Boundary Study

[Anonymous]

Why do parents not want change in this county? I've learned a lot about the W schools and how parents don't want minorites at their schools. I believe our students are attending schools not parents.. so why does it matter who our students go to school with?

[Anonymous]

The w's dont want change. Especially Whitman High.. yuck. Its sad but we cant so anything about it except fight to the board for this boundary change!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The w's dont want change. Especially Whitman High.. yuck. Its sad but we cant so anything about it except fight to the board for this boundary change!

They say it'll decrease their home values haha. So? All schools should be diverse..kids learn better that way. It's better to go to a diverse school than just seeing all white people, or black, asian, hispanic etc.

[Anonymous]

OP, you're a kid. Things aren't so black and white. Personally, we chose a diverse area of MoCo to raise our kids. I am for a boundary change because the current boundaries are outdated and unsustainable. BUT some parents bought houses that were priced higher because they are in a W neighborhood. They did it because they wanted to give their kids the best, and avoid problems they believe will result in more diverse schools. Now they have several hundreds of thousands of dollars to lose if the boundaries change. While they might support integration in principle, their finances are tied to the status quo. Kind of like how Thomas Jefferson's kids were slaves, and he advocated for slavery to end, all the while owning like 600 slaves and only freeing his kids and wife. The rest of his slaves, he sold. Sometimes doing the right thing is complicated. Moral of the story for you, as you grow up-- if you don't put yourself in a moral quandary to begin with, you won't have these problems. Figure out what kind of morals you have now and then live by them even when it sucks. Develop your character when you're young, because you will need it when you're older.

[Anonymous]

It isn't that the parents at the W schools don't want minorities. They don't want any poor people. They are not fighting racial diversity; they are fighting economic diversity. They (wrongly) believe that poorer families don't deserve access to better resources and better schools. They want to keep those things for themselves.

[Anonymous]

House values. And this is not just parents. People bought in certain districts for amount that they think entitled them to their good school. If boundaries change and they are now in a less good school their house price will drop or not rise as much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It isn't that the parents at the W schools don't want minorities. They don't want any poor people. They are not fighting racial diversity; they are fighting economic diversity. They (wrongly) believe that poorer families don't deserve access to better resources and better schools. They want to keep those things for themselves.

I don’t think they believe poorer families don’t deserve access to better schools, I think they think if you overwhelm their current schools with a lot of students in poverty they won’t be “better schools” anymore. Diversity is good, but there is a level of poverty (often called “concentrated poverty”) that overwhelms schools’ ability to do their job well. What that level is, well, people have different ideas about that. I haven’t seen consistency in the studies I’ve reviewed. Some put it at over 90% (which none of Montgomery County needs to be at but a handful of schools currently may be), others at 40%, which is more likely to expect many schools in the County to be at even after equity informed boundary changes. Some studies define “low poverty” schools at <20%, which a bunch of schools are now but none would be if all schools matched up better with County demographics. I think the question parents ask themselves is “at what level of concentrated poverty is my child’s education going to suffer?”

[Anonymous]

Lots of you stating what "they" in W schools want. Stop putting words in other people's mouths. Everyone wants the best for their child rich, poor, no matter what color their skin...

[Anonymous]

I live in Bethesda in a high-performing district, have attended multiple meetings, and find the anti-W bias so petty. It clearly stems from a few jealous individuals, and then every lemming starts repeating it.

I have attended multiple community meetings about boundaries, and NONE of the Bethesda parents I have spoken to are racist or prejudiced in any way against balancing socio-economic demographics. I am of mixed heritage, the parents I spoke to were of all ethnicities. We all moved to Bethesda because of the schools.

What we want is this for MCPS to:
1. ALLEVIATE OVERCROWDING by building more schools and expanding others as appropriate. MCPS is not in charge of the school budget! This is on the State and County level - vote for politicians who care about overcrowding!
2. NOT HAVE STUDENTS SPEND HOURS ON BUSES - it increases congestion and wastes everyone's time. I can guarantee that no politician or MCPS administrator actually wants this. It's physically impossible in our already congested area anyway.

If you tweak boundaries so that schools are more balanced without impacting 1 and 2, then wonderful. My neighbors and I fully support that, even if we end up in a cluster we hadn't chosen to begin with!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I live in Bethesda in a high-performing district, have attended multiple meetings, and find the anti-W bias so petty. It clearly stems from a few jealous individuals, and then every lemming starts repeating it.

I have attended multiple community meetings about boundaries, and NONE of the Bethesda parents I have spoken to are racist or prejudiced in any way against balancing socio-economic demographics. I am of mixed heritage, the parents I spoke to were of all ethnicities. We all moved to Bethesda because of the schools.

