Woodward HS boundary study - BCC, Blair, Einstein, WJ, Kennedy, Northwood, Wheaton, Whitman impacts

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The only way to potentially reduce segregation or at least keep it flat is to move KP to Einstein. Also move two ESs out of Einstein to either Woodward, WJ or BCC. Probably Woodlin and maybe OTES or Highland. Some other shuffling would also need to happen. I have my doubts that MCPS will be willing to do this, but if they are prioritizing equity this would be one approach.

If KP moves into Einstein I can’t see them moving OTES out, that’s just trading one part of Kensington for another.

+1. Flora Singer and Woodlin are easier to rezone since their students are all bus riders already.

What do you base this on?

That actually makes sense. No one from Singer or Woodlin is a walker to Einstein. Sligo Middle school would have to go to Woodward too.

Honestly, I think if they don't rezone any ESs with walkers to the currently assigned HS, this boundary study is really going to shortchange the DCC. It's absurd to send Flora Singer to Woodward. I think it's more likely they'd shift OTES or Highland to Wheaton and then send a couple of Wheaton feeders to Woodward.

A small proportion of OTES kids are walkable to Einstein, however much that matters. Highland or Singer to Wheaton makes more sense than OTES - because you're right, Singer to Woodward makes zero sense. So does Woodlin to Woodward - it's already the lowest FARMS elementary zoned for Einstein.

There's clearly no one "right" way to make these changes. Some people are going to be upset no matter what. We're an OTES/NMMS family and I wouldn't be thrilled if we're rezoned to Woodward. Not up to me.

We aren't walkable. We drive our kids or carpool. Crossing University, Conn. or Viers Mill isn't particularly safe, especially during rush hour and several kids have been hit by cars.

Kids in Wheaton have to cross those to get to Northwood, Einstein, Newport Mill, Rock View, plus cross Randolph and Connecticut (and sometimes Veirs Mill) to get to Wheaton HS, and Randolph to get to Kennedy. Plus 29 and University for Blair. Somehow people only care about pedestrian/cyclist safety of kids for Town of Kensington kids and Bethesda kids on Connecticut (BCC kids in walk zone get hazard bused across), River (Whitman kids are bused across), and Old Georgetown.

Exactly. Nicely explained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am late to the party here. But WJ has about 3200 kids right now. Split that down the middle between the middle schools and you get 1600 at Woodward 1600 at WJ. Both a bit under capacity. However, there has been an exodus from WJ during the pandemic due to MCPS’ shortcomings. The new school building at Woodward and the end of McKnight/jack smith reign of terror should hopefully bring some people back in the fold and raise those numbers.

Additionally, the planning board has rubber stamped every development in the Bethesda area and more are planned for the next few years. By the time Woodward opens I could see hundreds of more kids in the WJ cluster. Amalyn community is only 1/3 complete and they already have their own bus to school. I think it is very reasonable that splitting WJ in two, there will be 2 schools of 2100 kids by 2030, and that is a perfect size. No need to let anyone sneak in from inferior school districts like BCC/Einstein/Wheaton. It’s important to keep communities and school districts in tact, otherwise you will likely see more flight to private schools and further erosion of a top schools performance

How the hell can there be "an exodus from WJ during the pandemic.." and " bring some people back in the fold and raise those numbers" when this is the highest it has ever been? And these numbers keep going up every year.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The only way to potentially reduce segregation or at least keep it flat is to move KP to Einstein. Also move two ESs out of Einstein to either Woodward, WJ or BCC. Probably Woodlin and maybe OTES or Highland. Some other shuffling would also need to happen. I have my doubts that MCPS will be willing to do this, but if they are prioritizing equity this would be one approach.

If KP moves into Einstein I can’t see them moving OTES out, that’s just trading one part of Kensington for another.

+1. Flora Singer and Woodlin are easier to rezone since their students are all bus riders already.

I’m in Flora Singer zone so this is potentially against my self interest but I think they should move Flora Singer to Northwood and KP to Einstein. Geographically and demographically makes sense.

If they move KP out of WJ and over to Einstein, that leaves more seats to fill at WJ.

They can move a BCC feeder to WJ.

Which one? It can’t be RHES/CCES/NCCES. BES is in the walk zone. RCF, Somerset and Westbrook make zero geographic sense.

