Concerned about BOE Candidate Sunil Dasgupta’s binding boundary review commission

[Anonymous]

I have read some of Sunil Dasgupta’s writings on boundary changes and he proposes an independent binding boundary review commission in order to insulate decisions from the political process. I find this very concerning.

In boundary studies, the community is usually given options. The community weighs in. After the Superintendent puts out options, the community weighs in again. The final weigh in and check from the public is the political process that gives people the opportunity to vote for Board of Education members. At the very least, it seems that Sunil wants to remove this public voice at the polls.

Below are some excerpts:

Here, the Apple Ballot candidate Dasgupta suggests that "an independent and binding boundary review commission could help insulate the process from the electoral politics that surrounds the school board." https://www.sourceofthespring.com/general-news/schools/school-boundaries-focusing-on-process/


As a part of his four step plan for redistricting, Sunil writes: "Second, consider making the independent school boundary commission’s findings and recommendations for redistricting binding. This will help insulate redistricting from the politics faced by elected school board members and inject long-term planning and rationality into the redistricting process." https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/12/17/opinion-focus-on-process-to-get-school-redistricting-right/

In 2017 I believe there was a boundary study in the Richard Montgomery cluster. A number of options were presented that would have moved students from Twinbrook Elementary to higher performing schools in the cluster. The community at Twinbrook pushed back on the Board of Education’s recommendations wanting to stay at the school close to their homes and were their community could support them. Instead, they were able to secure an addition for their school. Under Mr. Dasgupta’s Policy I’m not sure this would have happened because he wants the independent binding commission and wants to give back construction dollars for which we can receive a state match for operational dollars.

I’d like to learn more about this issue. I think it is very important to hear from students and parents in these impactful decisions.

[Anonymous]

He is the teacher's union favored candidate. I love our teachers but their interests often diverge from that of parents or students. The union endorsements and teacher block voting ends up giving MoCo a BOE the union most prefers to negotiate with.

Any "independent boundary commission" will no doubt select a "consultant" that has delivered their desired result to other school districts. That's just how it works. We want the BOE to have to engage on these issues, not punt them away.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the insight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have read some of Sunil Dasgupta’s writings on boundary changes and he proposes an independent binding boundary review commission in order to insulate decisions from the political process. I find this very concerning.

In boundary studies, the community is usually given options. The community weighs in. After the Superintendent puts out options, the community weighs in again. The final weigh in and check from the public is the political process that gives people the opportunity to vote for Board of Education members. At the very least, it seems that Sunil wants to remove this public voice at the polls.

Below are some excerpts:

Here, the Apple Ballot candidate Dasgupta suggests that "an independent and binding boundary review commission could help insulate the process from the electoral politics that surrounds the school board." https://www.sourceofthespring.com/general-news/schools/school-boundaries-focusing-on-process/


As a part of his four step plan for redistricting, Sunil writes: "Second, consider making the independent school boundary commission’s findings and recommendations for redistricting binding. This will help insulate redistricting from the politics faced by elected school board members and inject long-term planning and rationality into the redistricting process." https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/12/17/opinion-focus-on-process-to-get-school-redistricting-right/

In 2017 I believe there was a boundary study in the Richard Montgomery cluster. A number of options were presented that would have moved students from Twinbrook Elementary to higher performing schools in the cluster. The community at Twinbrook pushed back on the Board of Education’s recommendations wanting to stay at the school close to their homes and were their community could support them. Instead, they were able to secure an addition for their school. Under Mr. Dasgupta’s Policy I’m not sure this would have happened because he wants the independent binding commission and wants to give back construction dollars for which we can receive a state match for operational dollars.

I’d like to learn more about this issue. I think it is very important to hear from students and parents in these impactful decisions.

My cluster was part of the RM ES #5 boundary study. There was no such guarantee to give Twinbrook an addition. Their building is way overdue for renovations and repairs which they are still not top of the list for getting partially due to changes in the Rev Ex policies in 2018. Please don't peddle false facts. The biggest concern for Twinbrook in that boundary study was potential loss of Title 1 funding.

