Anonymous wrote:The following schools are all under 400 students:
Travilah 385
Highland View 380
Meadow Hall 377
Seven Locks 372
Candlewood 368
Rock Creek Valley 367
Laytonsville 365
Ritchie Park 361
Darnestown 354
Belmont 348
Damascus 345
Cedar Grove 343
Cashell 342
Cold Spring 335
Carderock Springs 333
Germantown 318
Woodfield 318
Somerset 302
Westover 299
DuFief 246
North Chevy Chase 243
Monocacy 180

Anonymous wrote:The following schools are all under 400 students:
Travilah 385
Highland View 380
Meadow Hall 377
Seven Locks 372
Candlewood 368
Rock Creek Valley 367
Laytonsville 365
Ritchie Park 361
Darnestown 354
Belmont 348
Damascus 345
Cedar Grove 343
Cashell 342
Cold Spring 335
Carderock Springs 333
Germantown 318
Woodfield 318
Somerset 302
Westover 299
DuFief 246
North Chevy Chase 243
Monocacy 180

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First and foremost, a big thank you to Moderately MOCO for always staying on top of this and sharing views. Second point is that every community wants wootton for the same reason and that is because it keeps property values up to be in that cluster with all of the good schools. Dufief wants to stay with them but so does Stone Mill and Travilah and it’s all for that.

The wootton parents and Rockville politicians clamoring for the school to stay want the same thing for the same reason and don’t want to add the Gaithersburg schools because they think it will hurt their prop values. The Gaithersburg parents and politicians know it will help theirs.

You just aren’t allowed to say that so everyone has to come up with reasons that look better on paper.

Hiya Jason! Please don't anonymously promote yourself for something you actually aren't even doing well. This is...gross.

Yup Makstein, we are on to you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take a stab at this. I'm focusing on Whitman, Churchill, WJ, Wootton, QO and RM clusters given I have more familiarity with these. However I've taken a stab at some other clusters too:

WHITMAN CLUSTER:
Maybe-Less likely:
- Burning Tree ES: yes it's on CIP and has a high FCI, but the entire Whitman cluster has 340 seats available at the five elementary schools. Bradley Hills (193), Carderock (80) and Wood Acres (162) could almost fully absorb all of Burning Tree (469), however of course geography would need to be majorly changed. I'd also think it could need to involve creating a split articulation or redistricting kids from Burning Tree to a WJ ES or Seven Locks ES

CHURCHILL CLUSTER: NONE

WOOTTON CLUSTER:
This cluster is interesting given there are six elementary schools and all except one were last renovated/built prior to 2000. Cold Spring (1972), Dufief (1975), Fallsmead (1974), Stone Mill (1988), Travilah (1960 major reno in 1992), and Lakewood (1968 major reno 2003). Every school has excess capacity. Seems foolish to renovate the three oldest schools given that.
Very Likely:
- Cold Spring: I'd consider this almost 80-100%, I was shocked it was on the CIP given this, it's resident population is super tiny, the CES can be relocated to a diff Churchill or Wootton ES. I'd expect the resident students to be rezoned to one or more of either Beverly Farms - 181 seats available or Wayside - 170 seats available (both in Churchill cluster) or Ritchie Park - 66 seats available (RM cluster)
- Dufief ES: I think odds of this are lower than Cold Spring, but it too has a high FCI (.58), has a small enrollment (~260 students) and can be easily absorbed by two nearby schools (Stone Mill - 157 seats available and Travilah ES - 157 seats available

WJ CLUSTER: NONE
QO CLUSTER: NONE
RM CLUSTER: NONE - however Beall and College Gardens could each absorb 150-200 students, geographically not sure from where since Ritchie Park is too far away. Twinbrook ES was removed from CIP, but has .55 FCI, just not sure where they are absorbed

DAMASCUS AND CLARKSBURG CLUSTERS:
Maybes:
- Clarksburg ES - built 1952 major improvement in 1993 - FCI ~.5, small school could be absorbed by Snowden Farm and Wims ES
- Woodfield ES - built 1962 last reno 1985, small school - could be absorbed by Cedar Grove & Lois P Rockwell with shifts
Less Likely but possible:
- Fox Chapel ES - built 1974 ~.5 FCI, not sure if these students could be absorbed elsewhere or not.
- Damascus ES - built 1934 last renovated in 1980 - removed from CIP ~.5 FCI

In the Poolesville Cluster - Monocacy ES - 167 students.

Monocacy ES is unique and probably protected from closure by its extreme remoteness. It's on an agricultural reserve in the middle of nowhere, over 7 miles from the next closest elementary schools (Poolesville and Cabin Branch). It's practically in Loudoun County. And its enrollment is consistently small but it doesn't shrink. Weast tried to close it in 2012 and got shot down.