Maybe Westbrook could move to Whitman, and at least the northern parts of Bradley Hills and Burning Tree could move to WJ?

But then that’s adding two new split articulations, when they specifically said they plan to avoid those. I think they’ll move whole elementary schools only.

I doubt that will be possible. Geography, capacity, and demographics are factors in boundary studies. Avoiding split articulations is not a factor. Will MCPS leave schools substantially over/under capacity, or assign students to schools that are very far away, or maintain large disparities between adjacent schools, just to avoid split articulations? I don't think they will do that, and I also don't think they should do that.

+1, I don’t see any way for them to balance out the crowding at these schools without split articulations. Maybe the majority of Woodward gets filled with whole ESs, but beyond that they are going to be moving small areas around the edges to balance things out. That’s why Whitman and BCC became part of the study, not necessarily because they are going to have students moved to Woodward, but so Whitman could take some BCC kids, so that BCC can probably take on some kids from Blair or Woodlin HS, and so on.

This is impractical and wishful thinking. Whitman is projected to have 130 spare seats in 2029. BCC 30. So basically there is no wiggle room because they are not touching ES boundaries.

However, both Pyle and Westland have spare capacity and I could see some rearranging there. For example, Bethesda Elementary could go to Pyle which would free up space at Westland to send RCF. That in turn would free up space at Silver Creek for Singer or Woodlin ES that would split articulate to Woodward.

That means they won't reassign people to different elementary schools. It doesn't mean they won't reassign elementary schools (or parts of elementary schools) to different high schools. In fact, it is a 100% guarantee that they will reassign elementary schools (or parts of elementary schools) to different high schools. They have to. There's a whole new high school, and the purpose of the boundary study is to decide who will be assigned to that high school.

They just completed a boundary study for ESs that feed to Westland, which rebalanced the neighborhood assignments. They are not doing that again just a couple years later. Sorry to burst your bubble.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The only way to potentially reduce segregation or at least keep it flat is to move KP to Einstein. Also move two ESs out of Einstein to either Woodward, WJ or BCC. Probably Woodlin and maybe OTES or Highland. Some other shuffling would also need to happen. I have my doubts that MCPS will be willing to do this, but if they are prioritizing equity this would be one approach.

If KP moves into Einstein I can’t see them moving OTES out, that’s just trading one part of Kensington for another.

+1. Flora Singer and Woodlin are easier to rezone since their students are all bus riders already.

I’m in Flora Singer zone so this is potentially against my self interest but I think they should move Flora Singer to Northwood and KP to Einstein. Geographically and demographically makes sense.

If they move KP out of WJ and over to Einstein, that leaves more seats to fill at WJ.

They can move a BCC feeder to WJ.

Which one? It can’t be RHES/CCES/NCCES. BES is in the walk zone. RCF, Somerset and Westbrook make zero geographic sense.

Maybe Westbrook could move to Whitman, and at least the northern parts of Bradley Hills and Burning Tree could move to WJ?

But then that’s adding two new split articulations, when they specifically said they plan to avoid those. I think they’ll move whole elementary schools only.

I doubt that will be possible. Geography, capacity, and demographics are factors in boundary studies. Avoiding split articulations is not a factor. Will MCPS leave schools substantially over/under capacity, or assign students to schools that are very far away, or maintain large disparities between adjacent schools, just to avoid split articulations? I don't think they will do that, and I also don't think they should do that.

+1, I don’t see any way for them to balance out the crowding at these schools without split articulations. Maybe the majority of Woodward gets filled with whole ESs, but beyond that they are going to be moving small areas around the edges to balance things out. That’s why Whitman and BCC became part of the study, not necessarily because they are going to have students moved to Woodward, but so Whitman could take some BCC kids, so that BCC can probably take on some kids from Blair or Woodlin HS, and so on.

This is impractical and wishful thinking. Whitman is projected to have 130 spare seats in 2029. BCC 30. So basically there is no wiggle room because they are not touching ES boundaries.

However, both Pyle and Westland have spare capacity and I could see some rearranging there. For example, Bethesda Elementary could go to Pyle which would free up space at Westland to send RCF. That in turn would free up space at Silver Creek for Singer or Woodlin ES that would split articulate to Woodward.

