Reply to Should MCPS start busing or open enrollment?

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

This.  [b]We can debate the point at which the %FARMS starts to become counterproductive, but what to do to make the theory into reality?[/b]  On some other thread someone explained how school choice worked in another state -- the county published lists of schools with open slots and parents could apply for those spaces, but would need to reapply at the next stage (MS or HS) and were responsible for their own transportation.  That's more or less the way that DC works, and those of us who had kids in DC and who lived through this process can attest to how chaotic it can be.  We got into our first choice out of the block, and with sibling preferences, we were set for ES.  But many people applied every year (and sometimes mid-year) to try to get into a school, drove their kids all over town in the meantime, and we all missed out on the concept of a neighborhood school, school friends you could visit on foot or by bike, and the simple pleasure of not spending 2 hours a day in transit.  I can see where open enrollment can, on the margins, even out some places like the Cold Spring/Ritchie Park imbalance pointed out elsewhere, but it's no silver bullet for county-wide imbalances, especially in a county as big as Montgomery.[/quote]

Agreed. We don't know at what point the % of FARMS becomes counter-productive for low-income kids, but the report is completely correcting that housing policy is school policy.

The problem is that this is a feature, not a bug. Housing policy reflects the desire of people with money to live over here, as far as possible from the poor people over there. And part of the reason for that desire is schools.[/quote]

I don't think it's fair to say that all people who live in the green zone chose to live there to get "as far as possible from the poor people."  I'm sure there are some, but there are also a bunch like us who lived in DC in very mixed neighborhoods, and who hoped to get a better academic experience in MD.  [b]Would have been great to retain more diversity, while getting what we wanted in terms of things like walkability, commute time, and yes, the high performing schools, but we couldn't have it all. [/b] The fact of the matter is that MoCo is pretty segregated -- I get that I don't help matters by choosing a green zone school instead of living in the red zone (seriously never heard these terms before two weeks ago), but it is not a situation I created because I allegedly dislike poor people.  FWIW, I'm not white, and our household income is quite modest.  We were able to buy here only because we were lucky to own a house in DC that appreciated a ton.  Yes, we are lucky, and perhaps even "privileged" in the scheme of things -- but I don't deserve the suggestion that I must despise the poor because of where I chose to live.[/quote]

Some of us here in Silver Spring have all of this.  The schools may not be sufficiently high-performing for you, but they are for us.[/quote]

Ditto.[/quote]

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