And if you're concerned about Sunil Dasgupta's policies, you have 12 other candidates to choose from.

And

[Anonymous]

I wanted to raise awareness of the issue. It’s surprising to me that the Apple Ballot which I have voted for without more information in the past would be comfortable with a policy that does not give families and teachers with families as much of a voice and choice. Do Apple Ballot voters know about this independent commission? Maybe they do.

Thank you for the additional information about Twinbrook. I’m sorry. I did not realize that Twinbrook didn’t get the addition. I wish you the best of luck in being able to get it. I will do more research and try to learn more and advocate for all families from what I learned from you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wanted to raise awareness of the issue. It’s surprising to me that the Apple Ballot which I have voted for without more information in the past would be comfortable with a policy that does not give families and teachers with families as much of a voice and choice. Do Apple Ballot voters know about this independent commission? Maybe they do.

Thank you for the additional information about Twinbrook. I’m sorry. I did not realize that Twinbrook didn’t get the addition. I wish you the best of luck in being able to get it. I will do more research and try to learn more and advocate for all families from what I learned from you.

An addition to Twinbrook was NEVER advocated for or bargained as part of the boundary study. I'm not sure where you got that misinformation from. It wasn't a bargaining chip and isn't something related to the boundary study at all. It's completely irrelevant to your post other than to call into question your understanding of the whole boundary study process as it is now or could be in the future. And anyone who may have given you this misinformation is equally misinformed and should maybe step back before voting based on misinformation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In 2017 I believe there was a boundary study in the Richard Montgomery cluster. A number of options were presented that would have moved students from Twinbrook Elementary to higher performing schools in the cluster. The community at Twinbrook pushed back on the Board of Education’s recommendations wanting to stay at the school close to their homes and were their community could support them. Instead, they were able to secure an addition for their school. Under Mr. Dasgupta’s Policy I’m not sure this would have happened because he wants the independent binding commission and wants to give back construction dollars for which we can receive a state match for operational dollars.

This paragraph is factually incorrect. The BoE did not recommend moving students from Twinbrook ES. And there is no addition planned for Twinbrook ES.

Please stop spreading misinformation.

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP21_Chap4_RM.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wanted to raise awareness of the issue. It’s surprising to me that the Apple Ballot which I have voted for without more information in the past would be comfortable with a policy that does not give families and teachers with families as much of a voice and choice. Do Apple Ballot voters know about this independent commission? Maybe they do.

Thank you for the additional information about Twinbrook. I’m sorry. I did not realize that Twinbrook didn’t get the addition. I wish you the best of luck in being able to get it. I will do more research and try to learn more and advocate for all families from what I learned from you.

An addition to Twinbrook was NEVER advocated for or bargained as part of the boundary study. I'm not sure where you got that misinformation from. It wasn't a bargaining chip and isn't something related to the boundary study at all. It's completely irrelevant to your post other than to call into question your understanding of the whole boundary study process as it is now or could be in the future. And anyone who may have given you this misinformation is equally misinformed and should maybe step back before voting based on misinformation.

Most of the advocating was from parents at other schools advocating for their kids not to get moved to Twinbrook...however I do think it would have not accomplished much for the kids to move from a neighborhood school with Title 1 class sizes to a distant school with large classes.

[Anonymous]

The focus is this post was my surprise to find out that Sunil Dasgupta wants an independent binding boundary commission. I also wanted to find out whether people think having a binding review commission for boundaries is a good idea and letting people know this is what Sunil Dasgupta suggests based on his writings. Not everyone attends candidate forums or reads all of the campaign materials.

I didn’t realize that the Apple Ballot candidate promoted this. I think it’s important that BOE members listen to the community and take input. I’m glad that the current BOE has taken lots of community engagement in the boundary analysis.