You know that the point of this is not shifting ESs to different MSs right? They need to relieve overcrowding in the HSs. What you suggested just moves a bunch of ESs to different MSs. Singer or Woodlin could get sent to Woodward without all that rearranging because feeders need to be moved out of Einstein.

They have explicitly said the opposite. That they are looking to create split articulations to better balance capacity. And there is no reason to include Whitman or BCC unless they were looking at how to better utilize the spare capacity at Westland and Pyle because the HSs have no space.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The only way to potentially reduce segregation or at least keep it flat is to move KP to Einstein. Also move two ESs out of Einstein to either Woodward, WJ or BCC. Probably Woodlin and maybe OTES or Highland. Some other shuffling would also need to happen. I have my doubts that MCPS will be willing to do this, but if they are prioritizing equity this would be one approach.

If KP moves into Einstein I can’t see them moving OTES out, that’s just trading one part of Kensington for another.

+1. Flora Singer and Woodlin are easier to rezone since their students are all bus riders already.

I’m in Flora Singer zone so this is potentially against my self interest but I think they should move Flora Singer to Northwood and KP to Einstein. Geographically and demographically makes sense.

If they move KP out of WJ and over to Einstein, that leaves more seats to fill at WJ.

They can move a BCC feeder to WJ.

Which one? It can’t be RHES/CCES/NCCES. BES is in the walk zone. RCF, Somerset and Westbrook make zero geographic sense.

Maybe Westbrook could move to Whitman, and at least the northern parts of Bradley Hills and Burning Tree could move to WJ?

But then that’s adding two new split articulations, when they specifically said they plan to avoid those. I think they’ll move whole elementary schools only.

I doubt that will be possible. Geography, capacity, and demographics are factors in boundary studies. Avoiding split articulations is not a factor. Will MCPS leave schools substantially over/under capacity, or assign students to schools that are very far away, or maintain large disparities between adjacent schools, just to avoid split articulations? I don't think they will do that, and I also don't think they should do that.

+1, I don’t see any way for them to balance out the crowding at these schools without split articulations. Maybe the majority of Woodward gets filled with whole ESs, but beyond that they are going to be moving small areas around the edges to balance things out. That’s why Whitman and BCC became part of the study, not necessarily because they are going to have students moved to Woodward, but so Whitman could take some BCC kids, so that BCC can probably take on some kids from Blair or Woodlin HS, and so on.

This is impractical and wishful thinking. Whitman is projected to have 130 spare seats in 2029. BCC 30. So basically there is no wiggle room because they are not touching ES boundaries.

However, both Pyle and Westland have spare capacity and I could see some rearranging there. For example, Bethesda Elementary could go to Pyle which would free up space at Westland to send RCF. That in turn would free up space at Silver Creek for Singer or Woodlin ES that would split articulate to Woodward.

You know that the point of this is not shifting ESs to different MSs right? They need to relieve overcrowding in the HSs. What you suggested just moves a bunch of ESs to different MSs. Singer or Woodlin could get sent to Woodward without all that rearranging because feeders need to be moved out of Einstein.

They have explicitly said the opposite. That they are looking to create split articulations to better balance capacity. And there is no reason to include Whitman or BCC unless they were looking at how to better utilize the spare capacity at Westland and Pyle because the HSs have no space.

This makes no sense. The spare capacity of the MSs that feed Whitman and BCC are not the focus of the boundary study. The severe HS overcrowding that exists in the DCC and WJ is the focus. They included Whitman and BCC in the study because they are not at capacity and are an option as they create the boundaries for Woodward and shift other schools around accordingly.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The only way to potentially reduce segregation or at least keep it flat is to move KP to Einstein. Also move two ESs out of Einstein to either Woodward, WJ or BCC. Probably Woodlin and maybe OTES or Highland. Some other shuffling would also need to happen. I have my doubts that MCPS will be willing to do this, but if they are prioritizing equity this would be one approach.

If KP moves into Einstein I can’t see them moving OTES out, that’s just trading one part of Kensington for another.

+1. Flora Singer and Woodlin are easier to rezone since their students are all bus riders already.

I’m in Flora Singer zone so this is potentially against my self interest but I think they should move Flora Singer to Northwood and KP to Einstein. Geographically and demographically makes sense.

