even buyers without school age children can and should take school assignments into consideration because it directly impacts home value. While boundaries can and do change, it’s not an unreasonable position to feel you’re not getting what you felt you planned for or a reasonably comparable alternative. MCPS should not be in the position of making numerous families feel bait-and-switched.

Greetings from 2025. MCPS has several overcrowded high schools and has therefore worked to construct two new high schools to reduce or hopefully eliminate overcrowding. In order for that to happen, many students will need to be reassigned to different schools. There is simply no way around that.

+1 Moreover, we haven't done a comprehensive boundary study in decades, which means that the kinds of islands, and bussing, and "I live next to X school but my kids go to Y school" situations are ALSO the status quo. It's just that people have adapted to the status quo, and human beings do not like it when things change.