Reply to Schools splitting from large ineffective school systems

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Reply to "Schools splitting from large ineffective school systems - could the 4 Ws split from MCPS?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]As always, I find it difficult to tell whether I'm supposed to think that the Bethesda/Potomac schools are really awesome or terrible and downtrodden. If they're really awesome now, why would you want to leave? If they're terrible and downtrodden, why did you spend so much money to send your children to them?[/quote]

People from Bethesda and Potomac for the most part have seen their schools get worse not better due to MCPS decisions.  I have continually heard from parents with older children how they are so happy to have gone through MCPS before all of the changes over the past 10 years started. Same thing from parents with both older and younger kids.

The good things about the schools - some great teachers, students that are very engaged in academics, no crime or safety issues, and competitive peer group don't exist because of MCPS. The problems -bad curriculum, lack of rigorous testing, huge class sizes and no ability to ever address this is all MCPS. [b]MCPS does not see itself as being charged with supporting the W schools at all. 
[/b]
I'll give you a small example from years age. There were a number of elementary schools that were declining in enrollment -result of real estate patterns and people jumping out to privates. In MCPS -when schools lose enrollments they lose teachers and classrooms sit empty. We had some wonderful teachers who had worked in the school for years and were part of the community. They were transferred east adding 45 minutes to their already long commute.

Several parents from schools outside the high school cluster and parents from within our school asked if there could be some type of fast track COSA so students from over crowded nearby schools could fill seats. At the overcrowded schools had kids packed into portables and ridiculous lunch times for younger kids because the classes couldn't fit in the cafeteria. Field trips were curtailed due to the logistics of the class size.

Letting kids in overcrowded schools from nearby areas voluntarily fast track COSA to take empty seats in the under enrolled school would have been a great solution. Parents would be responsible for their own transportation. There were no busing needs. Teachers would remain in their school. Crowding would be eased at the other schools. MCPS response - hell no! MCPS administrators pointed out that the overcrowded elementary schools nearby were high performing. There were hardly only FARMS students in the overcrowded schools nearby only less affluent MC students. MCPS would only consider busing kids from low performing schools which would cost money and require feasibility studies. Couldn't be done, don't waste our time. [/quote]

Your example is about MCPS's COSA policy and what is and isn't a justification.  I don't see how that shows MCPS isn't "supporting the W schools at all." [/quote]

I actually think pp provided the most rational explanation I’ve ever seen on a DCUM board about why they feel disenfranchised. But I would say, the Ws need to work on coherent messaging.  It’s really hard to understand, from a non-W perspective, whether Ws are the best or the worst schools because W parents seem to simultaneously argue both sides. They also then tell non-W parents how horrible our schools are, which doesn’t comport with our experiences. At a minimum, I think you should try to stick to talking points that don’t contradict each other. Based on your post here are some you might try:

- our schools are overcrowded
- we welcome cosas, and the current cosa policy drives up expenses and must be reformed 
- we need expanded enrichment/GT opportunities within our schools

I think that would work. The constant “we paid more for our homes and deserve more, all you moochers in DCC and upcounty and all county but bethespotomac are just... POOR” makes you sound kind of insane. [/quote]

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