B-CC/WJ capacity cluster meeting

[Anonymous]

Did anyone go to the meeting last night at Bethesda Elem? I wasn't able to attend, but am curious what was said.

[Anonymous]

I couldn't attend either, but a neighbor shared a link to the presentation:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/facilities/construction/project/BCC_WJ%20Capacity%20StudyPresent.pdf

[Anonymous]

"Walter John" high school throughout the presentation.

[Anonymous]

Seems like the location across from WJ would make the most sense, given that the most crowded schools are nearby--Farmland, Garrett Park, Ashburton.

[Anonymous]

There is another meeting 10/14 6pm at Ashburton if you still want to go.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your help and the link.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like the location across from WJ would make the most sense, given that the most crowded schools are nearby--Farmland, Garrett Park, Ashburton.

Yes! Given the loss of some of the parks that could occur with other selections.

Though, read the fine print. Site is NOT county-owned.

[Anonymous]

So they are considering expanding current schools in both clusters to have 740 students each? How does that work in the Rosemary Hills area - it would have 740 students, and then half the students would go to CCES and the other half to NCC, but each of those schools would need to have 740 students? The math does not work.

[Anonymous]

They are ignoring state of MD recommendations for smaller schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So they are considering expanding current schools in both clusters to have 740 students each? How does that work in the Rosemary Hills area - it would have 740 students, and then half the students would go to CCES and the other half to NCC, but each of those schools would need to have 740 students? The math does not work.

The WJ elementary schools are already all built (or in the midst of being built) to 715-770. They are looking at taking more of the B-CC cluster elementary schools to that size but a parameter of this capacity study was that they are not considering de-coupling RH, NCC and CC. So they are not looking at taking those 3 up to 740. For example, the NCC site is relatively large and relatively flat with good bus access and could pretty easily accommodate a larger school, but they did not consider that option due to the priority for keeping the RH/NCC/CC grouping intact.

In other words, you are correct that the math doesn't work for those three schools to remain linked but each go to 740.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So they are considering expanding current schools in both clusters to have 740 students each? How does that work in the Rosemary Hills area - it would have 740 students, and then half the students would go to CCES and the other half to NCC, but each of those schools would need to have 740 students? The math does not work.

The WJ elementary schools are already all built (or in the midst of being built) to 715-770. They are looking at taking more of the B-CC cluster elementary schools to that size but a parameter of this capacity study was that they are not considering de-coupling RH, NCC and CC. So they are not looking at taking those 3 up to 740. For example, the NCC site is relatively large and relatively flat with good bus access and could pretty easily accommodate a larger school, but they did not consider that option due to the priority for keeping the RH/NCC/CC grouping intact.

In other words, you are correct that the math doesn't work for those three schools to remain linked but each go to 740.

I assume the point is that they won't do ALL or potentially any of these additions, but they are examining the feasibility and pros/cons of the various options.

One weird thing - there's an odd typo on the appendix page re: NCC. Page 29 lists the current enrollment at 387 whereas the chart on page 6 says 2019-2020 enrollment is 241. The higher number has to be wrong. Curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So they are considering expanding current schools in both clusters to have 740 students each? How does that work in the Rosemary Hills area - it would have 740 students, and then half the students would go to CCES and the other half to NCC, but each of those schools would need to have 740 students? The math does not work.

The WJ elementary schools are already all built (or in the midst of being built) to 715-770. They are looking at taking more of the B-CC cluster elementary schools to that size but a parameter of this capacity study was that they are not considering de-coupling RH, NCC and CC. So they are not looking at taking those 3 up to 740. For example, the NCC site is relatively large and relatively flat with good bus access and could pretty easily accommodate a larger school, but they did not consider that option due to the priority for keeping the RH/NCC/CC grouping intact.

In other words, you are correct that the math doesn't work for those three schools to remain linked but each go to 740.

Thanks. I'm surprised they are not even considering decoupling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So they are considering expanding current schools in both clusters to have 740 students each? How does that work in the Rosemary Hills area - it would have 740 students, and then half the students would go to CCES and the other half to NCC, but each of those schools would need to have 740 students? The math does not work.

The WJ elementary schools are already all built (or in the midst of being built) to 715-770. They are looking at taking more of the B-CC cluster elementary schools to that size but a parameter of this capacity study was that they are not considering de-coupling RH, NCC and CC. So they are not looking at taking those 3 up to 740. For example, the NCC site is relatively large and relatively flat with good bus access and could pretty easily accommodate a larger school, but they did not consider that option due to the priority for keeping the RH/NCC/CC grouping intact.

In other words, you are correct that the math doesn't work for those three schools to remain linked but each go to 740.

I assume the point is that they won't do ALL or potentially any of these additions, but they are examining the feasibility and pros/cons of the various options.

One weird thing - there's an odd typo on the appendix page re: NCC. Page 29 lists the current enrollment at 387 whereas the chart on page 6 says 2019-2020 enrollment is 241. The higher number has to be wrong. Curious.

I have heard that NCC enrollment is dropping precipitously. But that seems like way more than I would expect. It has to be a typo on one end.

[Anonymous]

No, 241 is about right. They expanded the school literally 1 year before they moved the 6th graders out to Silver Creek. So it's not a real enrollment drop but an excess capacity question. I've wondered (and some of my kid's teachers there have speculated) whether MCPS might use that as an excuse to rethink the pairings with RHPS. But I see from this presentation that Westbrook has even more excess capacity, so it's not a unique situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So they are considering expanding current schools in both clusters to have 740 students each? How does that work in the Rosemary Hills area - it would have 740 students, and then half the students would go to CCES and the other half to NCC, but each of those schools would need to have 740 students? The math does not work.

The WJ elementary schools are already all built (or in the midst of being built) to 715-770. They are looking at taking more of the B-CC cluster elementary schools to that size but a parameter of this capacity study was that they are not considering de-coupling RH, NCC and CC. So they are not looking at taking those 3 up to 740. For example, the NCC site is relatively large and relatively flat with good bus access and could pretty easily accommodate a larger school, but they did not consider that option due to the priority for keeping the RH/NCC/CC grouping intact.

In other words, you are correct that the math doesn't work for those three schools to remain linked but each go to 740.

Thanks. I'm surprised they are not even considering decoupling.

Undoing the pairing with RHPS - "decoupling" - would essentially re-segregate the cluster. I doubt they could do it.

I live in the cluster. I went to the school in the cluster when it was desegregated. I certainly wouldn't support re-segregation, and I think that many parents feel the same. I also don't think legally it would be viable to uncouple schools. There would likely be law suits to oppose.