Mass doesn't have MCPS and curriculum 2.0.

Nobody gives a rats ass about Arlington, Belmont or Lexington in Massachusetts. Its not even relevant. Don't be a Masshole.

"What's worse is that the very people who are pulling the magic word out of a hat are often the people who have moved their families to the very white parts of MoCo. What is more racist? To move to a very white part of the county to make sure your kid goes to a school with mostly white middle class kids, or to move to a diverse neighborhood, but expect the school system to help make the schools attractive to everyone who lives in those communities?"

+1
Calling it racism is just an excuse to avoid doing anything to try to actually address why the many MC families choosing to live in diverse neighborhoods are avoiding their local schools.

Lexington, MA also has an affordable housing program along with mid-range and $1M+ (and $2M) houses, all housing kids who attend school together:

http://www.lexingtonhousingpartnership.org/available.htm

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Lexington_MA_02420_M44982-05046?row=6

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/22-Butterfield-Rd_Lexington_MA_02420_M48305-36423?row=3

Somehow housing values have not only not declined in these towns; the schools are rated among the best in the state and country.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/massachusetts/districts/belmont/belmont-high-school-9277

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/massachusetts/districts/lexington/lexington-high-school-9414

Belmont, MA (where Mitt Romney lives) is another example:

Mid-range housing:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/107-Slade-St-1_Belmont_MA_02478_M39436-99743?row=1

Expensive housing:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/96-Country-Club-Ln_Belmont_MA_02478_M49723-25814?row=41

Low-income housing:

http://www.lowincomehousing.us/MA/belmont.html

Kids from ALL of these situations go to the same middle and high schools.

To answer a question that was asked earlier: in my experience, the white/Asian schools do not have better teachers or facilities or curricula or class sizes. (In fact they usually have larger class sizes.) They have children who are, generally, easier to teach and more likely to achieve high test scores. They are more likely to have 2-parent families with time and money to spend supporting their education, and they are more likely to have had quality preschool. I don't want people to think there is some magic teaching formula in the schools in the western part of the county that just needs to be brought east. My children are in a school kind of in the middle of those worlds, with a majority of middle class families and some working class families, and the balance seems to work well for everyone. I wish more schools could achieve that balance.

P.S. It's not about bonding. It's about not segregating in the school system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I know that MoCo is a huge school district and not a town. The fact remains, however, that MoCo makes the ongoing choice to segregate people by housing prices. It is a choice not to locate affordable housing in e.g. Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase. In making that choice, MoCo also chooses the achievement gap.

You're the type of fool that would cut off your nose to spite your face. The revenues that fund schools come from property taxes. The county is declining in revenue not growing- which is very bad. The close in areas don't see it but compared to Howard, Frederick, and VA the north and west of Montgomery County is stagnating, no appreciation and no increased revenues while the east is dropping fast.

You will not close the achievement gap by adding a few low income housing units to White Flint but its a good sound bite for the stupid. You will loe revenues that fund the schools.

Why do you think property taxes would decline if housing were mixed? Do you think that mixing socioeconomic groups in the same neighborhood would have a negative impact on housing values? This is not the case in the town I referred to above. On the contrary, property values are stable and rising. Housing has always been mixed. It is just a given.

I didn't say anything about "a few low income housing units to White Flint." I'm talking about massive policy overhaul.

Segregated housing is not a default. It is not the case everywhere. It is a choice.

Then if your town is truly Eden, give up the name. People segregate by race, culture and SES. So even if Josephine is living next to Gina, if Gina is a millionaire and Josephine is relying on her government check, it's unlikely they will be bonding anytime soon.

Not my town (because I'm not going to out myself), but e.g. Arlington, MA is a town with a similar profile:

Public housing:

http://arlingtonhousing.org/residents_family.php

Affordable housing:

http://housingcorparlington.org/affordable-apartment-program/capitol-square-apartments/

In the same town:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/83-Cutter-Hill-Rd_Arlington_MA_02474_M34028-94614?row=2

And in-between, economically:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/15-Hazel-Ter_Arlington_MA_02474_M41693-54626?row=3

Kids from all of these situations attend the SAME schools.