If they move KP out of WJ and over to Einstein, that leaves more seats to fill at WJ.

They can move a BCC feeder to WJ.

Which one? It can’t be RHES/CCES/NCCES. BES is in the walk zone. RCF, Somerset and Westbrook make zero geographic sense.

Maybe Westbrook could move to Whitman, and at least the northern parts of Bradley Hills and Burning Tree could move to WJ?

But then that’s adding two new split articulations, when they specifically said they plan to avoid those. I think they’ll move whole elementary schools only.

I doubt that will be possible. Geography, capacity, and demographics are factors in boundary studies. Avoiding split articulations is not a factor. Will MCPS leave schools substantially over/under capacity, or assign students to schools that are very far away, or maintain large disparities between adjacent schools, just to avoid split articulations? I don't think they will do that, and I also don't think they should do that.

+1, I don’t see any way for them to balance out the crowding at these schools without split articulations. Maybe the majority of Woodward gets filled with whole ESs, but beyond that they are going to be moving small areas around the edges to balance things out. That’s why Whitman and BCC became part of the study, not necessarily because they are going to have students moved to Woodward, but so Whitman could take some BCC kids, so that BCC can probably take on some kids from Blair or Woodlin HS, and so on.

This is impractical and wishful thinking. Whitman is projected to have 130 spare seats in 2029. BCC 30. So basically there is no wiggle room because they are not touching ES boundaries.

However, both Pyle and Westland have spare capacity and I could see some rearranging there. For example, Bethesda Elementary could go to Pyle which would free up space at Westland to send RCF. That in turn would free up space at Silver Creek for Singer or Woodlin ES that would split articulate to Woodward.

That means they won't reassign people to different elementary schools. It doesn't mean they won't reassign elementary schools (or parts of elementary schools) to different high schools. In fact, it is a 100% guarantee that they will reassign elementary schools (or parts of elementary schools) to different high schools. They have to. There's a whole new high school, and the purpose of the boundary study is to decide who will be assigned to that high school.

They just completed a boundary study for ESs that feed to Westland, which rebalanced the neighborhood assignments. They are not doing that again just a couple years later. Sorry to burst your bubble.

You missed the whole point of what the PP wrote. That Bethesda boundary study they "just completed" established ES boundaries only. It had nothing to do with which MS or HS those schools feed to. This Woodward study will be to set new MS and HS boundaries only--no ES boundaries will be redrawn. But there will definitely be new feeder patterns for which ES go on to which MS and which HS.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The only way to potentially reduce segregation or at least keep it flat is to move KP to Einstein. Also move two ESs out of Einstein to either Woodward, WJ or BCC. Probably Woodlin and maybe OTES or Highland. Some other shuffling would also need to happen. I have my doubts that MCPS will be willing to do this, but if they are prioritizing equity this would be one approach.

If KP moves into Einstein I can’t see them moving OTES out, that’s just trading one part of Kensington for another.

+1. Flora Singer and Woodlin are easier to rezone since their students are all bus riders already.

I’m in Flora Singer zone so this is potentially against my self interest but I think they should move Flora Singer to Northwood and KP to Einstein. Geographically and demographically makes sense.

If they move KP out of WJ and over to Einstein, that leaves more seats to fill at WJ.

They can move a BCC feeder to WJ.

Which one? It can’t be RHES/CCES/NCCES. BES is in the walk zone. RCF, Somerset and Westbrook make zero geographic sense.

Maybe Westbrook could move to Whitman, and at least the northern parts of Bradley Hills and Burning Tree could move to WJ?

But then that’s adding two new split articulations, when they specifically said they plan to avoid those. I think they’ll move whole elementary schools only.

I doubt that will be possible. Geography, capacity, and demographics are factors in boundary studies. Avoiding split articulations is not a factor. Will MCPS leave schools substantially over/under capacity, or assign students to schools that are very far away, or maintain large disparities between adjacent schools, just to avoid split articulations? I don't think they will do that, and I also don't think they should do that.

+1, I don’t see any way for them to balance out the crowding at these schools without split articulations. Maybe the majority of Woodward gets filled with whole ESs, but beyond that they are going to be moving small areas around the edges to balance things out. That’s why Whitman and BCC became part of the study, not necessarily because they are going to have students moved to Woodward, but so Whitman could take some BCC kids, so that BCC can probably take on some kids from Blair or Woodlin HS, and so on.

