We need to stop saying MCPS is one of the best school systems in the country

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Montgomery Ciunty Maryland has one of the highest concentrations of students from poor and uneducated families? LOL.

No other county in the Washington region, including the District of Columbia, experienced increases in poverty of the same magnitude during the late 2000s as MoCo.
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2013/05/22-suburban-poverty-kneebone-berube

Data Point: In the three years between 2007 and 2010, Montgomery County shed more than 37,000 jobs, dropping below its 2000 jobs total by 2010.
At the same time that the county faced unprecedented economic challenges, it also experienced a rapid demographic transformation. The 2010 census revealed that, for the first time, non-Hispanic whites constituted less than half (49 percent) of the county’s residents, down from 73 percent two decades earlier. And while immigrants accounted for fewer than one in five residents in 1990, in 2010 they represented almost one-third of the population and almost 40 percent of poor residents.

Data Point: Between 2007 and 2010, the number of residents living below the federal poverty line grew by two-thirds, or more than 30,000 people, pushing the poverty rate up by nearly 3 percentage points.
Rapid increases in poverty, coupled with the shifting demographics, often left communities in suburban Montgomery County struggling to play catch-up without the resources to match the growing and changing needs of their residents.

We can only afford to buy a house under 500k, and one of our goals is to try to find a neighborhood where we can actually speak English as a first or second language with our neighbors. The LOL poster must not go across Rockville Pike to points east very much.

I agree, s/he needs to spend some time walking around there and Wheaton to witness "concentrations" in action and see firsthand what some teachers have to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Montgomery Ciunty Maryland has one of the highest concentrations of students from poor and uneducated families? LOL.

No other county in the Washington region, including the District of Columbia, experienced increases in poverty of the same magnitude during the late 2000s as MoCo.
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2013/05/22-suburban-poverty-kneebone-berube

Data Point: In the three years between 2007 and 2010, Montgomery County shed more than 37,000 jobs, dropping below its 2000 jobs total by 2010.
At the same time that the county faced unprecedented economic challenges, it also experienced a rapid demographic transformation. The 2010 census revealed that, for the first time, non-Hispanic whites constituted less than half (49 percent) of the county’s residents, down from 73 percent two decades earlier. And while immigrants accounted for fewer than one in five residents in 1990, in 2010 they represented almost one-third of the population and almost 40 percent of poor residents.

Data Point: Between 2007 and 2010, the number of residents living below the federal poverty line grew by two-thirds, or more than 30,000 people, pushing the poverty rate up by nearly 3 percentage points.
Rapid increases in poverty, coupled with the shifting demographics, often left communities in suburban Montgomery County struggling to play catch-up without the resources to match the growing and changing needs of their residents.

We can only afford to buy a house under 500k, and one of our goals is to try to find a neighborhood where we can actually speak English as a first or second language with our neighbors. The LOL poster must not go across Rockville Pike to points east very much.

I agree, s/he needs to spend some time walking around there and Wheaton to witness "concentrations" in action and see firsthand what some teachers have to deal with.

Nice try, but I am from southeast DC and also spent a portion of my childhood in inner-city Philadelphia, and I now live in Silver Spring. The "poverty" you see in MoCo or FFX is absolutely nothing compared to the generational poverty, despair, violence, etc found in the inner city, and it's slightly offensive you think it is comparable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Thank you.

This is the main issue with MCPS. May not be PC to say it but I have no doubt.

What do you expect MCPS to do about undocumented immigration? MCPS specifically. Not any other level of government. Specifically MCPS.

They could always do what schools did before: send you home with a note that you are not to come to school until you learned English. Happened to my father and he returned months later into the K class. Still have the note. And guess what, besides learning English, he also learned setting goals, discipline, how to sit still, and how his home language related to English grammar and vocab.

