Reply to Do the recommendations re: BCC boundary study come out today?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I thought that the superintendent's recommendation isn't the final say. Doesn't the BOE have to accept the recommendation? As an RCFES parent, I leaned toward wanting the kids to go to Westland. It would be nice to be closer to home, but I worry that a few vocal CCES parents will make those kids feel unwelcome, and will continue to feel (quite irrationally, in my view) that their personal resources are being directed toward lower SES kids. [/quote]

Bethesda has always resented the RCF kids. [/quote]

That's interesting.  Do you have a source for that?  Do you think they resent the RCF kids, or do they RCF parents that, for the sake of their transportation convenience, want two inequitable schools to exist in the cluster with the potential of exacerbating the opportunity gap?[/quote]

The objections are famously vitriolic when they included a silver spring school in the cluster and then they worked to close it which the county was prepared to do in 1982 to placate them. It was only after the threat of losing federal school money by resegragrating that the county dropped the plan to close the school.

I don't speak for those parents but I am pretty sure they weren't focused on convenience or the opportunities afforded those kids.  They knew it was a harbinger for the darkening of the county and they were afraid it would give poor people a way to there school without paying the segregation real estate tax that is homeownership in places like Bethesda. Basically the same objections you hear today when people try to add density to better neighborhoods.[/quote]

Those objections took place almost 35 years ago.  Aren’t at least some of those people dead or on their way out the door?  Couldn’t it be possible that some of the people in the cluster actually care about the opportunity gap?

Several PPs arguments against the superintendent’s recommendation seem to be making your point about an equitable education.  Unless I’m misreading what they said, one PP basically asked why the superintendent would recommend creating a rich, white school in the west that’s not full, and an overcrowded school in the east that’s smaller and has less facilities.  Isn’t that concern for the opportunity gap?

I’m not sure what you mean by, “afraid it would give poor people a way to there school without paying the segregation real estate tax that is homeownership in places like Bethesda.”  House prices are set in a market.  Anyway, the disparity you’re pointing to actually is another strike against the superintendent’s decision.  Why create two fundamentally unequal educational environments and leave the lesser facility to the more diverse of the two?
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It's great for people to want more diverse schools, but I don't think the answer to that is bussing the kids that will create the diversity to the school farther away from their homes.  RCF did substantial outreach to its community, including targeted outreach to the more diverse areas that feed into the school -- and the overwhelming majority wanted a closer school.  It appears that this factor outweighed the over-crowdedness issue and the relatively small difference in diversity that would result at the two schools.  Maybe the Superintendent thought that it would be pretty lame to disregard the input of those lower-SES and/or minority communities.  [/quote]

Well, it’s nice that the needs of RCF have been taken into account, but what about the needs of the rest of the communities?  They did their outreach.  They did not support this option, and they voiced their opposition in the PTA process.  One community’s desire for a closer school shouldn’t outweigh the balance of all the issues for the balance of all the communities.

And before we go too far down the road of the “bussing the kids that will create the diversity to the school farther away from their homes” argument, let’s remember that “bussing” in the classic sense of the word was not being proposed.  What was being proposed is having the students attend the school they’re attending now.

RCF may not care about over-crowding, but the rest of the communities sending their children to the new school do.  The Superintendent’s recommendation is condemning the new school to capacity issues without the ability to address those issues.  In fact, even without the capacity issues, the school starts out at a physical deficit compared to Westland.  As one PP said, it’s smaller and has less than half the land as Westland.

If RCF doesn’t care about the socio-economic factors (three times the FARMS rate in the new school and less diversity at Westland), that doesn’t mean there aren’t other communities concerned or that the socio-economic factors are the only issue. In fact, putting all socio-economic factors aside, some people simply feel they shouldn’t have to send their kids to a lesser school, while another larger, less diverse, affluent school operates at 82% capacity, just to address the concerns of one community.  It makes no management sense, especially in light of the anticipated development in the area, and it’s not fair.
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People put way to much thought into FARMS rates, but then complain their non-FARMS schools don't get enough teachers or staff.  There are reasons why having a Focus  School or FARMS is good.  I prefer it.  I'd rather my kid be in a class of 16-20 vs. 28-32.[/quote]

I think the comment at the end of the PP sums up the crux of the problem. Physically, the new school starts out behind Westland. If you put "all socio-economic factors aside, some people simply feel they shouldn’t have to send their kids to a lesser school, while another larger, less diverse, affluent school operates at 82% capacity, just to address the concerns of one community.  It makes no management sense, especially in light of the anticipated development in the area, and it’s not fair."
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