It's not Eden, but it's not segregated either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I know that MoCo is a huge school district and not a town. The fact remains, however, that MoCo makes the ongoing choice to segregate people by housing prices. It is a choice not to locate affordable housing in e.g. Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase. In making that choice, MoCo also chooses the achievement gap.

You're the type of fool that would cut off your nose to spite your face. The revenues that fund schools come from property taxes. The county is declining in revenue not growing- which is very bad. The close in areas don't see it but compared to Howard, Frederick, and VA the north and west of Montgomery County is stagnating, no appreciation and no increased revenues while the east is dropping fast.

You will not close the achievement gap by adding a few low income housing units to White Flint but its a good sound bite for the stupid. You will loe revenues that fund the schools.

Why do you think property taxes would decline if housing were mixed? Do you think that mixing socioeconomic groups in the same neighborhood would have a negative impact on housing values? This is not the case in the town I referred to above. On the contrary, property values are stable and rising. Housing has always been mixed. It is just a given.

I didn't say anything about "a few low income housing units to White Flint." I'm talking about massive policy overhaul.

Segregated housing is not a default. It is not the case everywhere. It is a choice.

Then if your town is truly Eden, give up the name. People segregate by race, culture and SES. So even if Josephine is living next to Gina, if Gina is a millionaire and Josephine is relying on her government check, it's unlikely they will be bonding anytime soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone comment on which practices used to address this issue are currently successful in other parts of the country?
Massive boundary changes seems unfair on those who (over)paid and busing is costly. How have other places attracted middle class families? Just wondering

Why is that unfair, specifically?

I think it is all about housing. In the town where my sister lives (and where I grew up), there is a wide variety of housing, from subsidized apartments to $1M+ houses. There are eight elementaries, one middle school, one high school. So the kids from Section 8 housing are attending the same schools as the ones with doctor/lawyer/professional parents.

Housing is very, very segregated by income in MoCo. This is the root of the problem. IMO

OK-so the section 8 people live next door to the $1 million houses? Probably not. You daid there are 8 elementaries so some way has to be decided for the kids to go to each school. My bet is it is location based.

Montgomery County is one huge school district as opposed to a town. There has to be some way to assign kids to each school. Spending time and money busing kids all over the place is a huge waste of limited dollars and the busing experiment in the 70"s did not prove to help at all on the education and social newtork of the community.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/features/2014/the_liberal_failure_on_race/how_the_left_s_embrace_of_busing_hurt_the_cause_of_integration.html

http://www.adversity.net/special/busing.htm

As soon as you add in low-income housing, people will move. I remember years ago, when I bought my TH, neighbors said that they were looking at THs in the same hood - but these THs were across the street from Section 8 housing. They said no way and moved over to my section. The THs they originally looked at were better made, larger and encircled a lake (man-made). But the Section 8 was enough to drive them away. And we're talking moderately priced THs - not mansions!

Call it white flight; call it bright flight. It's still flight.

So busing won't work b/c it's costly, but neither will the move to spread low-income housing among regular housing. People will take their money and move farther out where zoning laws are stricter and set at 2+ acres.

not gonna solve a damn thing until we all dig deep and realize that most of this area is filled with people who will never admit to having racist beliefs

Anonymous wrote:

I know that MoCo is a huge school district and not a town. The fact remains, however, that MoCo makes the ongoing choice to segregate people by housing prices. It is a choice not to locate affordable housing in e.g. Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase. In making that choice, MoCo also chooses the achievement gap.

You're the type of fool that would cut off your nose to spite your face. The revenues that fund schools come from property taxes. The county is declining in revenue not growing- which is very bad. The close in areas don't see it but compared to Howard, Frederick, and VA the north and west of Montgomery County is stagnating, no appreciation and no increased revenues while the east is dropping fast.

You will not close the achievement gap by adding a few low income housing units to White Flint but its a good sound bite for the stupid. You will loe revenues that fund the schools.

Why do you think property taxes would decline if housing were mixed? Do you think that mixing socioeconomic groups in the same neighborhood would have a negative impact on housing values? This is not the case in the town I referred to above. On the contrary, property values are stable and rising. Housing has always been mixed. It is just a given.

I didn't say anything about "a few low income housing units to White Flint." I'm talking about massive policy overhaul.

