MCPS Boundary Reassessment

[Anonymous]

What schools/area should be effected?

[Anonymous]

At the end of the December 4th BoE Business Meeting, Student Board Member Ananya Tadikonda proposed a new business item for the 1/8/2019 BOE meeting. (Item 15.4 https://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=AX9L5C4EC580)

Looks like every boundary/school will be affected.

[Anonymous]

She's proposing hiring a consultant to review boundaries and report findings. That isn't the same thing as an actual boundary study.

[Anonymous]

Not gonna happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's proposing hiring a consultant to review boundaries and report findings. That isn't the same thing as an actual boundary study.

Student members have little say. nothing to worry over

[Anonymous]

"Although we cannot address housing patterns or solve socioeconomic inequity challenges within
our county, we can examine how such factors might impact, or be mitigated by, how school
boundaries are drawn and/or where academic programs are placed and provide the Board with an
opportunity to be intentional in creating equitable learning environments that leverage the assets
of Montgomery County. In particular, the current conditions create a unique opportunity to take
an in depth look at promoting diverse student bodies and maximizing facility utilization.
It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with
adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial
demographics and disparities in facility utilization. Examining the possibility of altering the
boundaries for these schools can present opportunities for progress toward ensuring that all
students are able to reap the significant benefits of attending school with a diverse student body,
and having class sizes that allow time and space for enhanced educational experiences."

If you read this, my interpretation is that this is the first step to try and redraw boundaries in a much broader way than has ever been seen with the main goal being reducing socioeconomic disparity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Although we cannot address housing patterns or solve socioeconomic inequity challenges within
our county, we can examine how such factors might impact, or be mitigated by, how school
boundaries are drawn and/or where academic programs are placed and provide the Board with an
opportunity to be intentional in creating equitable learning environments that leverage the assets
of Montgomery County. In particular, the current conditions create a unique opportunity to take
an in depth look at promoting diverse student bodies and maximizing facility utilization.
It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with
adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial
demographics and disparities in facility utilization. Examining the possibility of altering the
boundaries for these schools can present opportunities for progress toward ensuring that all
students are able to reap the significant benefits of attending school with a diverse student body,
and having class sizes that allow time and space for enhanced educational experiences."

If you read this, my interpretation is that this is the first step to try and redraw boundaries in a much broader way than has ever been seen with the main goal being reducing socioeconomic disparity.

And more and more people will go private or flee.

again, doubtful it will happen - The transportation issues are far too logistically complex to address. And kids aren't going to sit on a bus for hours for the purpose of addressing disparities.

[Anonymous]

Right, so a teenager who doesn't pay taxes, who has no vested interest in the outcome because she'll be off to college, gets to spend how many thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a consultant instead of on overcrowded or dilapidated schools, or more teachers or para educators? This is insane. Who gave the smob the right to vote on this important stuff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right, so a teenager who doesn't pay taxes, who has no vested interest in the outcome because she'll be off to college, gets to spend how many thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a consultant instead of on overcrowded or dilapidated schools, or more teachers or para educators? This is insane. Who gave the smob the right to vote on this important stuff?

The legislation passed the Senate by a 39-to-4 margin. Under the legislation, the student member of the Board would be allowed to cast votes on significant issues including, capital and operating budgets, school closings, reopenings, boundaries, and collective bargaining. The legislation also allows the student member of the board to attend executive sessions related to collective bargaining.

https://www.mymcmedia.org/bill-that-expands-student-voting-rights-on-montgomery-county-school-board-passes-state-legislature/

I wasn't keeping up, I guess . . .

Collective bargaining? really? That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right, so a teenager who doesn't pay taxes, who has no vested interest in the outcome because she'll be off to college, gets to spend how many thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a consultant instead of on overcrowded or dilapidated schools, or more teachers or para educators? This is insane. Who gave the smob the right to vote on this important stuff?

Even better, their college admission odds increase nearly proportionally to how much havoc the student rep can create in their role.

[Anonymous]

Nothing in this County can be done that quickly. This SMOB will be gone by the time any report would actually be produced. But there is growing support in the County for a “County-side boundary study.” How that would actually logistically be accomplished is anyone’s guess. I find it really hard to believe any elected official wants to see such a thing go down, but the County Councilmembers seem to think the madness that would ensue would only fall on the BOE and not on themselves...

[Anonymous]

^^ should be County-wide not County-side

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Although we cannot address housing patterns or solve socioeconomic inequity challenges within
our county, we can examine how such factors might impact, or be mitigated by, how school
boundaries are drawn and/or where academic programs are placed and provide the Board with an
opportunity to be intentional in creating equitable learning environments that leverage the assets
of Montgomery County. In particular, the current conditions create a unique opportunity to take
an in depth look at promoting diverse student bodies and maximizing facility utilization.
It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries, however, there are many schools in MCPS with
adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial
demographics and disparities in facility utilization. Examining the possibility of altering the
boundaries for these schools can present opportunities for progress toward ensuring that all
students are able to reap the significant benefits of attending school with a diverse student body,
and having class sizes that allow time and space for enhanced educational experiences."

If you read this, my interpretation is that this is the first step to try and redraw boundaries in a much broader way than has ever been seen with the main goal being reducing socioeconomic disparity.

And more and more people will go private or flee.

again, doubtful it will happen - The transportation issues are far too logistically complex to address. And kids aren't going to sit on a bus for hours for the purpose of addressing disparities.

You don't need to sit on a bus for hours to go to an adjacent school. If there are nearby schools, one overcrowded and one with space available, I'm in favor of them redrawing boundaries to take advantage of that. Whether they need to hire a consultant to figure that out is another question.

[Anonymous]

The first volley heralds the inevitable diversity bussing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing in this County can be done that quickly. This SMOB will be gone by the time any report would actually be produced. But there is growing support in the County for a “County-side boundary study.” How that would actually logistically be accomplished is anyone’s guess. I find it really hard to believe any elected official wants to see such a thing go down, but the County Councilmembers seem to think the madness that would ensue would only fall on the BOE and not on themselves...

It makes sense to better utilize the resources that exist presently and even reduce transportation costs in some cases all the while improving diversity when possible.