Cliff Notes summary of MCPS boundary study fight?

[Anonymous]

Can someone give an overview of why the proposed boundary study is so controversial. Who are the perceived winners and losers? Most of the dcum threads assume a general knowledge of what’s happening and it’s very confusing.

[Anonymous]

MCPS has had recent significant growth, while use of facilities is uneven. Some schools are overcrowded and some underutilized. The district hired a consultant to review all current boundaries with an eye to how they affect overcrowding, diversity, and students’ proximity to their schools. The consultants will not recommend any boundary changes and the county will not make any boundary changes during this initial process.

Parents on DCUM and Facebook groups have spread the rumor that children will be bussed far from home in order to balance out school demographics, and that their home values will suffer as a result. MCPS has specifically responded that they are only looking at schools and clusters adjacent to one another and have no intention of bussing students across the county.

[Anonymous]

PP is right.

The latest is that some parents are apparently threatening to take legal action against the boundary analysis (on what grounds I don't know). The BOE is meeting tomorrow to discuss how they might respond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has had recent significant growth, while use of facilities is uneven. Some schools are overcrowded and some underutilized. The district hired a consultant to review all current boundaries with an eye to how they affect overcrowding, diversity, and students’ proximity to their schools. The consultants will not recommend any boundary changes and the county will not make any boundary changes during this initial process.

Parents on DCUM and Facebook groups have spread the rumor that children will be bussed far from home in order to balance out school demographics, and that their home values will suffer as a result. MCPS has specifically responded that they are only looking at schools and clusters adjacent to one another and have no intention of bussing students across the county.

Isn't WXY Studios supposed to make some sort of recommendations as far as boundary options go. BOE has said this isn't a recommendation for a boundary change, but BOE is also asking for recommendations.

The amount of misinformation in the public is so vast that I can't keep the correct / factual information straight in my head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has had recent significant growth, while use of facilities is uneven. Some schools are overcrowded and some underutilized. The district hired a consultant to review all current boundaries with an eye to how they affect overcrowding, diversity, and students’ proximity to their schools. The consultants will not recommend any boundary changes and the county will not make any boundary changes during this initial process.

Parents on DCUM and Facebook groups have spread the rumor that children will be bussed far from home in order to balance out school demographics, and that their home values will suffer as a result. MCPS has specifically responded that they are only looking at schools and clusters adjacent to one another and have no intention of bussing students across the county.

Isn't WXY Studios supposed to make some sort of recommendations as far as boundary options go. BOE has said this isn't a recommendation for a boundary change, but BOE is also asking for recommendations.

The amount of misinformation in the public is so vast that I can't keep the correct / factual information straight in my head.

Quoting from the Dec. 11th email from MCPS:

"No Recommendations for Boundary Changes: Contrary to misinformation that is circulating in our community, the final report WILL NOT include recommendations for boundary changes/student reassignment. MCPS did not request and will not accept any recommendations for boundary changes/student reassignment. MCPS will use the data and research in the report to inform future boundary studies."

[Anonymous]

No one is against a boundary change based on geographic reasons. Why would you live in MoCo if you are a racist? Plenty of places to live if you only want to be with your own. What people are annoyed by is putting diversity as the number one priority - which the board did without public comment.

http://northpotomacnews.org/?p=861

Then the Board hires a company that only has done diversity realignments - not boundary studies based on geography.

Then - even though you can buy a house anywhere in the county the extreme liberals say it is segregated (although county does nothing about actually changing this at a housing policy level). So rational folks from all backgrounds are seeing this for what it is - pols in a one party state trying to get a promotion by motivating their base. Nothing more. Finally squishy evidence that having a bright kid sit next to a new immigrant helps the new immigrant at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is against a boundary change based on geographic reasons. Why would you live in MoCo if you are a racist? Plenty of places to live if you only want to be with your own. What people are annoyed by is putting diversity as the number one priority - which the board did without public comment.

http://northpotomacnews.org/?p=861

Then the Board hires a company that only has done diversity realignments - not boundary studies based on geography.

Then - even though you can buy a house anywhere in the county the extreme liberals say it is segregated (although county does nothing about actually changing this at a housing policy level). So rational folks from all backgrounds are seeing this for what it is - pols in a one party state trying to get a promotion by motivating their base. Nothing more. Finally squishy evidence that having a bright kid sit next to a new immigrant helps the new immigrant at all.

Well they didn't do that, so no reason to be annoyed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is against a boundary change based on geographic reasons. Why would you live in MoCo if you are a racist? Plenty of places to live if you only want to be with your own. What people are annoyed by is putting diversity as the number one priority - which the board did without public comment.

http://northpotomacnews.org/?p=861

Then the Board hires a company that only has done diversity realignments - not boundary studies based on geography.

Then - even though you can buy a house anywhere in the county the extreme liberals say it is segregated (although county does nothing about actually changing this at a housing policy level). So rational folks from all backgrounds are seeing this for what it is - pols in a one party state trying to get a promotion by motivating their base. Nothing more. Finally squishy evidence that having a bright kid sit next to a new immigrant helps the new immigrant at all.

Yep, this is about right, IMO.

The BOE and MCPS hired a company that focuses on diversity and the BOE/MCPS hyper-focus on race has led to some poor decisions in the past. Parents (of varying races) have an intense distrust of the BOE and MCPS leadership. They have a proven track record of not basing decisions on what will be in the best interest of students. Also, a history of putting optics and politics above actual useful initiatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one is against a boundary change based on geographic reasons. Why would you live in MoCo if you are a racist? Plenty of places to live if you only want to be with your own. What people are annoyed by is putting diversity as the number one priority - which the board did without public comment.

http://northpotomacnews.org/?p=861

Then the Board hires a company that only has done diversity realignments - not boundary studies based on geography.

