Anonymous
10/30/2022 08:07
Subject: 2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:WJ has been overcrowded for years. The Cluster advocated for reopening Woodward for ages. But the MCPS staff in charge of this (Long Range Capital Planning) are absolutely incompetent. The Council hasn't helped by delaying funding
It would also been less bad if they hadn't bussed the Kensington kids there from halfway across the county so they could avoid their less affluent neighbors.
Anonymous
10/30/2022 08:05
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If Takoma Park and Eastern both have so many empty seats, why don't they expand the magnet programs to allow more kids to attend each year?
The common spaces at overcrowded. They need to remodel the cafeteria and gym and auditorium. The building hasn't been updated since the 70's or earlier
TKMS had an addition and renovations a few years ago, but you’re correct that Eastern has had nothing done for decades.
I’m not sure whether anything’s changed in the last couple of years, but they couldn’t even get any portables when my kid was there. The lunchroom was a nightmare, even with three lunch periods, and my kid reported there were classes that met in the hallways at times. They were doing the best they could with what they were given, but years of advocacy hadn’t helped push Eastern up the list even for a remodel, let alone an expansion.
Even though their current high school is almost 400 students over capacity, my kid says it still doesn’t feel as crowded as Eastern used to.
Now there are four lunch periods. Classes still meet daily in the 900 hallway.
Eastern has 44 regular classrooms. 893 students enrolled. That averages out to <21 per classroom. I don't understand why classes are meeting in the hallway. This seems like a scheduling/administration problem, not a lack of physical space.
It is partly an issue of student schedules because there are students who may be in a class of 10 for math or reading, but 27 for science or social studies. However, there are some tiny classrooms, especially on the 200 and 700 hallway. The classes that meet in the 900 hallway are ESOL mostly. Those kids’ parents won’t feel empowered to complain. If 8th grade Humanities was held in a hallway, the school would have been rebuilt a decade ago.
That's typical MCPS!
Anonymous
10/30/2022 07:55
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If Takoma Park and Eastern both have so many empty seats, why don't they expand the magnet programs to allow more kids to attend each year?
The common spaces at overcrowded. They need to remodel the cafeteria and gym and auditorium. The building hasn't been updated since the 70's or earlier
TKMS had an addition and renovations a few years ago, but you’re correct that Eastern has had nothing done for decades.
I’m not sure whether anything’s changed in the last couple of years, but they couldn’t even get any portables when my kid was there. The lunchroom was a nightmare, even with three lunch periods, and my kid reported there were classes that met in the hallways at times. They were doing the best they could with what they were given, but years of advocacy hadn’t helped push Eastern up the list even for a remodel, let alone an expansion.
Even though their current high school is almost 400 students over capacity, my kid says it still doesn’t feel as crowded as Eastern used to.
Now there are four lunch periods. Classes still meet daily in the 900 hallway.
Eastern has 44 regular classrooms. 893 students enrolled. That averages out to <21 per classroom. I don't understand why classes are meeting in the hallway. This seems like a scheduling/administration problem, not a lack of physical space.
It is partly an issue of student schedules because there are students who may be in a class of 10 for math or reading, but 27 for science or social studies. However, there are some tiny classrooms, especially on the 200 and 700 hallway. The classes that meet in the 900 hallway are ESOL mostly. Those kids’ parents won’t feel empowered to complain. If 8th grade Humanities was held in a hallway, the school would have been rebuilt a decade ago.
Anonymous
10/30/2022 07:27
Subject: 2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
WJ has been overcrowded for years. The Cluster advocated for reopening Woodward for ages. But the MCPS staff in charge of this (Long Range Capital Planning) are absolutely incompetent. The Council hasn't helped by delaying funding
Anonymous
10/30/2022 06:55
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:And these are the numbers per school:
https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP24_AppendixE.pdf
This is really eye opening. Walter Johnson is almost 700 kids OVER capacity?!? But then schools like Shady Grove MS are almost 400 UNDER?!?
Why do they insist on busing so many kids all the way from Kensington there when they could attend a school closer to home or at least a less crowded one like Kennedy?
The DCC is also overcrowded.
Places like BCC and Kennedy are below capacity and could easily help offload nearby schools.
Not really, when you look at the 2028–2029 School Year columns. Kennedy is projected to be over capacity by then, and BCC will be at capacity.
But they are less crowded than any other nearby school and should be used to reduce the burden on other areas.
One of the four criteria for boundaries is stability. Moving some kids just to move them again in a few years isn't their policy.
This applies to the kids, not the neighborhoods. If a students starts 9th grade in one school and is shifted in 10th grade to another, they won't be shifted again in 11th (and 12th is always offered to be able to stay.) So, in theory, HS boundaries could be tweaked every 4 years. Similar idea at the ES level, except every 6 years.
