Initial boundary options for Crown/Damascus study

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are they moving Wayside to Wootton and not moving Ritchie Park to Wootton? Fallsgrove, Orchard Ridge, Horizon Hill, and Potomac Woods are all walkable to the high school.

Yes and RM is going to be overcrowded again in several years due to so much new development in the area. Same with Crown. Any option should leave Crown 500 kids under capacity given all the growth in that area. Then new developments come and get zoned there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this thread and haven’t had a chance to read all 58 pages, but I wanted to add my thoughts. After all the budget cuts over the past two years, if walkers are not made a priority, it would be a major contradiction. Prioritizing walkers would help reduce transportation costs, ease traffic congestion—especially on narrow and back roads—and address the ongoing bus driver shortage. This should absolutely be the top priority.

They need to make a better assessment on walker zone before they prioritize walkers. Right now the options include many unreasonable areas which are actually not walkable. All it does it to take away bus from these neighborhoods and parents have to drive individually which cause more traffic congestion.

And they don’t include zones that are under 2 miles in the walk zone in a lot of cases too. Granted two miles is a far walk but IMO if it’s a short drive that’s helpful to reducing traffic. As an example a good amount of Wayside is under two miles, but for whatever reason Falls Rd is akin to a river or something as the sides over don’t get included like high schools can’t cross a two lane road with a stop light.

There’s several areas I’m not sure why aren’t “walkable” to Whitman either. Same for lots of high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this thread and haven’t had a chance to read all 58 pages, but I wanted to add my thoughts. After all the budget cuts over the past two years, if walkers are not made a priority, it would be a major contradiction. Prioritizing walkers would help reduce transportation costs, ease traffic congestion—especially on narrow and back roads—and address the ongoing bus driver shortage. This should absolutely be the top priority.

They need to make a better assessment on walker zone before they prioritize walkers. Right now the options include many unreasonable areas which are actually not walkable. All it does it to take away bus from these neighborhoods and parents have to drive individually which cause more traffic congestion.

This is actually a real issue. I'm currently in a 'walk zone' for our MS and HS. For MS I, and most people in my neighborhood, were unwilling to let MS students walk because it meant walking along the shoulder of a busy road in which people regularly swerved over to the shoulder to avoid left-turning cars. In HS, we mostly view our kids as able to walk along that route, but the HS is much further so few make their kids do it on cold/rainy days. So in the end, we're all creating huge traffic congestion every morning.

I'd love my kids to walk, but at the very least they need to work with the county to prioritize installation of sidewalks on some reasonable path to the schools they deem to be in the 'walking zone.'

They also need to think about reasonable walk time. In my opinion, 20 min walk is fine but 45 min is too much. Nobody is gonna make kids walk 45 min each way to school.

Yes especially in morning. But if bike friendly that’s an easy 10-15 min bike ride. Or a 3-5 min car ride. All those things are good for our communities and traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wayside petitioners are out in force walking neighborhoods. Go Wayside!!

For those who aren’t familiar with Wayside/Churchill, the sense of community from K-12 among Wayside/Hoover/Churchill is unparalleled. Due to lots of shared programs across all three schools and the proximity. This is true for most of the schools in the cluster, but I’ve heard from plenty that Wayside and Beverly Farms have very close communities.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone make sense as to why Rockville HS wasnt included? Or Magruder?

[Anonymous]

[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this thread and haven’t had a chance to read all 58 pages, but I wanted to add my thoughts. After all the budget cuts over the past two years, if walkers are not made a priority, it would be a major contradiction. Prioritizing walkers would help reduce transportation costs, ease traffic congestion—especially on narrow and back roads—and address the ongoing bus driver shortage. This should absolutely be the top priority.

They need to make a better assessment on walker zone before they prioritize walkers. Right now the options include many unreasonable areas which are actually not walkable. All it does it to take away bus from these neighborhoods and parents have to drive individually which cause more traffic congestion.

This is actually a real issue. I'm currently in a 'walk zone' for our MS and HS. For MS I, and most people in my neighborhood, were unwilling to let MS students walk because it meant walking along the shoulder of a busy road in which people regularly swerved over to the shoulder to avoid left-turning cars. In HS, we mostly view our kids as able to walk along that route, but the HS is much further so few make their kids do it on cold/rainy days. So in the end, we're all creating huge traffic congestion every morning.

I'd love my kids to walk, but at the very least they need to work with the county to prioritize installation of sidewalks on some reasonable path to the schools they deem to be in the 'walking zone.'