Thank you for all of the clarifications about Twinbrook. It wasn’t meant to be the focus of my post. It was a small part of the text. I didn’t mean to imply it was a bargaining chip. If If could edit my original post regarding Twinbrook and clarify my mistake I would. I’m sorry.

[Anonymous]

This is a link from Dasgupta's website. It helped me understand what he is saying.. https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/12/17/opinion-focus-on-process-to-get-school-redistricting-right/

When we are all needing social distancing it is hard to stomach that it will take MCPS years or decades of fighting to move school boundaries within local areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The focus is this post was my surprise to find out that Sunil Dasgupta wants an independent binding boundary commission. I also wanted to find out whether people think having a binding review commission for boundaries is a good idea and letting people know this is what Sunil Dasgupta suggests based on his writings. Not everyone attends candidate forums or reads all of the campaign materials.

I didn’t realize that the Apple Ballot candidate promoted this. I think it’s important that BOE members listen to the community and take input. I’m glad that the current BOE has taken lots of community engagement in the boundary analysis.

Thank you for all of the clarifications about Twinbrook. It wasn’t meant to be the focus of my post. It was a small part of the text. I didn’t mean to imply it was a bargaining chip. If If could edit my original post regarding Twinbrook and clarify my mistake I would. I’m sorry.

Plenty of states have independent redistricting commissions for legislative districts. (Not including Maryland.) Independent commissions for school boundaries make sense for the same reasons independent redistricting commissions make sense.

-MCPS parent who is not a candidate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The focus is this post was my surprise to find out that Sunil Dasgupta wants an independent binding boundary commission. I also wanted to find out whether people think having a binding review commission for boundaries is a good idea and letting people know this is what Sunil Dasgupta suggests based on his writings. Not everyone attends candidate forums or reads all of the campaign materials.

I didn’t realize that the Apple Ballot candidate promoted this. I think it’s important that BOE members listen to the community and take input. I’m glad that the current BOE has taken lots of community engagement in the boundary analysis.

Thank you for all of the clarifications about Twinbrook. It wasn’t meant to be the focus of my post. It was a small part of the text. I didn’t mean to imply it was a bargaining chip. If If could edit my original post regarding Twinbrook and clarify my mistake I would. I’m sorry.

Plenty of states have independent redistricting commissions for legislative districts. (Not including Maryland.) Independent commissions for school boundaries make sense for the same reasons independent redistricting commissions make sense.

-MCPS parent who is not a candidate

+1 OP stop the fear mongering!

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a great idea. Doing what is best as opposed to what a few selfish people think benefits their narrow personal interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He is the teacher's union favored candidate. I love our teachers but their interests often diverge from that of parents or students. The union endorsements and teacher block voting ends up giving MoCo a BOE the union most prefers to negotiate with.

Any "independent boundary commission" will no doubt select a "consultant" that has delivered their desired result to other school districts. That's just how it works. We want the BOE to have to engage on these issues, not punt them away.

Agreed.

I think it’s silly for parents to Automatically vote for Apple Ballot candidates. Take a look at the candidates for yourself.

Personally, I am not voting for Dasgupta for multiple reasons. But there are many other candidates that you can choose from!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He is the teacher's union favored candidate. I love our teachers but their interests often diverge from that of parents or students. The union endorsements and teacher block voting ends up giving MoCo a BOE the union most prefers to negotiate with.

Any "independent boundary commission" will no doubt select a "consultant" that has delivered their desired result to other school districts. That's just how it works. We want the BOE to have to engage on these issues, not punt them away.

Agreed.

I think it’s silly for parents to Automatically vote for Apple Ballot candidates. Take a look at the candidates for yourself.

Personally, I am not voting for Dasgupta for multiple reasons. But there are many other candidates that you can choose from!

How do you feel about an independent redistricting commission for legislative districts in Maryland? Same thing? They'll set it up, the fix is in, that's just how it works, etc. etc. etc.? Maybe you prefer Maryland's gerrymandered legislative districts?