Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's MCPS's cluster system. Pyle serves the Whitman cluster and Westland serves the BCC cluster. What makes it even more ridiculous is that Westland has more than 200 empty seats, and rather than rezone some nearby Pyle students there, MCPS recently opened an addition at Pyle to address overcrowding.

Agree it's a strange use of resources but you'd have a big uproar if they did that. Many Pyle families do not want their children to go to Westland. I know that makes no sense because they are both great schools but they paid a premium for the Whitman cluster.

While others are tired of paying additional transportation costs to bus kids all over the place to make a few rich families happy.

Why is county-wide redistricting not talked about anymore when it was literally a life or death, existential, you’re a horrible person if you disagree type of question for proponents 5 years ago?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's MCPS's cluster system. Pyle serves the Whitman cluster and Westland serves the BCC cluster. What makes it even more ridiculous is that Westland has more than 200 empty seats, and rather than rezone some nearby Pyle students there, MCPS recently opened an addition at Pyle to address overcrowding.

Agree it's a strange use of resources but you'd have a big uproar if they did that. Many Pyle families do not want their children to go to Westland. I know that makes no sense because they are both great schools but they paid a premium for the Whitman cluster.

While others are tired of paying additional transportation costs to bus kids all over the place to make a few rich families happy.

Why is county-wide redistricting not talked about anymore when it was literally a life or death, existential, you’re a horrible person if you disagree type of question for proponents 5 years ago?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, it's geographically bizarre and contributes to a lot of bus and car traffic in and around downtown Bethesda. It's stupid. But all in the name of socio-economic diversity, so...

We live closer to Pyle, but have to schlep all the way to Westland. I knew someone who lived right next to Westland and had to schlep all the way to Pyle.

Wait. This isn't true at all. OP is talking about neighborhoods like Kenwood near the Chevy Chase Whole Foods, that are geographically close to Westland but zoned to Pyle/Whitman. If anything, that zoning is about preserving economic segregation, not diversity.

More to the point, it is impossible for every school to be at the exact center of the attendance zone. Schools are built where there is property, and MCPS likes to preserve a clean articulation between ES --> MS --> HS, and sometimes that means that a certain attendance zone feels a little incongruous. So, in this case, a neighborhood like Kenwood is zoned to Pyle (not the closest school) but also Whitman (closest school).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's MCPS's cluster system. Pyle serves the Whitman cluster and Westland serves the BCC cluster. What makes it even more ridiculous is that Westland has more than 200 empty seats, and rather than rezone some nearby Pyle students there, MCPS recently opened an addition at Pyle to address overcrowding.

Agree it's a strange use of resources but you'd have a big uproar if they did that. Many Pyle families do not want their children to go to Westland. I know that makes no sense because they are both great schools but they paid a premium for the Whitman cluster.

While others are tired of paying additional transportation costs to bus kids all over the place to make a few rich families happy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's MCPS's cluster system. Pyle serves the Whitman cluster and Westland serves the BCC cluster. What makes it even more ridiculous is that Westland has more than 200 empty seats, and rather than rezone some nearby Pyle students there, MCPS recently opened an addition at Pyle to address overcrowding.

Agree it's a strange use of resources but you'd have a big uproar if they did that. Many Pyle families do not want their children to go to Westland. I know that makes no sense because they are both great schools but they paid a premium for the Whitman cluster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's MCPS's cluster system. Pyle serves the Whitman cluster and Westland serves the BCC cluster. What makes it even more ridiculous is that Westland has more than 200 empty seats, and rather than rezone some nearby Pyle students there, MCPS recently opened an addition at Pyle to address overcrowding.

which is why MCPS should absolutely be looking at neighboring clusters for capacity planning. So stupid that they haven't been doing this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, it's geographically bizarre and contributes to a lot of bus and car traffic in and around downtown Bethesda. It's stupid. But all in the name of socio-economic diversity, so...

We live closer to Pyle, but have to schlep all the way to Westland. I knew someone who lived right next to Westland and had to schlep all the way to Pyle.

Wait. This isn't true at all. OP is talking about neighborhoods like Kenwood near the Chevy Chase Whole Foods, that are geographically close to Westland but zoned to Pyle/Whitman. If anything, that zoning is about preserving economic segregation, not diversity.

More to the point, it is impossible for every school to be at the exact center of the attendance zone. Schools are built where there is property, and MCPS likes to preserve a clean articulation between ES --> MS --> HS, and sometimes that means that a certain attendance zone feels a little incongruous. So, in this case, a neighborhood like Kenwood is zoned to Pyle (not the closest school) but also Whitman (closest school).

Maybe it's time they get over this clean articulation and focus on neighborhood schools instead of creating more busing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, it's geographically bizarre and contributes to a lot of bus and car traffic in and around downtown Bethesda. It's stupid. But all in the name of socio-economic diversity, so...

We live closer to Pyle, but have to schlep all the way to Westland. I knew someone who lived right next to Westland and had to schlep all the way to Pyle.

Wait. This isn't true at all. OP is talking about neighborhoods like Kenwood near the Chevy Chase Whole Foods, that are geographically close to Westland but zoned to Pyle/Whitman. If anything, that zoning is about preserving economic segregation, not diversity.

More to the point, it is impossible for every school to be at the exact center of the attendance zone. Schools are built where there is property, and MCPS likes to preserve a clean articulation between ES --> MS --> HS, and sometimes that means that a certain attendance zone feels a little incongruous. So, in this case, a neighborhood like Kenwood is zoned to Pyle (not the closest school) but also Whitman (closest school).

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, it's geographically bizarre and contributes to a lot of bus and car traffic in and around downtown Bethesda. It's stupid. But all in the name of socio-economic diversity, so...

We live closer to Pyle, but have to schlep all the way to Westland. I knew someone who lived right next to Westland and had to schlep all the way to Pyle.

Anonymous wrote:It's MCPS's cluster system. Pyle serves the Whitman cluster and Westland serves the BCC cluster. What makes it even more ridiculous is that Westland has more than 200 empty seats, and rather than rezone some nearby Pyle students there, MCPS recently opened an addition at Pyle to address overcrowding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am in one of those neighborhoods that is near Westland but feeds to Pyle. Luckily MCPS provides bus service so you don't need to take your kids to Pyle, or Westland, they can get there via the bus.

I went to Westland (actually Western at the time) and lived on the other side of Little Falls Pkwy and walked to school. So there are certainly walkable neighborhoods.

Huh. Why did they bother changing the name from Western to Westland?

There used to be a middle school called Leland where the Jane Lawton Center is now but in the early 80s it was closed and merged into Western and Western becane Westland. (Then 40 years later Silver Lake was built).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's MCPS's cluster system. Pyle serves the Whitman cluster and Westland serves the BCC cluster. What makes it even more ridiculous is that Westland has more than 200 empty seats, and rather than rezone some nearby Pyle students there, MCPS recently opened an addition at Pyle to address overcrowding.

Maybe MCPS could be more flexible about boundary changes if homeowners didn't treat boundary changes like the arrival of the Visigoths at the gates of Rome.

Anonymous wrote:It's MCPS's cluster system. Pyle serves the Whitman cluster and Westland serves the BCC cluster. What makes it even more ridiculous is that Westland has more than 200 empty seats, and rather than rezone some nearby Pyle students there, MCPS recently opened an addition at Pyle to address overcrowding.