They also need to think about reasonable walk time. In my opinion, 20 min walk is fine but 45 min is too much. Nobody is gonna make kids walk 45 min each way to school.

Yes especially in morning. But if bike friendly that’s an easy 10-15 min bike ride. Or a 3-5 min car ride. All those things are good for our communities and traffic.

No way anyone would let their kids ride a bike on high 28 or great Seneca highway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this thread and haven’t had a chance to read all 58 pages, but I wanted to add my thoughts. After all the budget cuts over the past two years, if walkers are not made a priority, it would be a major contradiction. Prioritizing walkers would help reduce transportation costs, ease traffic congestion—especially on narrow and back roads—and address the ongoing bus driver shortage. This should absolutely be the top priority.

They need to make a better assessment on walker zone before they prioritize walkers. Right now the options include many unreasonable areas which are actually not walkable. All it does it to take away bus from these neighborhoods and parents have to drive individually which cause more traffic congestion.

This is actually a real issue. I'm currently in a 'walk zone' for our MS and HS. For MS I, and most people in my neighborhood, were unwilling to let MS students walk because it meant walking along the shoulder of a busy road in which people regularly swerved over to the shoulder to avoid left-turning cars. In HS, we mostly view our kids as able to walk along that route, but the HS is much further so few make their kids do it on cold/rainy days. So in the end, we're all creating huge traffic congestion every morning.

I'd love my kids to walk, but at the very least they need to work with the county to prioritize installation of sidewalks on some reasonable path to the schools they deem to be in the 'walking zone.'

They also need to think about reasonable walk time. In my opinion, 20 min walk is fine but 45 min is too much. Nobody is gonna make kids walk 45 min each way to school.

Yes especially in morning. But if bike friendly that’s an easy 10-15 min bike ride. Or a 3-5 min car ride. All those things are good for our communities and traffic.

No way anyone would let their kids ride a bike on high 28 or great Seneca highway.

Oh yeah for sure. That’s why there’s a big difference in areas. Poolesville and Damascus as well as most of Churchill and much of Whitman would like be fine to ensure walk zones are adjusted to reflect reality not just where kids actually walk. Could even keep providing buses, but the goal of keeping traffic low is essential.

This whole study process has made me realize how complicated county/state government is. All of these things involve so many moving parts.

Change schools but then whoa traffic planners/DOT have concerns, same with county council/exec with concerns about tax revenue and ensuring the area is still desirable, then you add affordable housing departments, parks and recreation, so many things are all connected.

I really hope the county can get things right in totality. Last thing we need is MD/MOCO to experience a rapid decline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this thread and haven’t had a chance to read all 58 pages, but I wanted to add my thoughts. After all the budget cuts over the past two years, if walkers are not made a priority, it would be a major contradiction. Prioritizing walkers would help reduce transportation costs, ease traffic congestion—especially on narrow and back roads—and address the ongoing bus driver shortage. This should absolutely be the top priority.

They need to make a better assessment on walker zone before they prioritize walkers. Right now the options include many unreasonable areas which are actually not walkable. All it does it to take away bus from these neighborhoods and parents have to drive individually which cause more traffic congestion.

This is actually a real issue. I'm currently in a 'walk zone' for our MS and HS. For MS I, and most people in my neighborhood, were unwilling to let MS students walk because it meant walking along the shoulder of a busy road in which people regularly swerved over to the shoulder to avoid left-turning cars. In HS, we mostly view our kids as able to walk along that route, but the HS is much further so few make their kids do it on cold/rainy days. So in the end, we're all creating huge traffic congestion every morning.

I'd love my kids to walk, but at the very least they need to work with the county to prioritize installation of sidewalks on some reasonable path to the schools they deem to be in the 'walking zone.'

They also need to think about reasonable walk time. In my opinion, 20 min walk is fine but 45 min is too much. Nobody is gonna make kids walk 45 min each way to school.

Yes especially in morning. But if bike friendly that’s an easy 10-15 min bike ride. Or a 3-5 min car ride. All those things are good for our communities and traffic.

No way anyone would let their kids ride a bike on high 28 or great Seneca highway.

Oh yeah for sure. That’s why there’s a big difference in areas. Poolesville and Damascus as well as most of Churchill and much of Whitman would like be fine to ensure walk zones are adjusted to reflect reality not just where kids actually walk. Could even keep providing buses, but the goal of keeping traffic low is essential.

This whole study process has made me realize how complicated county/state government is. All of these things involve so many moving parts.