This is impractical and wishful thinking. Whitman is projected to have 130 spare seats in 2029. BCC 30. So basically there is no wiggle room because they are not touching ES boundaries.

However, both Pyle and Westland have spare capacity and I could see some rearranging there. For example, Bethesda Elementary could go to Pyle which would free up space at Westland to send RCF. That in turn would free up space at Silver Creek for Singer or Woodlin ES that would split articulate to Woodward.

You know that the point of this is not shifting ESs to different MSs right? They need to relieve overcrowding in the HSs. What you suggested just moves a bunch of ESs to different MSs. Singer or Woodlin could get sent to Woodward without all that rearranging because feeders need to be moved out of Einstein.

They have explicitly said the opposite. That they are looking to create split articulations to better balance capacity. And there is no reason to include Whitman or BCC unless they were looking at how to better utilize the spare capacity at Westland and Pyle because the HSs have no space.

This makes no sense. The spare capacity of the MSs that feed Whitman and BCC are not the focus of the boundary study. The severe HS overcrowding that exists in the DCC and WJ is the focus. They included Whitman and BCC in the study because they are not at capacity and are an option as they create the boundaries for Woodward and shift other schools around accordingly.

+1

[Anonymous]

However, both Pyle and Westland have spare capacity and I could see some rearranging there. For example, Bethesda Elementary could go to Pyle which would free up space at Westland to send RCF. That in turn would free up space at Silver Creek for Singer or Woodlin ES that would split articulate to Woodward.

Extracting this comment that was buried in the middle of a previous post - when Silver Creek opened only five or so years ago RCF roundly rejected going to Westland and overwhelmingly chose Silver Creek over Westland due to proximity. They’re not moving.

[Anonymous]

The WJ community has been advocating for no split articulations for as long as they've been advocating to reopen Woodward (MCPS originally wanted to build WJ to 3500). Cannot believe there's over 50 pages of speculation and snark. The boundary process will start "early 2024" and go through Fall 2024, so we will all know soon enough what MCPS is proposong https://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/WoodwardHS_BoundaryStudyScope.pdf

But until then, by all means, carry on

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The only way to potentially reduce segregation or at least keep it flat is to move KP to Einstein. Also move two ESs out of Einstein to either Woodward, WJ or BCC. Probably Woodlin and maybe OTES or Highland. Some other shuffling would also need to happen. I have my doubts that MCPS will be willing to do this, but if they are prioritizing equity this would be one approach.

If KP moves into Einstein I can’t see them moving OTES out, that’s just trading one part of Kensington for another.

+1. Flora Singer and Woodlin are easier to rezone since their students are all bus riders already.

I’m in Flora Singer zone so this is potentially against my self interest but I think they should move Flora Singer to Northwood and KP to Einstein. Geographically and demographically makes sense.

If they move KP out of WJ and over to Einstein, that leaves more seats to fill at WJ.

They can move a BCC feeder to WJ.

Which one? It can’t be RHES/CCES/NCCES. BES is in the walk zone. RCF, Somerset and Westbrook make zero geographic sense.

Maybe Westbrook could move to Whitman, and at least the northern parts of Bradley Hills and Burning Tree could move to WJ?

But then that’s adding two new split articulations, when they specifically said they plan to avoid those. I think they’ll move whole elementary schools only.

I doubt that will be possible. Geography, capacity, and demographics are factors in boundary studies. Avoiding split articulations is not a factor. Will MCPS leave schools substantially over/under capacity, or assign students to schools that are very far away, or maintain large disparities between adjacent schools, just to avoid split articulations? I don't think they will do that, and I also don't think they should do that.

+1, I don’t see any way for them to balance out the crowding at these schools without split articulations. Maybe the majority of Woodward gets filled with whole ESs, but beyond that they are going to be moving small areas around the edges to balance things out. That’s why Whitman and BCC became part of the study, not necessarily because they are going to have students moved to Woodward, but so Whitman could take some BCC kids, so that BCC can probably take on some kids from Blair or Woodlin HS, and so on.

This is impractical and wishful thinking. Whitman is projected to have 130 spare seats in 2029. BCC 30. So basically there is no wiggle room because they are not touching ES boundaries.