Liberals love to shake their hands and say that their job is to teach whatever shows up at the school door. Well then why when thousands of illiterate, never been schooled illegals show up annually, of every which age, do they stop effectively/skillfully teaching the middle class kids and legal immigrant kids and kids with American parents. Why do they stop everything, redirect all public resources to the illegals? That's the problem the last 10 years, and it's gotten much bigger the last 5 years. The schools are trying to change/instill values, culture, the basic concept of school, and feed, clothe, provide dental/health checkup, and before and after care on taxpayer dimes to an ever increasing body of very needy illiterate children and young adults. And for every U of MD scholarship case the media may love to highlight there are 100 cases of high school dropouts and pregnancies.

The local government and Casa de Maryland could also stop advertising to Central Americans to come here, that they will be taken care of once they show up. MoCo is second to LA as the magnet city to come to. Many call it a sanctuary city for illegals. Roll out the generous red carpet.

Think about it. If you were a poor single pregnant mother in Honduras, why WOULDN'T you come to MoCo? Just cross the border, name some distant relative already here amongst the million and go sign up for everything you can.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/unaccompanied-children-released-to-sponsors-by-county

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/06/29/illegal-aliens-guide-to-top-five-best-places-to-live-in-america/
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/36826/montgomery-county-is-no-longer-a-haven-for-immigrants-and

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Montgomery Ciunty Maryland has one of the highest concentrations of students from poor and uneducated families? LOL.

No other county in the Washington region, including the District of Columbia, experienced increases in poverty of the same magnitude during the late 2000s as MoCo.
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2013/05/22-suburban-poverty-kneebone-berube

Data Point: In the three years between 2007 and 2010, Montgomery County shed more than 37,000 jobs, dropping below its 2000 jobs total by 2010.
At the same time that the county faced unprecedented economic challenges, it also experienced a rapid demographic transformation. The 2010 census revealed that, for the first time, non-Hispanic whites constituted less than half (49 percent) of the county’s residents, down from 73 percent two decades earlier. And while immigrants accounted for fewer than one in five residents in 1990, in 2010 they represented almost one-third of the population and almost 40 percent of poor residents.

Data Point: Between 2007 and 2010, the number of residents living below the federal poverty line grew by two-thirds, or more than 30,000 people, pushing the poverty rate up by nearly 3 percentage points.
Rapid increases in poverty, coupled with the shifting demographics, often left communities in suburban Montgomery County struggling to play catch-up without the resources to match the growing and changing needs of their residents.

We can only afford to buy a house under 500k, and one of our goals is to try to find a neighborhood where we can actually speak English as a first or second language with our neighbors. The LOL poster must not go across Rockville Pike to points east very much.

I agree, s/he needs to spend some time walking around there and Wheaton to witness "concentrations" in action and see firsthand what some teachers have to deal with.

Nice try, but I am from southeast DC and also spent a portion of my childhood in inner-city Philadelphia, and I now live in Silver Spring. The "poverty" you see in MoCo or FFX is absolutely nothing compared to the generational poverty, despair, violence, etc found in the inner city, and it's slightly offensive you think it is comparable.

Yes, generational poverty and government dependency is a significant problem in U.S. urban areas, especially amongst the African American community.
Many don't see how it can change without a massive cultural shift and change of values. I was hoping Obama could have been a positive influence here.
Let's hope the unskilled immigrant population finds a way to not get in the same cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
They could always do what schools did before: send you home with a note that you are not to come to school until you learned English. Happened to my father and he returned months later into the K class. Still have the note. And guess what, besides learning English, he also learned setting goals, discipline, how to sit still, and how his home language related to English grammar and vocab.

When was this? English-language learners have had a right to targeted help from the public schools since the Supreme Court case of Lau v. Nichols in 1974, followed by the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974.

Here is Lau v. Nichols: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=414&invol=563
Here is the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/chapter-39/subchapter-I

If MCPS sent English-language learners home until they had learned English, MCPS would be violating federal law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, generational poverty and government dependency is a significant problem in U.S. urban areas, especially amongst the African American community.
Many don't see how it can change without a massive cultural shift and change of values. I was hoping Obama could have been a positive influence here.
Let's hope the unskilled immigrant population finds a way to not get in the same cycle.

How and why, exactly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Think about it. If you were a poor single pregnant mother in Honduras, why WOULDN'T you come to MoCo? Just cross the border, name some distant relative already here amongst the million and go sign up for everything you can.