Dufief to me looks like an obvious closure, and I say that as a graduate of many years ago. Except for the Learning Center. Which is a big "except." The local neighborhood is too small to be viable and could easily be split between Stone Mill and Travilah, but the Learning Center requires at least 6 extra classrooms on its own. That's a lot of facility space. And the Learning Center placement numbers around the county are only growing, so they are not going to shut one down. That may be enough to stop a closure of Dufief.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DuFief was just renovated PLUS it is one of the 13 learning centers in the county with students being bussed in from all over. Why in the world would they close DuFief??

You call that a renovation? They just added a vestibule. The inside is still just like the 1970's. When they had their 50 year celebration, at first I thought they had re-done the school in 70's design but nope, that's how it always looks.

Correct but for better or for worse, that pseudo renovation improves Dufief’s FCI score. It’s certainly still not a great score but when they look to close schools they will be looking for the worst scores.

You sure about that? Taylor is closing over a dozen elementary schools.

Speculation.

I think there will be several consolidations and closures resulting from this study. It seems like there is no money to build new schools, and some of the recently built schools, like Potomac Elementary, have closed off wings that can be readied for expansion (no HVAC system in those wings currently). So what happens to the teachers when an elementary school closes? Do they move with the kids to the new school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DuFief was just renovated PLUS it is one of the 13 learning centers in the county with students being bussed in from all over. Why in the world would they close DuFief??

You call that a renovation? They just added a vestibule. The inside is still just like the 1970's. When they had their 50 year celebration, at first I thought they had re-done the school in 70's design but nope, that's how it always looks.

Correct but for better or for worse, that pseudo renovation improves Dufief’s FCI score. It’s certainly still not a great score but when they look to close schools they will be looking for the worst scores.

You sure about that? Taylor is closing over a dozen elementary schools.

Speculation.

I think there will be several consolidations and closures resulting from this study. It seems like there is no money to build new schools, and some of the recently built schools, like Potomac Elementary, have closed off wings that can be readied for expansion (no HVAC system in those wings currently). So what happens to the teachers when an elementary school closes? Do they move with the kids to the new school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DuFief was just renovated PLUS it is one of the 13 learning centers in the county with students being bussed in from all over. Why in the world would they close DuFief??

You call that a renovation? They just added a vestibule. The inside is still just like the 1970's. When they had their 50 year celebration, at first I thought they had re-done the school in 70's design but nope, that's how it always looks.

Correct but for better or for worse, that pseudo renovation improves Dufief’s FCI score. It’s certainly still not a great score but when they look to close schools they will be looking for the worst scores.

You sure about that? Taylor is closing over a dozen elementary schools.

Speculation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DuFief was just renovated PLUS it is one of the 13 learning centers in the county with students being bussed in from all over. Why in the world would they close DuFief??

You call that a renovation? They just added a vestibule. The inside is still just like the 1970's. When they had their 50 year celebration, at first I thought they had re-done the school in 70's design but nope, that's how it always looks.

Correct but for better or for worse, that pseudo renovation improves Dufief’s FCI score. It’s certainly still not a great score but when they look to close schools they will be looking for the worst scores.

You sure about that? Taylor is closing over a dozen elementary schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DuFief was just renovated PLUS it is one of the 13 learning centers in the county with students being bussed in from all over. Why in the world would they close DuFief??

You call that a renovation? They just added a vestibule. The inside is still just like the 1970's. When they had their 50 year celebration, at first I thought they had re-done the school in 70's design but nope, that's how it always looks.

Correct but for better or for worse, that pseudo renovation improves Dufief’s FCI score. It’s certainly still not a great score but when they look to close schools they will be looking for the worst scores.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take a stab at this. I'm focusing on Whitman, Churchill, WJ, Wootton, QO and RM clusters given I have more familiarity with these. However I've taken a stab at some other clusters too:

WHITMAN CLUSTER:
Maybe-Less likely:
- Burning Tree ES: yes it's on CIP and has a high FCI, but the entire Whitman cluster has 340 seats available at the five elementary schools. Bradley Hills (193), Carderock (80) and Wood Acres (162) could almost fully absorb all of Burning Tree (469), however of course geography would need to be majorly changed. I'd also think it could need to involve creating a split articulation or redistricting kids from Burning Tree to a WJ ES or Seven Locks ES

CHURCHILL CLUSTER: NONE

WOOTTON CLUSTER:
This cluster is interesting given there are six elementary schools and all except one were last renovated/built prior to 2000. Cold Spring (1972), Dufief (1975), Fallsmead (1974), Stone Mill (1988), Travilah (1960 major reno in 1992), and Lakewood (1968 major reno 2003). Every school has excess capacity. Seems foolish to renovate the three oldest schools given that.
Very Likely:
- Cold Spring: I'd consider this almost 80-100%, I was shocked it was on the CIP given this, it's resident population is super tiny, the CES can be relocated to a diff Churchill or Wootton ES. I'd expect the resident students to be rezoned to one or more of either Beverly Farms - 181 seats available or Wayside - 170 seats available (both in Churchill cluster) or Ritchie Park - 66 seats available (RM cluster)
- Dufief ES: I think odds of this are lower than Cold Spring, but it too has a high FCI (.58), has a small enrollment (~260 students) and can be easily absorbed by two nearby schools (Stone Mill - 157 seats available and Travilah ES - 157 seats available