What we want is this for MCPS to:
1. ALLEVIATE OVERCROWDING by building more schools and expanding others as appropriate. MCPS is not in charge of the school budget! This is on the State and County level - vote for politicians who care about overcrowding!
2. NOT HAVE STUDENTS SPEND HOURS ON BUSES - it increases congestion and wastes everyone's time. I can guarantee that no politician or MCPS administrator actually wants this. It's physically impossible in our already congested area anyway.

If you tweak boundaries so that schools are more balanced without impacting 1 and 2, then wonderful. My neighbors and I fully support that, even if we end up in a cluster we hadn't chosen to begin with!

Most W school families will not be affected, as much as the jealous non W people hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you're a kid. Things aren't so black and white. Personally, we chose a diverse area of MoCo to raise our kids. I am for a boundary change because the current boundaries are outdated and unsustainable. BUT some parents bought houses that were priced higher because they are in a W neighborhood. They did it because they wanted to give their kids the best, and avoid problems they believe will result in more diverse schools. Now they have several hundreds of thousands of dollars to lose if the boundaries change. While they might support integration in principle, their finances are tied to the status quo. Kind of like how Thomas Jefferson's kids were slaves, and he advocated for slavery to end, all the while owning like 600 slaves and only freeing his kids and wife. The rest of his slaves, he sold. Sometimes doing the right thing is complicated. Moral of the story for you, as you grow up-- if you don't put yourself in a moral quandary to begin with, you won't have these problems. Figure out what kind of morals you have now and then live by them even when it sucks. Develop your character when you're young, because you will need it when you're older.

Bravo. So many bravos.

[Anonymous]

You know what? We're in a lower income cluster, definitely a non-W school and most of the parents in our cluster do NOT want any boundary changes either. Especially if it means a long bus ride.

Most people just want to attend the school that is closest to them. Helps with a sense of community. Makes it easier for kids to do after school activities. More convenient for kids to walk to school.

MCPS tries to engineer things, and it does NOT work.

If they want to redraw the boundaries so that everyone attends the school that is closest, I'd support that. However, that doesn't sound like what MCPS has in mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you're a kid. Things aren't so black and white. Personally, we chose a diverse area of MoCo to raise our kids. I am for a boundary change because the current boundaries are outdated and unsustainable. BUT some parents bought houses that were priced higher because they are in a W neighborhood. They did it because they wanted to give their kids the best, and avoid problems they believe will result in more diverse schools. Now they have several hundreds of thousands of dollars to lose if the boundaries change. While they might support integration in principle, their finances are tied to the status quo. Kind of like how Thomas Jefferson's kids were slaves, and he advocated for slavery to end, all the while owning like 600 slaves and only freeing his kids and wife. The rest of his slaves, he sold. Sometimes doing the right thing is complicated. Moral of the story for you, as you grow up-- if you don't put yourself in a moral quandary to begin with, you won't have these problems. Figure out what kind of morals you have now and then live by them even when it sucks. Develop your character when you're young, because you will need it when you're older.

It's rude to say I am a kid because I'm not. So your dismissed and I dont care if they bought their house for higher prices. All schools need diversity and you can go somewhere else if you disagree. Point blank and the period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It isn't that the parents at the W schools don't want minorities. They don't want any poor people. They are not fighting racial diversity; they are fighting economic diversity. They (wrongly) believe that poorer families don't deserve access to better resources and better schools. They want to keep those things for themselves.

OP here, which I think is so wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I live in Bethesda in a high-performing district, have attended multiple meetings, and find the anti-W bias so petty. It clearly stems from a few jealous individuals, and then every lemming starts repeating it.

I have attended multiple community meetings about boundaries, and NONE of the Bethesda parents I have spoken to are racist or prejudiced in any way against balancing socio-economic demographics. I am of mixed heritage, the parents I spoke to were of all ethnicities. We all moved to Bethesda because of the schools.

What we want is this for MCPS to:
1. ALLEVIATE OVERCROWDING by building more schools and expanding others as appropriate. MCPS is not in charge of the school budget! This is on the State and County level - vote for politicians who care about overcrowding!
2. NOT HAVE STUDENTS SPEND HOURS ON BUSES - it increases congestion and wastes everyone's time. I can guarantee that no politician or MCPS administrator actually wants this. It's physically impossible in our already congested area anyway.

If you tweak boundaries so that schools are more balanced without impacting 1 and 2, then wonderful. My neighbors and I fully support that, even if we end up in a cluster we hadn't chosen to begin with!



Do some research before you talk. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fox5dc.com/amp/news/local-news/some-montgomery-county-parents-fear-new-boundaries-for-school-communities