However, both Pyle and Westland have spare capacity and I could see some rearranging there. For example, Bethesda Elementary could go to Pyle which would free up space at Westland to send RCF. That in turn would free up space at Silver Creek for Singer or Woodlin ES that would split articulate to Woodward.

That means they won't reassign people to different elementary schools. It doesn't mean they won't reassign elementary schools (or parts of elementary schools) to different high schools. In fact, it is a 100% guarantee that they will reassign elementary schools (or parts of elementary schools) to different high schools. They have to. There's a whole new high school, and the purpose of the boundary study is to decide who will be assigned to that high school.

They just completed a boundary study for ESs that feed to Westland, which rebalanced the neighborhood assignments. They are not doing that again just a couple years later. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Agree I expect split articulation at the MS level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The WJ community has been advocating for no split articulations for as long as they've been advocating to reopen Woodward (MCPS originally wanted to build WJ to 3500). Cannot believe there's over 50 pages of speculation and snark. The boundary process will start "early 2024" and go through Fall 2024, so we will all know soon enough what MCPS is proposong https://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/WoodwardHS_BoundaryStudyScope.pdf

But until then, by all means, carry on

And that's fine, but I don't think it's a likely outcome. Would you prefer no split articulations, but much greater geographic distance for many students? Or no split articulations, but a school that is still well over capacity next to a school that is well under capacity? Or no split articulations, but a school with a low percentage of students from low-income families next to a school with a high percentage of students from low-income families? By definition, you can only optimize for one factor, and I don't think MCPS is going to optimize for no split articulations - which isn't even an official factor in boundary studies anyway.

[Anonymous]

I would prefer no split articulations. I'd like the friends my kid has had since kindergarten to remain at the same school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The WJ community has been advocating for no split articulations for as long as they've been advocating to reopen Woodward (MCPS originally wanted to build WJ to 3500). Cannot believe there's over 50 pages of speculation and snark. The boundary process will start "early 2024" and go through Fall 2024, so we will all know soon enough what MCPS is proposong https://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/WoodwardHS_BoundaryStudyScope.pdf

But until then, by all means, carry on

By explicitly including the high schools and middle schools in the boundary study while excluding elementary schools, MCPS is either going to move ES's around wholesale or have split articulation. They'll struggle to make it work without split articulation.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The only way to potentially reduce segregation or at least keep it flat is to move KP to Einstein. Also move two ESs out of Einstein to either Woodward, WJ or BCC. Probably Woodlin and maybe OTES or Highland. Some other shuffling would also need to happen. I have my doubts that MCPS will be willing to do this, but if they are prioritizing equity this would be one approach.

If KP moves into Einstein I can’t see them moving OTES out, that’s just trading one part of Kensington for another.

+1. Flora Singer and Woodlin are easier to rezone since their students are all bus riders already.

I’m in Flora Singer zone so this is potentially against my self interest but I think they should move Flora Singer to Northwood and KP to Einstein. Geographically and demographically makes sense.

If they move KP out of WJ and over to Einstein, that leaves more seats to fill at WJ.

They can move a BCC feeder to WJ.

Which one? It can’t be RHES/CCES/NCCES. BES is in the walk zone. RCF, Somerset and Westbrook make zero geographic sense.

Maybe Westbrook could move to Whitman, and at least the northern parts of Bradley Hills and Burning Tree could move to WJ?

But then that’s adding two new split articulations, when they specifically said they plan to avoid those. I think they’ll move whole elementary schools only.

I doubt that will be possible. Geography, capacity, and demographics are factors in boundary studies. Avoiding split articulations is not a factor. Will MCPS leave schools substantially over/under capacity, or assign students to schools that are very far away, or maintain large disparities between adjacent schools, just to avoid split articulations? I don't think they will do that, and I also don't think they should do that.

+1, I don’t see any way for them to balance out the crowding at these schools without split articulations. Maybe the majority of Woodward gets filled with whole ESs, but beyond that they are going to be moving small areas around the edges to balance things out. That’s why Whitman and BCC became part of the study, not necessarily because they are going to have students moved to Woodward, but so Whitman could take some BCC kids, so that BCC can probably take on some kids from Blair or Woodlin HS, and so on.