WJ CLUSTER: NONE
QO CLUSTER: NONE
RM CLUSTER: NONE - however Beall and College Gardens could each absorb 150-200 students, geographically not sure from where since Ritchie Park is too far away. Twinbrook ES was removed from CIP, but has .55 FCI, just not sure where they are absorbed

DAMASCUS AND CLARKSBURG CLUSTERS:
Maybes:
- Clarksburg ES - built 1952 major improvement in 1993 - FCI ~.5, small school could be absorbed by Snowden Farm and Wims ES
- Woodfield ES - built 1962 last reno 1985, small school - could be absorbed by Cedar Grove & Lois P Rockwell with shifts
Less Likely but possible:
- Fox Chapel ES - built 1974 ~.5 FCI, not sure if these students could be absorbed elsewhere or not.
- Damascus ES - built 1934 last renovated in 1980 - removed from CIP ~.5 FCI

In the Poolesville Cluster - Monocacy ES - 167 students.

Monocacy ES is unique and probably protected from closure by its extreme remoteness. It's on an agricultural reserve in the middle of nowhere, over 7 miles from the next closest elementary schools (Poolesville and Cabin Branch). It's practically in Loudoun County. And its enrollment is consistently small but it doesn't shrink. Weast tried to close it in 2012 and got shot down.

Dufief to me looks like an obvious closure, and I say that as a graduate of many years ago. Except for the Learning Center. Which is a big "except." The local neighborhood is too small to be viable and could easily be split between Stone Mill and Travilah, but the Learning Center requires at least 6 extra classrooms on its own. That's a lot of facility space. And the Learning Center placement numbers around the county are only growing, so they are not going to shut one down. That may be enough to stop a closure of Dufief.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take a stab at this. I'm focusing on Whitman, Churchill, WJ, Wootton, QO and RM clusters given I have more familiarity with these. However I've taken a stab at some other clusters too:

WHITMAN CLUSTER:
Maybe-Less likely:
- Burning Tree ES: yes it's on CIP and has a high FCI, but the entire Whitman cluster has 340 seats available at the five elementary schools. Bradley Hills (193), Carderock (80) and Wood Acres (162) could almost fully absorb all of Burning Tree (469), however of course geography would need to be majorly changed. I'd also think it could need to involve creating a split articulation or redistricting kids from Burning Tree to a WJ ES or Seven Locks ES

CHURCHILL CLUSTER: NONE

WOOTTON CLUSTER:
This cluster is interesting given there are six elementary schools and all except one were last renovated/built prior to 2000. Cold Spring (1972), Dufief (1975), Fallsmead (1974), Stone Mill (1988), Travilah (1960 major reno in 1992), and Lakewood (1968 major reno 2003). Every school has excess capacity. Seems foolish to renovate the three oldest schools given that.
Very Likely:
- Cold Spring: I'd consider this almost 80-100%, I was shocked it was on the CIP given this, it's resident population is super tiny, the CES can be relocated to a diff Churchill or Wootton ES. I'd expect the resident students to be rezoned to one or more of either Beverly Farms - 181 seats available or Wayside - 170 seats available (both in Churchill cluster) or Ritchie Park - 66 seats available (RM cluster)
- Dufief ES: I think odds of this are lower than Cold Spring, but it too has a high FCI (.58), has a small enrollment (~260 students) and can be easily absorbed by two nearby schools (Stone Mill - 157 seats available and Travilah ES - 157 seats available

WJ CLUSTER: NONE
QO CLUSTER: NONE
RM CLUSTER: NONE - however Beall and College Gardens could each absorb 150-200 students, geographically not sure from where since Ritchie Park is too far away. Twinbrook ES was removed from CIP, but has .55 FCI, just not sure where they are absorbed

DAMASCUS AND CLARKSBURG CLUSTERS:
Maybes:
- Clarksburg ES - built 1952 major improvement in 1993 - FCI ~.5, small school could be absorbed by Snowden Farm and Wims ES
- Woodfield ES - built 1962 last reno 1985, small school - could be absorbed by Cedar Grove & Lois P Rockwell with shifts
Less Likely but possible:
- Fox Chapel ES - built 1974 ~.5 FCI, not sure if these students could be absorbed elsewhere or not.
- Damascus ES - built 1934 last renovated in 1980 - removed from CIP ~.5 FCI

In the Poolesville Cluster - Monocacy ES - 167 students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DuFief was just renovated PLUS it is one of the 13 learning centers in the county with students being bussed in from all over. Why in the world would they close DuFief??

You call that a renovation? They just added a vestibule. The inside is still just like the 1970's. When they had their 50 year celebration, at first I thought they had re-done the school in 70's design but nope, that's how it always looks.

Anonymous wrote:DuFief was just renovated PLUS it is one of the 13 learning centers in the county with students being bussed in from all over. Why in the world would they close DuFief??