I think MCPS has gone too long with the ideas that boundaries are fixed. Every time there is new housing, there are new kids to enroll. 20 years later, most kids in that neighborhood have aged out. Watch Clarksburg area student population crash in 20 years like Derwood (Magruder HS) as parents decide to age in place rather than sell to younger families. MCPS would be better off with a process similar to MSMC or DCC where students choose between 2 or 3 closest schools upon entering (K/1, 6, 9) and are placed to help balanced enrollment, with proximity and sibling link being an important factor. That would allow a gradual shift over time by neighborhood from one school to another as the number of students in the area change.
Some of the gerrymandered boundires especially those of the segregated schools could use an update. Many of them are horribly inefficient and run up transportation costs to avoid diversity since they were set half a century ago.
HoCo redraws boundaries every couple of years. MCPS should do something similar.
You guys forget that how many parents were threatening to sue if their house prices decline whenever there's a threat of boundary study. It's insane. Dcps redoes school boundaries every ten years I think, it's built into the regulations
MCPS gets sued all the time. This wouldn't stop them. Also this would get laughed out of court. There was never any guarantee. Houses don't come with a permanent school assignment and I can't imagine it would have any real impact.
Anonymous
10/30/2022 02:06
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:And these are the numbers per school:
https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP24_AppendixE.pdf
This is really eye opening. Walter Johnson is almost 700 kids OVER capacity?!? But then schools like Shady Grove MS are almost 400 UNDER?!?
Why do they insist on busing so many kids all the way from Kensington there when they could attend a school closer to home or at least a less crowded one like Kennedy?
The DCC is also overcrowded.
Places like BCC and Kennedy are below capacity and could easily help offload nearby schools.
Not really, when you look at the 2028–2029 School Year columns. Kennedy is projected to be over capacity by then, and BCC will be at capacity.
But they are less crowded than any other nearby school and should be used to reduce the burden on other areas.
One of the four criteria for boundaries is stability. Moving some kids just to move them again in a few years isn't their policy.
This applies to the kids, not the neighborhoods. If a students starts 9th grade in one school and is shifted in 10th grade to another, they won't be shifted again in 11th (and 12th is always offered to be able to stay.) So, in theory, HS boundaries could be tweaked every 4 years. Similar idea at the ES level, except every 6 years.
I think MCPS has gone too long with the ideas that boundaries are fixed. Every time there is new housing, there are new kids to enroll. 20 years later, most kids in that neighborhood have aged out. Watch Clarksburg area student population crash in 20 years like Derwood (Magruder HS) as parents decide to age in place rather than sell to younger families. MCPS would be better off with a process similar to MSMC or DCC where students choose between 2 or 3 closest schools upon entering (K/1, 6, 9) and are placed to help balanced enrollment, with proximity and sibling link being an important factor. That would allow a gradual shift over time by neighborhood from one school to another as the number of students in the area change.
Some of the gerrymandered boundires especially those of the segregated schools could use an update. Many of them are horribly inefficient and run up transportation costs to avoid diversity since they were set half a century ago.
HoCo redraws boundaries every couple of years. MCPS should do something similar.
You guys forget that how many parents were threatening to sue if their house prices decline whenever there's a threat of boundary study. It's insane. Dcps redoes school boundaries every ten years I think, it's built into the regulations
Anonymous
10/29/2022 11:47
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If Takoma Park and Eastern both have so many empty seats, why don't they expand the magnet programs to allow more kids to attend each year?
The common spaces at overcrowded. They need to remodel the cafeteria and gym and auditorium. The building hasn't been updated since the 70's or earlier
Also, MCPS would have to hire more teachers qualified and willing to teach the three to four magnet courses per grade level. There simply aren’t that many in the county currently.
Yes, I think for the TPMS program, the current numbers mean 1 mag teacher can teach all program students for a grade/subj (eg, 1 teacher for mag geom, 1 for mag 7th grade science). If they increased, it might mean having to rejig the program and split mag courses between teachers which gets tricky.
Anonymous
10/29/2022 11:15
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If Takoma Park and Eastern both have so many empty seats, why don't they expand the magnet programs to allow more kids to attend each year?
The common spaces at overcrowded. They need to remodel the cafeteria and gym and auditorium. The building hasn't been updated since the 70's or earlier
TKMS had an addition and renovations a few years ago, but you’re correct that Eastern has had nothing done for decades.
I’m not sure whether anything’s changed in the last couple of years, but they couldn’t even get any portables when my kid was there. The lunchroom was a nightmare, even with three lunch periods, and my kid reported there were classes that met in the hallways at times. They were doing the best they could with what they were given, but years of advocacy hadn’t helped push Eastern up the list even for a remodel, let alone an expansion.
