Reply to MCPS Boundary Reassessment

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Sure. But I don't see how that's inconsistent with the above: "[i]It may not be feasible to revise all boundaries[/i], however, there are many schools in MCPS with 
adjacent school boundaries that have both significant disparities in socioeconomic and racial demographics and disparities in facility utilization."[/quote]

I really don't think there are that many.  And for at least some of the schools with adjacent boundaries that have significant disparities, it is not the communities close to the boundary line that are materially different from the less diverse school.  So you cannot "balance" out the schools by including neighborhoods that are near the boundary line.  You'd have to move kids/neighborhoods that are much further away, toward the other side of the second school's boundary line, in order to change the demographics at the first school.  At least that is my observation in my little area.  I'm not saying there might not be tweaks that would make some improvement.  But I think overall it's going to be very small improvements unless it is a pretty radical change in moving kids longer distances to go to elementary school (as some clusters in the County already do - see RH/NCC/CC).  [/quote]

I don't understand why more people don't embrace diversity bussing.[/quote]

Taking this as a serious question (and in no particular order):

1) Our roads are already majorly congested.  More busses on the roads for longer periods of time makes traffic worse.

2) Prefer not to have small children spending a lot of time commuting on busses - leaves less time for after school activities, outdoor play, relaxing at home, homework, etc.  I have one kid who can read on the bus but I also have one who vomits if she reads in a moving vehicle.

3) Supervision on busses is not great - I personally know of a kindergartener bullied on a longish bus ride; a child who exposed himself to a classmate on a bus; I'm sure other people have stories too.  More time on the bus is more time in close quarters with children you haven't chosen to hang out with, with little supervision.

4) It's more difficult to take your child/items to school if they: miss the bus, have a doctor's appointment, forgot their lunch, etc.  For low income families, it can be prohibitive - if the child misses the bus, he/she may miss school for the whole day.

5) It's less convenient to get to the school for concerts, plays, PTA events, PTA meetings, volunteer opportunities, etc.  You're just less likely to go to these things the further away the school is.

6) Carpools/community/helpers - when kids live close to the kids they go to school with it's easier to create carpools, pick up slack for other parents on occasion, see school friends outside of school.  We lived two doors down from a family for 2 years but didn't really get to know them until their child started K and started going to the bus stop with our child.  Now they play afterschool with some frequency.  In upper elementary school, kids can be more independent and walk to friends' houses or home from school themselves.

I'm sure there's more, but those are some honest answers of why I like having our children's elementary school close by.  I actually was a kid who had a pretty long bus ride to elementary school here in MCPS.  And I really love being in the neighborhood of my kids' school.  It's better.  But diversity is worth something too, and I go back and forth about whether the down sides to more bussing would be worth it for more diversity.  I am honestly not sure.  But if you ask why people don't like bussing, those are some of the reasons.   [/quote]

Very reasonable reasons. [/quote]

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