Segregated housing is not a default. It is not the case everywhere. It is a choice.

I know that MoCo is a huge school district and not a town. The fact remains, however, that MoCo makes the ongoing choice to segregate people by housing prices. It is a choice not to locate affordable housing in e.g. Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase. In making that choice, MoCo also chooses the achievement gap.

You're the type of fool that would cut off your nose to spite your face. The revenues that fund schools come from property taxes. The county is declining in revenue not growing- which is very bad. The close in areas don't see it but compared to Howard, Frederick, and VA the north and west of Montgomery County is stagnating, no appreciation and no increased revenues while the east is dropping fast.

You will not close the achievement gap by adding a few low income housing units to White Flint but its a good sound bite for the stupid. You will loe revenues that fund the schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone comment on which practices used to address this issue are currently successful in other parts of the country?
Massive boundary changes seems unfair on those who (over)paid and busing is costly. How have other places attracted middle class families? Just wondering

Why is that unfair, specifically?

I think it is all about housing. In the town where my sister lives (and where I grew up), there is a wide variety of housing, from subsidized apartments to $1M+ houses. There are eight elementaries, one middle school, one high school. So the kids from Section 8 housing are attending the same schools as the ones with doctor/lawyer/professional parents.

Housing is very, very segregated by income in MoCo. This is the root of the problem. IMO

OK-so the section 8 people live next door to the $1 million houses? Probably not. You daid there are 8 elementaries so some way has to be decided for the kids to go to each school. My bet is it is location based.

Montgomery County is one huge school district as opposed to a town. There has to be some way to assign kids to each school. Spending time and money busing kids all over the place is a huge waste of limited dollars and the busing experiment in the 70"s did not prove to help at all on the education and social newtork of the community.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/features/2014/the_liberal_failure_on_race/how_the_left_s_embrace_of_busing_hurt_the_cause_of_integration.html

http://www.adversity.net/special/busing.htm

Elementaries are location-based. Some are pretty homogeneous, socioeconomically, but others (like the one I attended) are not. Kids who live in apartment buildings attend elementary school with kids who live in $1M+ houses. And EVERYONE goes to the same middle and high schools.

I agree that busing is probably not the answer.

And we see that magnets are not the answer, either.

I know that MoCo is a huge school district and not a town. The fact remains, however, that MoCo makes the ongoing choice to segregate people by housing prices. It is a choice not to locate affordable housing in e.g. Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase. In making that choice, MoCo also chooses the achievement gap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone comment on which practices used to address this issue are currently successful in other parts of the country?
Massive boundary changes seems unfair on those who (over)paid and busing is costly. How have other places attracted middle class families? Just wondering

Why is that unfair, specifically?

I think it is all about housing. In the town where my sister lives (and where I grew up), there is a wide variety of housing, from subsidized apartments to $1M+ houses. There are eight elementaries, one middle school, one high school. So the kids from Section 8 housing are attending the same schools as the ones with doctor/lawyer/professional parents.

Housing is very, very segregated by income in MoCo. This is the root of the problem. IMO

OK-so the section 8 people live next door to the $1 million houses? Probably not. You daid there are 8 elementaries so some way has to be decided for the kids to go to each school. My bet is it is location based.

Montgomery County is one huge school district as opposed to a town. There has to be some way to assign kids to each school. Spending time and money busing kids all over the place is a huge waste of limited dollars and the busing experiment in the 70"s did not prove to help at all on the education and social newtork of the community.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/features/2014/the_liberal_failure_on_race/how_the_left_s_embrace_of_busing_hurt_the_cause_of_integration.html

http://www.adversity.net/special/busing.htm

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone comment on which practices used to address this issue are currently successful in other parts of the country?
Massive boundary changes seems unfair on those who (over)paid and busing is costly. How have other places attracted middle class families? Just wondering

Why is that unfair, specifically?

I think it is all about housing. In the town where my sister lives (and where I grew up), there is a wide variety of housing, from subsidized apartments to $1M+ houses. There are eight elementaries, one middle school, one high school. So the kids from Section 8 housing are attending the same schools as the ones with doctor/lawyer/professional parents.

Housing is very, very segregated by income in MoCo. This is the root of the problem. IMO