Change schools but then whoa traffic planners/DOT have concerns, same with county council/exec with concerns about tax revenue and ensuring the area is still desirable, then you add affordable housing departments, parks and recreation, so many things are all connected.

I really hope the county can get things right in totality. Last thing we need is MD/MOCO to experience a rapid decline.

I’m not confident that MCPS thoroughly researches the facts or does enough homework before making decisions. Their focus seems to be primarily on balancing diversity, sometimes at the expense of other important considerations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this thread and haven’t had a chance to read all 58 pages, but I wanted to add my thoughts. After all the budget cuts over the past two years, if walkers are not made a priority, it would be a major contradiction. Prioritizing walkers would help reduce transportation costs, ease traffic congestion—especially on narrow and back roads—and address the ongoing bus driver shortage. This should absolutely be the top priority.

They need to make a better assessment on walker zone before they prioritize walkers. Right now the options include many unreasonable areas which are actually not walkable. All it does it to take away bus from these neighborhoods and parents have to drive individually which cause more traffic congestion.

This is actually a real issue. I'm currently in a 'walk zone' for our MS and HS. For MS I, and most people in my neighborhood, were unwilling to let MS students walk because it meant walking along the shoulder of a busy road in which people regularly swerved over to the shoulder to avoid left-turning cars. In HS, we mostly view our kids as able to walk along that route, but the HS is much further so few make their kids do it on cold/rainy days. So in the end, we're all creating huge traffic congestion every morning.

I'd love my kids to walk, but at the very least they need to work with the county to prioritize installation of sidewalks on some reasonable path to the schools they deem to be in the 'walking zone.'

They also need to think about reasonable walk time. In my opinion, 20 min walk is fine but 45 min is too much. Nobody is gonna make kids walk 45 min each way to school.

Yes especially in morning. But if bike friendly that’s an easy 10-15 min bike ride. Or a 3-5 min car ride. All those things are good for our communities and traffic.

No way anyone would let their kids ride a bike on high 28 or great Seneca highway.

Oh yeah for sure. That’s why there’s a big difference in areas. Poolesville and Damascus as well as most of Churchill and much of Whitman would like be fine to ensure walk zones are adjusted to reflect reality not just where kids actually walk. Could even keep providing buses, but the goal of keeping traffic low is essential.

This whole study process has made me realize how complicated county/state government is. All of these things involve so many moving parts.

Change schools but then whoa traffic planners/DOT have concerns, same with county council/exec with concerns about tax revenue and ensuring the area is still desirable, then you add affordable housing departments, parks and recreation, so many things are all connected.

I really hope the county can get things right in totality. Last thing we need is MD/MOCO to experience a rapid decline.

I’m not confident that MCPS thoroughly researches the facts or does enough homework before making decisions. Their focus seems to be primarily on balancing diversity, sometimes at the expense of other important considerations.

Because one out of the four options tries to make things less unbalanced?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wayside petitioners are out in force walking neighborhoods. Go Wayside!!

Wayside has nothing to complain about.

Wayside sounds really stupid. You are complaining about moving from the #4 school to the #3 school. Sheesh!

We have a problem Houston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wayside petitioners are out in force walking neighborhoods. Go Wayside!!

For those who aren’t familiar with Wayside/Churchill, the sense of community from K-12 among Wayside/Hoover/Churchill is unparalleled. Due to lots of shared programs across all three schools and the proximity. This is true for most of the schools in the cluster, but I’ve heard from plenty that Wayside and Beverly Farms have very close communities.

Unparalleled really? Do you somehow think that is the only K-12 articulation with a sense of community?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wayside petitioners are out in force walking neighborhoods. Go Wayside!!

For those who aren’t familiar with Wayside/Churchill, the sense of community from K-12 among Wayside/Hoover/Churchill is unparalleled. Due to lots of shared programs across all three schools and the proximity. This is true for most of the schools in the cluster, but I’ve heard from plenty that Wayside and Beverly Farms have very close communities.

Lol, Wayside residents. Making up stuff as you go along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this thread and haven’t had a chance to read all 58 pages, but I wanted to add my thoughts. After all the budget cuts over the past two years, if walkers are not made a priority, it would be a major contradiction. Prioritizing walkers would help reduce transportation costs, ease traffic congestion—especially on narrow and back roads—and address the ongoing bus driver shortage. This should absolutely be the top priority.

They need to make a better assessment on walker zone before they prioritize walkers. Right now the options include many unreasonable areas which are actually not walkable. All it does it to take away bus from these neighborhoods and parents have to drive individually which cause more traffic congestion.