Then - even though you can buy a house anywhere in the county the extreme liberals say it is segregated (although county does nothing about actually changing this at a housing policy level). So rational folks from all backgrounds are seeing this for what it is - pols in a one party state trying to get a promotion by motivating their base. Nothing more. Finally squishy evidence that having a bright kid sit next to a new immigrant helps the new immigrant at all.

I believe they have done both (Boston). And this is why, again, people need to just shut up and *listen* to the *information* that is being presented, then make judgement calls, not jump to conclusions without *listening* first.

The consultants will not recommend any specific boundary changes.....

Instead, they will provide a synopsis of how MCPS schools are used, their socioeconomic composition and community members’ thoughts about the project. Data will be compared to similarly sized school districts across the country.

“Their charge was not to tell us what boundaries to change,” school board Vice President Brenda Wolff

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/the-basics-what-to-know-about-the-mcps-districtwide-boundary-analysis/said in an interview on Wednesday afternoon. “Their charge is to tell us what the lay of the land looks like, give us a snapshot in time about utilization and what it looks like now.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is against a boundary change based on geographic reasons. Why would you live in MoCo if you are a racist? Plenty of places to live if you only want to be with your own. What people are annoyed by is putting diversity as the number one priority - which the board did without public comment.

http://northpotomacnews.org/?p=861

Then the Board hires a company that only has done diversity realignments - not boundary studies based on geography.

Then - even though you can buy a house anywhere in the county the extreme liberals say it is segregated (although county does nothing about actually changing this at a housing policy level). So rational folks from all backgrounds are seeing this for what it is - pols in a one party state trying to get a promotion by motivating their base. Nothing more. Finally squishy evidence that having a bright kid sit next to a new immigrant helps the new immigrant at all.

Yep, this is about right, IMO.

The BOE and MCPS hired a company that focuses on diversity and the BOE/MCPS hyper-focus on race has led to some poor decisions in the past. Parents (of varying races) have an intense distrust of the BOE and MCPS leadership. They have a proven track record of not basing decisions on what will be in the best interest of students. Also, a history of putting optics and politics above actual useful initiatives.

During the RM ES#5 (Rustin) boundary discussions, there were some options on the table that put priority on diversity over proximity. The option the BoE chose put a priority on proximity and walkability, rather than diversity. So, what you wrote is not true.

I live in that cluster and was part of the discussions.

[Anonymous]

I assume it’s not everyone who is upset? Is it the more affluent sections of the county? The more diverse sections? And is it for all school levels or just the high schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Quoting from the Dec. 11th email from MCPS:

"No Recommendations for Boundary Changes: Contrary to misinformation that is circulating in our community, the final report WILL NOT include recommendations for boundary changes/student reassignment. MCPS did not request and will not accept any recommendations for boundary changes/student reassignment. MCPS will use the data and research in the report to inform future boundary studies."

This contradicts the RFP, however after the contract was awarded, MCPS changed the work product from the consultant so it will _not_ include any recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is against a boundary change based on geographic reasons. Why would you live in MoCo if you are a racist? Plenty of places to live if you only want to be with your own. What people are annoyed by is putting diversity as the number one priority - which the board did without public comment.

http://northpotomacnews.org/?p=861

Then the Board hires a company that only has done diversity realignments - not boundary studies based on geography.

Then - even though you can buy a house anywhere in the county the extreme liberals say it is segregated (although county does nothing about actually changing this at a housing policy level). So rational folks from all backgrounds are seeing this for what it is - pols in a one party state trying to get a promotion by motivating their base. Nothing more. Finally squishy evidence that having a bright kid sit next to a new immigrant helps the new immigrant at all.

Well they didn't do that, so no reason to be annoyed.

Yes the did. Read MCPS policy FAA directly from their own website:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/faa.pdf

Page 7:

Analyses of options take into account the impact of various options on the
overall populations of affected schools. Options should especially strive to
create a diverse student body in each of the affected schools in alignment
with Board Policy ACD, Quality Integrated Education

Emphasis mine. That word was added at the last minute, and was not in the original draft.

[Anonymous]

Nothing has been proposed yet. Racist parents in fear that their kid might have a minority kid(read brown kid) of any background started lashing out as if browness is contagious. They are not opposed to only busing their white kids, they are opposed to brownish kids coming to their white school. For example, Westland parents are going nuts thinking that more brown kids will be added to their underused school. They are getting ready to cut off their kids from their wills if they take less than natural platinum blonde date to prom or homecoming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is against a boundary change based on geographic reasons. Why would you live in MoCo if you are a racist? Plenty of places to live if you only want to be with your own. What people are annoyed by is putting diversity as the number one priority - which the board did without public comment.

http://northpotomacnews.org/?p=861

Then the Board hires a company that only has done diversity realignments - not boundary studies based on geography.

Then - even though you can buy a house anywhere in the county the extreme liberals say it is segregated (although county does nothing about actually changing this at a housing policy level). So rational folks from all backgrounds are seeing this for what it is - pols in a one party state trying to get a promotion by motivating their base. Nothing more. Finally squishy evidence that having a bright kid sit next to a new immigrant helps the new immigrant at all.

Well they didn't do that, so no reason to be annoyed.

Yes the did. Read MCPS policy FAA directly from their own website:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/faa.pdf

Page 7:

Analyses of options take into account the impact of various options on the
overall populations of affected schools. Options should especially strive to
create a diverse student body in each of the affected schools in alignment
with Board Policy ACD, Quality Integrated Education

Emphasis mine. That word was added at the last minute, and was not in the original draft.

There are 4 factors: demographic, geographic, stability and facility.

The document does not say diversity is especially more important than geography.

The document is saying when taking demographic into account diversity is especially important.

It never says demographic/diversity is more important that geography, stability or facility.