Forest Knolls/Montgomery Knolls/Pine Crest boundary study

[Anonymous]

For those who weren't at the meetings this week, the presentation is now posted at this site:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/DownCountyESBoundaryStudy.aspx

Next meetings are April 23rd & 24th, where MCPS will present the first round of boundary options.

[Anonymous]

Three options were presented at last night's meeting:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/Knolls_1stSetOfOptions.pdf

All of these options include moving kids from SSIMS to Eastern (but not from Northwood to Blair). But it seems like they're more likely not to change MS assignments, given the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three options were presented at last night's meeting:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/Knolls_1stSetOfOptions.pdf

All of these options include moving kids from SSIMS to Eastern (but not from Northwood to Blair). But it seems like they're more likely not to change MS assignments, given the numbers.

Agreed. If they keep MS assignments the same, both are at ~95% capacity. If they change with the ES reassignment, Eastern is almost 10% over capacity, depending on the options, while SSIMS is under capacity (though still above the 80% utilization that seems to be the minimum).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three options were presented at last night's meeting:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/Knolls_1stSetOfOptions.pdf

All of these options include moving kids from SSIMS to Eastern (but not from Northwood to Blair). But it seems like they're more likely not to change MS assignments, given the numbers.

Agreed. If they keep MS assignments the same, both are at ~95% capacity. If they change with the ES reassignment, Eastern is almost 10% over capacity, depending on the options, while SSIMS is under capacity (though still above the 80% utilization that seems to be the minimum).

I really hope they keep MS assignments the same, or at the very least, let any kids who've already started at SSIMS be grandfathered in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three options were presented at last night's meeting:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/Knolls_1stSetOfOptions.pdf

All of these options include moving kids from SSIMS to Eastern (but not from Northwood to Blair). But it seems like they're more likely not to change MS assignments, given the numbers.

Any updates on this? I'm most anxious to hear about the reassignment of middle school. The pdf suggests they WILL change them, or at least only grandfather grade 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three options were presented at last night's meeting:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/Knolls_1stSetOfOptions.pdf

All of these options include moving kids from SSIMS to Eastern (but not from Northwood to Blair). But it seems like they're more likely not to change MS assignments, given the numbers.

Any updates on this? I'm most anxious to hear about the reassignment of middle school. The pdf suggests they WILL change them, or at least only grandfather grade 8.

At the most recent meeting, the MCPS staff there were basically saying they agreed that reassigning the middle schools didn't seem sensible in any of the options, but they would still be presenting all options and data to the superintendent. And they stressed that reassigning elementary schools but not middle schools is definitely a possibility within each option.
He'll make his recommendation to the board based on the report they provide him in August, so let's hope he agrees. We won't really know until his recommendation comes out in October. And then of course the BOE has the final decision in November.

[Anonymous]

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/Knolls_PublicInformationMeeting2_Presentation.pdf

[Anonymous]

I teach at Eastern. We already have 4 lunches with sixth graders eating at 10:30 AM. Hallways are used as work space for 15 or so students from multiple classrooms. We can’t absorb rezoned SSIMS students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Eastern. We already have 4 lunches with sixth graders eating at 10:30 AM. Hallways are used as work space for 15 or so students from multiple classrooms. We can’t absorb rezoned SSIMS students.

Ugh, that's terrible. Let's hope they keep the middle school assignments as is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/Knolls_PublicInformationMeeting2_Presentation.pdf

This document lays out the timeline for decision-making in the later slides and shows the results of the community feedback they obtained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Eastern. We already have 4 lunches with sixth graders eating at 10:30 AM. Hallways are used as work space for 15 or so students from multiple classrooms. We can’t absorb rezoned SSIMS students.

Ugh, that's terrible. Let's hope they keep the middle school assignments as is.

Doesn't even seem like that's an option? Or did I miss something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Eastern. We already have 4 lunches with sixth graders eating at 10:30 AM. Hallways are used as work space for 15 or so students from multiple classrooms. We can’t absorb rezoned SSIMS students.

Ugh, that's terrible. Let's hope they keep the middle school assignments as is.

Doesn't even seem like that's an option? Or did I miss something?

You missed the comment above that do nothing to MS is a very real option, that didn't require a full presentation, but may in fact be the recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Eastern. We already have 4 lunches with sixth graders eating at 10:30 AM. Hallways are used as work space for 15 or so students from multiple classrooms. We can’t absorb rezoned SSIMS students.

Ugh, that's terrible. Let's hope they keep the middle school assignments as is.

Doesn't even seem like that's an option? Or did I miss something?

You missed the comment above that do nothing to MS is a very real option, that didn't require a full presentation, but may in fact be the recommendation.

Right. See page 12 of the above powerpoint. No change in middle school assignment is explicitly offered as one articulation path. And each option chart includes the numbers for No Change vs. With Change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Eastern. We already have 4 lunches with sixth graders eating at 10:30 AM. Hallways are used as work space for 15 or so students from multiple classrooms. We can’t absorb rezoned SSIMS students.

Eastern badly needs an upgrade it hasn't been remodeled in 40 years.

So with boundary redraw will this only affect kindergarten students or all Forest Knolls kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at Eastern. We already have 4 lunches with sixth graders eating at 10:30 AM. Hallways are used as work space for 15 or so students from multiple classrooms. We can’t absorb rezoned SSIMS students.

Eastern badly needs an upgrade it hasn't been remodeled in 40 years.

So with boundary redraw will this only affect kindergarten students or all Forest Knolls kids?

Not only Kindergarten. It will affect all grades of the Forest Knolls kids living within the reassigned zones only, with the likely exception of 2020-21 5th graders who'd be grandfathered in. And there was discussion of also grandfathering in 2nd graders, otherwise they'd go to three schools in three years (1st at FK, 2nd at MK, 3rd at PC).