This is impractical and wishful thinking. Whitman is projected to have 130 spare seats in 2029. BCC 30. So basically there is no wiggle room because they are not touching ES boundaries.

However, both Pyle and Westland have spare capacity and I could see some rearranging there. For example, Bethesda Elementary could go to Pyle which would free up space at Westland to send RCF. That in turn would free up space at Silver Creek for Singer or Woodlin ES that would split articulate to Woodward.

You know that the point of this is not shifting ESs to different MSs right? They need to relieve overcrowding in the HSs. What you suggested just moves a bunch of ESs to different MSs. Singer or Woodlin could get sent to Woodward without all that rearranging because feeders need to be moved out of Einstein.

They have explicitly said the opposite. That they are looking to create split articulations to better balance capacity. And there is no reason to include Whitman or BCC unless they were looking at how to better utilize the spare capacity at Westland and Pyle because the HSs have no space.

Who explicitly said this and when?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only way to potentially reduce segregation or at least keep it flat is to move KP to Einstein. Also move two ESs out of Einstein to either Woodward, WJ or BCC. Probably Woodlin and maybe OTES or Highland. Some other shuffling would also need to happen. I have my doubts that MCPS will be willing to do this, but if they are prioritizing equity this would be one approach.

If KP moves into Einstein I can’t see them moving OTES out, that’s just trading one part of Kensington for another.

+1. Flora Singer and Woodlin are easier to rezone since their students are all bus riders already.

I’m in Flora Singer zone so this is potentially against my self interest but I think they should move Flora Singer to Northwood and KP to Einstein. Geographically and demographically makes sense.

If they move KP out of WJ and over to Einstein, that leaves more seats to fill at WJ.

They can move a BCC feeder to WJ.

Which one? It can’t be RHES/CCES/NCCES. BES is in the walk zone. RCF, Somerset and Westbrook make zero geographic sense.

Maybe Westbrook could move to Whitman, and at least the northern parts of Bradley Hills and Burning Tree could move to WJ?

But then that’s adding two new split articulations, when they specifically said they plan to avoid those. I think they’ll move whole elementary schools only.

I doubt that will be possible. Geography, capacity, and demographics are factors in boundary studies. Avoiding split articulations is not a factor. Will MCPS leave schools substantially over/under capacity, or assign students to schools that are very far away, or maintain large disparities between adjacent schools, just to avoid split articulations? I don't think they will do that, and I also don't think they should do that.

+1, I don’t see any way for them to balance out the crowding at these schools without split articulations. Maybe the majority of Woodward gets filled with whole ESs, but beyond that they are going to be moving small areas around the edges to balance things out. That’s why Whitman and BCC became part of the study, not necessarily because they are going to have students moved to Woodward, but so Whitman could take some BCC kids, so that BCC can probably take on some kids from Blair or Woodlin HS, and so on.

This is impractical and wishful thinking. Whitman is projected to have 130 spare seats in 2029. BCC 30. So basically there is no wiggle room because they are not touching ES boundaries.

However, both Pyle and Westland have spare capacity and I could see some rearranging there. For example, Bethesda Elementary could go to Pyle which would free up space at Westland to send RCF. That in turn would free up space at Silver Creek for Singer or Woodlin ES that would split articulate to Woodward.

That means they won't reassign people to different elementary schools. It doesn't mean they won't reassign elementary schools (or parts of elementary schools) to different high schools. In fact, it is a 100% guarantee that they will reassign elementary schools (or parts of elementary schools) to different high schools. They have to. There's a whole new high school, and the purpose of the boundary study is to decide who will be assigned to that high school.

They just completed a boundary study for ESs that feed to Westland, which rebalanced the neighborhood assignments. They are not doing that again just a couple years later. Sorry to burst your bubble.

You missed the whole point of what the PP wrote. That Bethesda boundary study they "just completed" established ES boundaries only. It had nothing to do with which MS or HS those schools feed to. This Woodward study will be to set new MS and HS boundaries only--no ES boundaries will be redrawn. But there will definitely be new feeder patterns for which ES go on to which MS and which HS.

There is literally no reason to include BCC and Whitman then. Because MCPS expects both schools to be at 95%+ capacity in a couple years and the additional Woodward and WJ capacity can be filled from DCC overcrowding.