"Just" cross the border. Right.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/photos-central-american-migrants-on-the-train-of-death-searching-for-a-new-life/2014/07/18/96306f52-0d34-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They could always do what schools did before: send you home with a note that you are not to come to school until you learned English. Happened to my father and he returned months later into the K class. Still have the note. And guess what, besides learning English, he also learned setting goals, discipline, how to sit still, and how his home language related to English grammar and vocab.

When was this? English-language learners have had a right to targeted help from the public schools since the Supreme Court case of Lau v. Nichols in 1974, followed by the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974.

Here is Lau v. Nichols: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=414&invol=563
Here is the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/chapter-39/subchapter-I

If MCPS sent English-language learners home until they had learned English, MCPS would be violating federal law.

And to add..
In my DC's class, there are a few kids that go to ESOL. They are kids of embassy workers. So, should we not allow these kids in our schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Thank you.

This is the main issue with MCPS. May not be PC to say it but I have no doubt.

What do you expect MCPS to do about undocumented immigration? MCPS specifically. Not any other level of government. Specifically MCPS.

I honestly don't think there's anything MCPS can do. MCPS's job is not enforce or take side (whether to support or against) on immigration policy. Its job is simple - educate the MCPS kids. And from social justice standpoint, it may be the right thing to do - supporting kids and families who want to have a better life here. But regardless of whether you support the undocumented immigrants or not, you can't deny the impacts it has on the school system. W schools are always protected thanks to people with money and influence... Really smart kids are somewhat protected as long as MCPS continues to fund magnets. For the rest of us, well, I don't know...

NP here. I wonder about the bolded above, whether that can remain the case into the future, particularly as the newer arrivals gain an increasing share of the **local** political pie. See, for example, local districts in California and Florida and Prince Georges County, Md.

For the moment, it is of course anathema to even say aloud words like "choice" and "buses" and "lottery." If demographic trends cited in that Brookings PP continue (and they certainly will), eastern MoCo will increasingly elect their preferred candidates on both the County council and the School Board. It is no stretch to predict that those elected officials will be less dedicated to preserving the current super-strong geographic attendance model that ensures the present two-tier school system.

Well, if most of the people that the other PPs are referring to are illegals, then they can't vote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Well, if most of the people that the other PPs are referring to are illegals, then they can't vote.

Many families are mixed-status families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I knew there was a problem in MoCo when we first moved here and noticed all the private schools in the less prosperous side of the county.

Aren't most of the MoCo private schools in the wealthy parts of the county?

Yes. Not sure what the PP was talking about. All the best privates are in Potomac/Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Thank you.

This is the main issue with MCPS. May not be PC to say it but I have no doubt.

What do you expect MCPS to do about undocumented immigration? MCPS specifically. Not any other level of government. Specifically MCPS.

I honestly don't think there's anything MCPS can do. MCPS's job is not enforce or take side (whether to support or against) on immigration policy. Its job is simple - educate the MCPS kids. And from social justice standpoint, it may be the right thing to do - supporting kids and families who want to have a better life here. But regardless of whether you support the undocumented immigrants or not, you can't deny the impacts it has on the school system. W schools are always protected thanks to people with money and influence... Really smart kids are somewhat protected as long as MCPS continues to fund magnets. For the rest of us, well, I don't know...

NP here. I wonder about the bolded above, whether that can remain the case into the future, particularly as the newer arrivals gain an increasing share of the **local** political pie. See, for example, local districts in California and Florida and Prince Georges County, Md.

For the moment, it is of course anathema to even say aloud words like "choice" and "buses" and "lottery." If demographic trends cited in that Brookings PP continue (and they certainly will), eastern MoCo will increasingly elect their preferred candidates on both the County council and the School Board. It is no stretch to predict that those elected officials will be less dedicated to preserving the current super-strong geographic attendance model that ensures the present two-tier school system.

Well, if most of the people that the other PPs are referring to are illegals, then they can't vote.

