Dividing the county into zones will never happen for these reasons.

1. its not necessarily a north/south division when it snows. Sometimes the eastern part of the county gets a heavy snowfall where the west side sees little and visa versa. What do you do then?

2. Let's say that Chevy Chase gets rain but Damascus gets heavy snow. Does that mean that at the end of the year that the lower half of the county gets out a day early?

3. They tried this north/south idea once before. Even though the line was reasonably drawn and the schools were designated as either north or south the parents couldn't figure it out thus students showed up for school at schools that were closed.

4. Most of the county is unincorporated so the idea of "cities and towns" making their own decisions is stupid. Germantown, Silver Spring, Bethesda, and most of the upper county is unincorporated. What would they do?

Special education is a big factor in this. If programs are in a different "zone" from where a student lives, then the county is no longer providing FAPE for the child if you are saying you won't pick him up. If you are only picking up those students, you are saying it isn't safe for others, but we'll take a chance with your child,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in an area with small towns each with there own schools..and the taxes are WAY higher than here. It is very expensive to replicate all the services so many times. Each has a superintendant of schools, a curriculumn committtee, a myraid of spec ed services....on and on.

I did too. And yes, property taxes are higher. But towns do not tax income (MoCo does, and at a high rate too). When you factor that in, taxes are about the same actually.

In a town-based system, the taxpayers have a real voice. My parents used to go to town meetings routinely, and SPEAK to the school board and superintendent. Unimaginable in this vast bureaucracy we have here, which is democratic in name only.

I have gone to County Council meetings and spoken (if not SPOKEN) to the county executive and county council members. I haven't done this for the school board, because I haven't had any occasion to do so. But I certainly don't find it unimaginable.

At school board meetings, a few people designated in advance are given five minutes to speak. No one else may speak.

Been there, seen that many times.

Anonymous wrote:The county buses kids from zone to zone for magnet programs. What happens to them?

+1 I can't imagine MCPS ever changing the way they approach snow closures.

Where I grew up there were local taxes which funded mostly the school system. This was in CT. It was a wonderful school system that I grew up with but CT suffers from a huge gap betwen rich and poor (i think the largest in the country). The rich fund their little town school and ignore that the poor can not. It is really terrible from a societal perspective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in an area with small towns each with there own schools..and the taxes are WAY higher than here. It is very expensive to replicate all the services so many times. Each has a superintendant of schools, a curriculumn committtee, a myraid of spec ed services....on and on.

I did too. And yes, property taxes are higher. But towns do not tax income (MoCo does, and at a high rate too). When you factor that in, taxes are about the same actually.

In a town-based system, the taxpayers have a real voice. My parents used to go to town meetings routinely, and SPEAK to the school board and superintendent. Unimaginable in this vast bureaucracy we have here, which is democratic in name only.

I have gone to County Council meetings and spoken (if not SPOKEN) to the county executive and county council members. I haven't done this for the school board, because I haven't had any occasion to do so. But I certainly don't find it unimaginable.

We have lived in city-based school districts and while you feel much more connected (ever try to get someone in the central administration on the phone here?) it is wildly inefficient too. A school superintendent etc for every town . . but I don't understand the argument that teachers and bus drivers may have a hard time getting to work. There is no requirement that either teachers or bus drivers live in the district so they could be and do come from other parts, including Frederick, the District and I assume PG county so I don't think they are the issue. There are kids, more than I realized, who are bused from one area to another and they might be hurt by a split zone but I suspect they could work around that. MCPS seems about the laziest school district around and I think that explains why they have not at least pursued other options. At least next year, I think they are likely to forego the December closing at the threat of snow, unless they need an extra shopping day.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in an area with small towns each with there own schools..and the taxes are WAY higher than here. It is very expensive to replicate all the services so many times. Each has a superintendant of schools, a curriculumn committtee, a myraid of spec ed services....on and on.

I did too. And yes, property taxes are higher. But towns do not tax income (MoCo does, and at a high rate too). When you factor that in, taxes are about the same actually.

In a town-based system, the taxpayers have a real voice. My parents used to go to town meetings routinely, and SPEAK to the school board and superintendent. Unimaginable in this vast bureaucracy we have here, which is democratic in name only.

I grew up in an area with small towns each with there own schools..and the taxes are WAY higher than here. It is very expensive to replicate all the services so many times. Each has a superintendant of schools, a curriculumn committtee, a myraid of spec ed services....on and on.

The county buses kids from zone to zone for magnet programs. What happens to them?

Anonymous wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/03/18/astonishing-snow-totals-this-winter-in-upper-montgomery-county-nearly-70-inches/

They got 2x as much snow as lower Montgomery - incredible! I don't understand why MCPS can't decide to close certain clusters in the North - I know administratively it would be difficult, but it can't be impossible? And no more difficult than having the entire district go dark for more time than is needed.

Closing part of the school district and keeping the other part open is no more difficult than closing the whole school district? Really?

I used to think the same way as you do but what if a teacher who lives in zone 1 but teaches in zone 2 can't get to their school and there are a lot of teachers that live in different zones.

Also the bus drivers live in different areas as well.

The issue is back when I went to school in this area Seneca Valley was the furtherst school out and it was srrounded by farms and it wasn;t tha tlong ago mid 80s. The build up of the up county and areas further out have grown faster than the infrastructure and to catch up would upset too many people.

I agree with two closure schedules and I think privates, who follow Montgomery County, should make their own decisions now. Following a public county school system for closures harkens back to a time when information was harder to disseminate and we had phone trees. With email, websites and TV channels scrolling every closures, it is just not necessary to follow a public school system anymore.

Agree, PP. Schools shouldn't be run by the county. Each city should have its own school board and budget. Small towns/cities that neighbor one another can join together to create a district. Small towns next to large towns can join in with the large town.

this would, of course, change the tax structure around here, so it will never happen.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/03/18/astonishing-snow-totals-this-winter-in-upper-montgomery-county-nearly-70-inches/

They got 2x as much snow as lower Montgomery - incredible! I don't understand why MCPS can't decide to close certain clusters in the North - I know administratively it would be difficult, but it can't be impossible? And no more difficult than having the entire district go dark for more time than is needed.