This is actually a real issue. I'm currently in a 'walk zone' for our MS and HS. For MS I, and most people in my neighborhood, were unwilling to let MS students walk because it meant walking along the shoulder of a busy road in which people regularly swerved over to the shoulder to avoid left-turning cars. In HS, we mostly view our kids as able to walk along that route, but the HS is much further so few make their kids do it on cold/rainy days. So in the end, we're all creating huge traffic congestion every morning.

I'd love my kids to walk, but at the very least they need to work with the county to prioritize installation of sidewalks on some reasonable path to the schools they deem to be in the 'walking zone.'

They also need to think about reasonable walk time. In my opinion, 20 min walk is fine but 45 min is too much. Nobody is gonna make kids walk 45 min each way to school.

Yes especially in morning. But if bike friendly that’s an easy 10-15 min bike ride. Or a 3-5 min car ride. All those things are good for our communities and traffic.

No way anyone would let their kids ride a bike on high 28 or great Seneca highway.

Oh yeah for sure. That’s why there’s a big difference in areas. Poolesville and Damascus as well as most of Churchill and much of Whitman would like be fine to ensure walk zones are adjusted to reflect reality not just where kids actually walk. Could even keep providing buses, but the goal of keeping traffic low is essential.

This whole study process has made me realize how complicated county/state government is. All of these things involve so many moving parts.

Change schools but then whoa traffic planners/DOT have concerns, same with county council/exec with concerns about tax revenue and ensuring the area is still desirable, then you add affordable housing departments, parks and recreation, so many things are all connected.

I really hope the county can get things right in totality. Last thing we need is MD/MOCO to experience a rapid decline.

MOCO has already been in a rapid decline.

I don't think Crown will be a bad school and it wouldn't be the end of the world if our family ends up going there. I do have major issues of having my kids walk the route to the school, where I forbid them in walking outside our neighborhood on their own. Our neighborhood is like an island surrounded by commuter routes and some of the drivers aren't that courteous. And I'm unhappy with the idea of my kids being split from their elementary school classmates, where they would be only 5-10 students from their grade level that went to the same elementary school to be split off to another school. I see the bonds that other kids that have been together since grade K have and it's not fair that my kids won't get the same opportunity.

If it really is that big of an issue for us, we'll just move. I've already been eyeing the Potomac Glen area for a while. And if Wayside parents move out of there to stay in the Churchill district, it will give us more opportunities to stay in the high school zone. Our kids will be out of elementary school by the time any changes are made and we have the option of looking in a bigger area then before.

And like I said, MoCo and MCPS isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Many of the reasons why we chose to live here aren't applicable anymore after the pandemic and just with things changing in general. So one of the main reasons to stay is just to give our kids stability. But the split articulation is basically like moving anyways. So we might as well move out of Montgomery County either way and take our tax dollars with us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wayside petitioners are out in force walking neighborhoods. Go Wayside!!

Wayside has nothing to complain about.

Wayside sounds really stupid. You are complaining about moving from the #4 school to the #3 school. Sheesh!

We have a problem Houston.

It is not only about the ranking. They are both great schools with strong test scores. But as parents, we all plan the best for our children—whatever we believe that to be. For me, switching from a 37% Asian school to a 43% Asian school isn’t ideal (without any change). And with the change, it would be 45% Asian in Option 2 for Wootton. I can’t imagine the competition and stress that will bring.

We’re actually pretty close to Churchill, and switching to Wootton would double the commute time—which means less sleep.

Private school is not on my agenda, so maybe it’s time to move to VA.

-From poor of the Potomac

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wayside petitioners are out in force walking neighborhoods. Go Wayside!!

Wayside has nothing to complain about.

Wayside sounds really stupid. You are complaining about moving from the #4 school to the #3 school. Sheesh!

We have a problem Houston.

It is not only about the ranking. They are both great schools with strong test scores. But as parents, we all plan the best for our children—whatever we believe that to be. For me, switching from a 37% Asian school to a 43% Asian school isn’t ideal (without any change). And with the change, it would be 45% Asian in Option 2 for Wootton. I can’t imagine the competition and stress that will bring.

We’re actually pretty close to Churchill, and switching to Wootton would double the commute time—which means less sleep.

Private school is not on my agenda, so maybe it’s time to move to VA.

-From poor of the Potomac

We don't live in wootton/Churchill area, so I have no sense what those Asian kids experiences when you talk about competition and stress. I assume they are similar, probably you are talking about math tutoring or sports/musical competition outside of school.