Even though their current high school is almost 400 students over capacity, my kid says it still doesn’t feel as crowded as Eastern used to.
Now there are four lunch periods. Classes still meet daily in the 900 hallway.
Eastern has 44 regular classrooms. 893 students enrolled. That averages out to <21 per classroom. I don't understand why classes are meeting in the hallway. This seems like a scheduling/administration problem, not a lack of physical space.
Anonymous
10/29/2022 09:50
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:And these are the numbers per school:
https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP24_AppendixE.pdf
This is really eye opening. Walter Johnson is almost 700 kids OVER capacity?!? But then schools like Shady Grove MS are almost 400 UNDER?!?
Why do they insist on busing so many kids all the way from Kensington there when they could attend a school closer to home or at least a less crowded one like Kennedy?
The DCC is also overcrowded.
Places like BCC and Kennedy are below capacity and could easily help offload nearby schools.
Not really, when you look at the 2028–2029 School Year columns. Kennedy is projected to be over capacity by then, and BCC will be at capacity.
But they are less crowded than any other nearby school and should be used to reduce the burden on other areas.
One of the four criteria for boundaries is stability. Moving some kids just to move them again in a few years isn't their policy.
This applies to the kids, not the neighborhoods. If a students starts 9th grade in one school and is shifted in 10th grade to another, they won't be shifted again in 11th (and 12th is always offered to be able to stay.) So, in theory, HS boundaries could be tweaked every 4 years. Similar idea at the ES level, except every 6 years.
I think MCPS has gone too long with the ideas that boundaries are fixed. Every time there is new housing, there are new kids to enroll. 20 years later, most kids in that neighborhood have aged out. Watch Clarksburg area student population crash in 20 years like Derwood (Magruder HS) as parents decide to age in place rather than sell to younger families. MCPS would be better off with a process similar to MSMC or DCC where students choose between 2 or 3 closest schools upon entering (K/1, 6, 9) and are placed to help balanced enrollment, with proximity and sibling link being an important factor. That would allow a gradual shift over time by neighborhood from one school to another as the number of students in the area change.
Some of the gerrymandered boundires especially those of the segregated schools could use an update. Many of them are horribly inefficient and run up transportation costs to avoid diversity since they were set half a century ago.
HoCo redraws boundaries every couple of years. MCPS should do something similar.
Anonymous
10/29/2022 09:07
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:And these are the numbers per school:
https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP24_AppendixE.pdf
This is really eye opening. Walter Johnson is almost 700 kids OVER capacity?!? But then schools like Shady Grove MS are almost 400 UNDER?!?
Why do they insist on busing so many kids all the way from Kensington there when they could attend a school closer to home or at least a less crowded one like Kennedy?
The DCC is also overcrowded.
Places like BCC and Kennedy are below capacity and could easily help offload nearby schools.
Not really, when you look at the 2028–2029 School Year columns. Kennedy is projected to be over capacity by then, and BCC will be at capacity.
But they are less crowded than any other nearby school and should be used to reduce the burden on other areas.
One of the four criteria for boundaries is stability. Moving some kids just to move them again in a few years isn't their policy.
This applies to the kids, not the neighborhoods. If a students starts 9th grade in one school and is shifted in 10th grade to another, they won't be shifted again in 11th (and 12th is always offered to be able to stay.) So, in theory, HS boundaries could be tweaked every 4 years. Similar idea at the ES level, except every 6 years.
I think MCPS has gone too long with the ideas that boundaries are fixed. Every time there is new housing, there are new kids to enroll. 20 years later, most kids in that neighborhood have aged out. Watch Clarksburg area student population crash in 20 years like Derwood (Magruder HS) as parents decide to age in place rather than sell to younger families. MCPS would be better off with a process similar to MSMC or DCC where students choose between 2 or 3 closest schools upon entering (K/1, 6, 9) and are placed to help balanced enrollment, with proximity and sibling link being an important factor. That would allow a gradual shift over time by neighborhood from one school to another as the number of students in the area change.
Some of the gerrymandered boundires especially those of the segregated schools could use an update. Many of them are horribly inefficient and run up transportation costs to avoid diversity since they were set half a century ago.
Anonymous
10/29/2022 08:57
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:And these are the numbers per school:
https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP24_AppendixE.pdf
This is really eye opening. Walter Johnson is almost 700 kids OVER capacity?!? But then schools like Shady Grove MS are almost 400 UNDER?!?
Why do they insist on busing so many kids all the way from Kensington there when they could attend a school closer to home or at least a less crowded one like Kennedy?
The DCC is also overcrowded.