As I said, look to local (and statewide) elections in California, local elections in southern Florida, and local elections in Texas, too. Soon, the anchor babies and DREAM children of undocumented immigrants grow up and vote. And run their nominate and elect preferred candidates. It doesn't happen in a week, but it will surely happen.

As a voting bloc, it helps to join forces with sympathetic, non-immigrant voters -- of which there are plenty in MoCo -- to elect your candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

As I said, look to local (and statewide) elections in California, local elections in southern Florida,and local elections in Texas, too. Soon, the US-citizen childrenof undocumented immigrants grow up and vote. And run their nominate and elect preferred candidates. It doesn't happen in a week, but it will surely happen.

As a voting bloc, it helps to join forces with sympathetic, non-immigrant voters -- of which there are plenty in MoCo -- to elect your candidate.

Fixed that for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Montgomery Ciunty Maryland has one of the highest concentrations of students from poor and uneducated families? LOL.

No other county in the Washington region, including the District of Columbia, experienced increases in poverty of the same magnitude during the late 2000s as MoCo.
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2013/05/22-suburban-poverty-kneebone-berube

Data Point: In the three years between 2007 and 2010, Montgomery County shed more than 37,000 jobs, dropping below its 2000 jobs total by 2010.
At the same time that the county faced unprecedented economic challenges, it also experienced a rapid demographic transformation. The 2010 census revealed that, for the first time, non-Hispanic whites constituted less than half (49 percent) of the county’s residents, down from 73 percent two decades earlier. And while immigrants accounted for fewer than one in five residents in 1990, in 2010 they represented almost one-third of the population and almost 40 percent of poor residents.

Data Point: Between 2007 and 2010, the number of residents living below the federal poverty line grew by two-thirds, or more than 30,000 people, pushing the poverty rate up by nearly 3 percentage points.
Rapid increases in poverty, coupled with the shifting demographics, often left communities in suburban Montgomery County struggling to play catch-up without the resources to match the growing and changing needs of their residents.

We can only afford to buy a house under 500k, and one of our goals is to try to find a neighborhood where we can actually speak English as a first or second language with our neighbors. The LOL poster must not go across Rockville Pike to points east very much.

I agree, s/he needs to spend some time walking around there and Wheaton to witness "concentrations" in action and see firsthand what some teachers have to deal with.

Nice try, but I am from southeast DC and also spent a portion of my childhood in inner-city Philadelphia, and I now live in Silver Spring. The "poverty" you see in MoCo or FFX is absolutely nothing compared to the generational poverty, despair, violence, etc found in the inner city, and it's slightly offensive you think it is comparable.

I am the PP...why do people on message boards in this area feel the need to "out impoverish" others? I am from an area with generational poverty and my goal is to do better for myself. My goal is now to live near people I can communicate with on a basic level (ie, some English) and feel that the schools will not crater in performance (along with property values) because there are actually very few legally voting citizens in the area. Would much prefer impoverished Americans who could actually band together and vote new school board members in.

And, while "all the best" private schools are in Potomac and Bethesda, I am talking about all the other private schools (mostly religious) which seem to be fairly thick on the ground in eastern MoCo. Do search of the area and see what I am talking about: in Olney alone there is a large Catholic school, an Episcopal school, a small seventh day adventist school, sandy spring Friends school. Heading toward Glenmont on Georgia Ave there is yet another Catholic School off Norbeck, a couple of miles away. Those are just the ones I see while driving around. That observation prompted me to look into the MoCo schools before we invested money in a house. Can't be that good if people are willing to spend lots of $$ to send their kids to a not so prestigious private school.

I did a "Great Schools" search and within 5 miles of 20906; eliminating pre-schools, there are 54 private schools which offer grades between 1-12 : http://www.greatschools.org/search/search.page?lat=39.0816821&lon=-77.0449327&zipCode=20906&state=MD&locationType=postal_code&normalizedAddress=Silver%20Spring,%20MD%2020906&city=Silver%20Spring&sortBy=DISTANCE&locationSearchString=20906&distance=5&gradeLevels=e&gradeLevels=m&gradeLevels=h&st=private&pageSize=100

[Anonymous]

People send their kids to religious schools because they want something from those schools that a public school can't provide.