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

Which is why some folks in the western part of the county worry that redistricting could mean long bus rides for kids if diversifying student populations is a key goal of the effort. It's not a crazy thing to worry about [b]when you try to square the rhetoric with the geography[/b].[/quote]

Geography is part of the rhetoric. Geography is included in the rhetoric. So you don't have to square anything. It's already in there.[/quote]

All the more reason to be concerned.[/quote]

If MCPS weren't talking about geography, you'd be concerned. But MCPS [i]is[/i] talking about geography, so - you're concerned.

Let's be clear that this is not about MCPS. It's about you.[/quote]

OK smarty pants. How do you propose to bring more "diversity" to Whitman and Churchill, two clusters adjacent to three other clusters (Wootton, BCC, Walter Johnson) that allegedly also need more diversity. It's easy to see how you make those three more diverse without long bus commutes, because they border clusters of schools that tend to have at least somewhat higher FARMS rates. That's much less true of Whitman and Churchill. So let us know how you plan to redraw boundaries for Churchill and Whitman in a way that significantly improves diversity but does not require long bus commutes on the part of students coming in or out.[/quote]

+1.  Something will have to give.  Either MCPS will have to accept that Whitman and Churchill will remain very low FARMS.  Or, they will have to accept longer bus rides than they otherwise would.

It isn't remotely crazy to think that either option is possible.  Therefore, I don't see how it is crazy for a parent to worry that long bus rides are a real possibility, although far from a certainty.  Geography and diversity are both in the mix, but at times one will have to take primary consideration over the other.

If you can come up with a way to change boundaries so that Whitman/Churchill are diversified without people having long bus rides, I would love to hear it.  (It might be possible for bus people into Whitman/Churchill and to do it on a voluntary basis, so parents who were willing to have a longer commute to attend a "better" school could it, but no one would be forced to.  But I have no idea if that would be considered.)[/quote]

This is the dilemma. I don't think MCPS can afford to bus tons of people long distances, plus no one (rich or poor) wants their kid on a bus in traffic for hours each day. It sucks, and it's killer for extracurriculars, parent engagement, etc. Especially for lower income kids. Which is why they opted against diversity considerations when they drew the boundaries for the new BCC MS. MCPS could have balanced race/ethnicity/SES, but chose to split the zone based on geography mostly to avoid busing the more "diverse" neighborhood a longer distance.

OTOH I don't think they can blow up the boundaries for a bunch of other schools and leave Whitman and Churchill as-is. It just won't sell to keep the whitest/richest schools as enclaves of privilege. I don't have a good solution here (other than maybe much more aggressive changes in zoning to push lower income housing into those neighborhoods.) I think on balance they won't do much beyond posturing, simply because a holistic solution isn't really possible.[/quote]

I wonder if the people who bought in silver spring knew how much they wouldn’t want to go to school with their neighbors. Mix the schools all you want, you still live over there[/quote]

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