Places like BCC and Kennedy are below capacity and could easily help offload nearby schools.
Not really, when you look at the 2028–2029 School Year columns. Kennedy is projected to be over capacity by then, and BCC will be at capacity.
But they are less crowded than any other nearby school and should be used to reduce the burden on other areas.
One of the four criteria for boundaries is stability. Moving some kids just to move them again in a few years isn't their policy.
This applies to the kids, not the neighborhoods. If a students starts 9th grade in one school and is shifted in 10th grade to another, they won't be shifted again in 11th (and 12th is always offered to be able to stay.) So, in theory, HS boundaries could be tweaked every 4 years. Similar idea at the ES level, except every 6 years.
I think MCPS has gone too long with the ideas that boundaries are fixed. Every time there is new housing, there are new kids to enroll. 20 years later, most kids in that neighborhood have aged out. Watch Clarksburg area student population crash in 20 years like Derwood (Magruder HS) as parents decide to age in place rather than sell to younger families. MCPS would be better off with a process similar to MSMC or DCC where students choose between 2 or 3 closest schools upon entering (K/1, 6, 9) and are placed to help balanced enrollment, with proximity and sibling link being an important factor. That would allow a gradual shift over time by neighborhood from one school to another as the number of students in the area change.
Anonymous
10/29/2022 06:09
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If Takoma Park and Eastern both have so many empty seats, why don't they expand the magnet programs to allow more kids to attend each year?
The common spaces at overcrowded. They need to remodel the cafeteria and gym and auditorium. The building hasn't been updated since the 70's or earlier
TKMS had an addition and renovations a few years ago, but you’re correct that Eastern has had nothing done for decades.
I’m not sure whether anything’s changed in the last couple of years, but they couldn’t even get any portables when my kid was there. The lunchroom was a nightmare, even with three lunch periods, and my kid reported there were classes that met in the hallways at times. They were doing the best they could with what they were given, but years of advocacy hadn’t helped push Eastern up the list even for a remodel, let alone an expansion.
Even though their current high school is almost 400 students over capacity, my kid says it still doesn’t feel as crowded as Eastern used to.
Now there are four lunch periods. Classes still meet daily in the 900 hallway.
Anonymous
10/29/2022 06:08
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If Takoma Park and Eastern both have so many empty seats, why don't they expand the magnet programs to allow more kids to attend each year?
The common spaces at overcrowded. They need to remodel the cafeteria and gym and auditorium. The building hasn't been updated since the 70's or earlier
Also, MCPS would have to hire more teachers qualified and willing to teach the three to four magnet courses per grade level. There simply aren’t that many in the county currently.
Anonymous
10/28/2022 23:24
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If Takoma Park and Eastern both have so many empty seats, why don't they expand the magnet programs to allow more kids to attend each year?
The common spaces at overcrowded. They need to remodel the cafeteria and gym and auditorium. The building hasn't been updated since the 70's or earlier
TKMS had an addition and renovations a few years ago, but you’re correct that Eastern has had nothing done for decades.
I’m not sure whether anything’s changed in the last couple of years, but they couldn’t even get any portables when my kid was there. The lunchroom was a nightmare, even with three lunch periods, and my kid reported there were classes that met in the hallways at times. They were doing the best they could with what they were given, but years of advocacy hadn’t helped push Eastern up the list even for a remodel, let alone an expansion.
Even though their current high school is almost 400 students over capacity, my kid says it still doesn’t feel as crowded as Eastern used to.
Matter how much mcps wants to talk a good game about equity they don't necessarily apply that to Capital building and improvements especially when on paper Eastern is still not considered overcrowded but it's impossible to fit all the kids in the cafeteria
Anonymous
10/28/2022 19:18
Subject: Re:2022-23 preliminary enrollment numbers
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:And these are the numbers per school:
https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP24_AppendixE.pdf
This is really eye opening. Walter Johnson is almost 700 kids OVER capacity?!? But then schools like Shady Grove MS are almost 400 UNDER?!?
Why do they insist on busing so many kids all the way from Kensington there when they could attend a school closer to home or at least a less crowded one like Kennedy?
The DCC is also overcrowded.
Places like BCC and Kennedy are below capacity and could easily help offload nearby schools.
Not really, when you look at the 2028–2029 School Year columns. Kennedy is projected to be over capacity by then, and BCC will be at capacity.
But they are less crowded than any other nearby school and should be used to reduce the burden on other areas.
One of the four criteria for boundaries is stability. Moving some kids just to move them again in a few years isn't their policy.
And by the time a study and the associated changes were phased in, those schools are projected to be at capacity anyway. The under/overenrollments aren’t drastic enough to justify the hoops they’d have to jump through for such comparatively small gains.