WaPo article about school overcrowding

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/as-school-systems-grapple-with-overcrowding-parents-wonder-why-enrollment-projections-are-so-off/2018/09/09/7f8abda4-95cd-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html?utm_term=.e5e9a6177389

One thing that jumped out at me was the parent complaining “It feels like the county is putting economic development above the needs of students. We moved to this area to be in a good school, and they’re squished.” So YOU moved there for the schools, but no one else was supposed to do the same?

The other interesting point is the effect of the lack of affordable housing and the recession actually increasing enrollment. Not necessarily the effect you'd imagine, which is probably why it caught officials flat-footed.

[Anonymous]

Enrollment projections are always way off, one direction or the other.

I noticed the article left out the local school district with the most urgent overcrowding problem...

[Anonymous]

It bugged me that the featured MCPS schools were in affluent communities. Working class families care about overcrowding as well.

[Anonymous]

Right. I'd love to see them talk to parents at Rolling Terrace and/or Piney Branch to talk about overcrowding, rather than focusing exclusively on high income majority white schools.

[Anonymous]

School officials say they’re also seeing more children from older apartments and townhouses, previously considered too small for families but now the only affordable option for many.

“Fifteen to 20 years ago, you might have a baby in a townhouse and then outgrow it and move to a single-family home,” said Jessica Gillis, facilities director for Fairfax County Public Schools. “More and more people are either choosing to stay in condos and townhouses, or they can’t afford to raise families in single-family homes.”

My great-grandparents raised five kids in a one-bedroom apartment with a bathroom at the end of the hall.

We may come back to that yet...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It bugged me that the featured MCPS schools were in affluent communities. Working class families care about overcrowding as well.

Seems like lazy reporting, like the reporters just talked to their friends and neighbors, and didn't make any effort to reach out to people in other schools.

[Anonymous]

It’s not just MCPS schools that are over crowded. I moved from Arlington County Schools to MCPS to teach in the gifted program as I got tired of non gifted students being in Arlington programs. When I was in Arlington the schools were also overcrowded (no I won’t name schools), the reality is everyone wants good schools and many people like the suburbs. MCPS should consider adding aides to classrooms K-3 when there are over 20-21 students. In any case whether VA/MD, it’s the county projections who are largely at fault. If a company/gov’t sector makes a false projection, they should be held liable and have to donate to a school’s fund for aides.

[Anonymous]

But it's not just development -- in DC one elementary school (Lafayette) is at 900 students, 100 over it's projected and max capacity...in a school built TWO years ago. There haven't been any large developments built in its catchment area at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/as-school-systems-grapple-with-overcrowding-parents-wonder-why-enrollment-projections-are-so-off/2018/09/09/7f8abda4-95cd-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html?utm_term=.e5e9a6177389

One thing that jumped out at me was the parent complaining “It feels like the county is putting economic development above the needs of students. We moved to this area to be in a good school, and they’re squished.” So YOU moved there for the schools, but no one else was supposed to do the same?

The other interesting point is the effect of the lack of affordable housing and the recession actually increasing enrollment. Not necessarily the effect you'd imagine, which is probably why it caught officials flat-footed.

I think you missed one of the points. Yes - people moved to the area to be in good schools, and so did other people. That's not the problem. The problem is that development has been allowed to continue unabated and schools are showing it, with the overcrowding.

And officials should not have been caught flat-footed if they were paying attention. The county planners are using incorrect statistics and old planning assumptions to determine enrollment numbers. This is a matter of keeping their heads in the sand, with bad results for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It bugged me that the featured MCPS schools were in affluent communities. Working class families care about overcrowding as well.

Seems like lazy reporting, like the reporters just talked to their friends and neighbors, and didn't make any effort to reach out to people in other schools.

Sometimes it is the more affluent communities that can get issues raised to a higher profile, and then get the problems addressed for ALL students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just MCPS schools that are over crowded. I moved from Arlington County Schools to MCPS to teach in the gifted program as I got tired of non gifted students being in Arlington programs. When I was in Arlington the schools were also overcrowded (no I won’t name schools), the reality is everyone wants good schools and many people like the suburbs. MCPS should consider adding aides to classrooms K-3 when there are over 20-21 students. In any case whether VA/MD, it’s the county projections who are largely at fault. If a company/gov’t sector makes a false projection, they should be held liable and have to donate to a school’s fund for aides.

The article talks about VA and DC too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not just MCPS schools that are over crowded. I moved from Arlington County Schools to MCPS to teach in the gifted program as I got tired of non gifted students being in Arlington programs. When I was in Arlington the schools were also overcrowded (no I won’t name schools), the reality is everyone wants good schools and many people like the suburbs. MCPS should consider adding aides to classrooms K-3 when there are over 20-21 students. In any case whether VA/MD, it’s the county projections who are largely at fault. If a company/gov’t sector makes a false projection, they should be held liable and have to donate to a school’s fund for aides.

I completely agree that aides in the classrooms would help some of the problems, though not everything. But it's a start, and I'm glad that some of the school districts do it.

[Anonymous]

The most affluent area schools are not Title 1. Title 1 schools may be big but they have smaller classes. Overcrowded schools that are not Title 1 have classes of 30 or so. 30 is too many. So, ironically, these days the overcrowding issues are more severe in more affluent areas because the counties can get away with it.

[Anonymous]

14:05 here. Wolftrap in Vienna routinely has classes close to thirty--sometimes over. Every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It bugged me that the featured MCPS schools were in affluent communities. Working class families care about overcrowding as well.

The article discussed one school in Montgomery County. One.