Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county council has approved construction of a huge new apartment complex in our neighborhood, but our local ES is already over capacity with no new updates/improvements on the horizon. Do the council and MCPS talk to each other about this sort of thing? How do they approve these types of projects without having a plan on where the kids can go (besides adding portables which is not a solution). There doesn’t seem to be any thought as to the long term impacts to our schools……

Portables ARE the permanent solution in MCPS. County council loves them and has been using them for 45 years. Schools will always be overcrowded. The council loves the optics of looking like poor Montgomery county needs more money for its sad overcrowded schools.
Overcrowded schools are needed to get the budget increased every year. MCPS is then free to waste as much money as they like.
Next year schools will still be overcrowded and MCPS will go back and cry for more money again.

Many schools are undercrowded, but somehow we never talk about undercrowded schools on DCUM.

They could redraw boundaries every few years like Howard County does, and it would address most of the overcrowding and save all the money they spend leasing 400+ portable classrooms. But there's no political will to deal with the inevitable complaints from parents.

It would not address most of the overcrowding. It would address some of the overcrowding.

In fact, MCPS paid a consultant to look into this issue. Remember the boundary analysis, which some posters on DCUM kept trying to alarm and horrify everyone with?

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/publicinfo/Boundary_Analysis/interim-report/02b_Utilization.pdf

Unfortunately the boundary analysis's numbers are no longer accurate. The data was already a year or two old even when the report came out. There have been building projects since, and more in progress now and about to start that will increase the overall capacity significantly.

Anonymous wrote:Ashburton ES has been been overcrowded for a long time yet they approved and started building the townhomes and SFH at Amalyn, now it will only get worse. In order to get around the building moratorium the developers promised some of the acreage to build an additional ES in the new development. Who knows if and when that will actually happen.

Ashburton ES is not a Title 1 school, and the "Amalyn" development is not a huge apartment complex. The Amalyn developer agreed to dedicate 4.3 acres to be conveyed to MCPS for an elementary school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county council has approved construction of a huge new apartment complex in our neighborhood, but our local ES is already over capacity with no new updates/improvements on the horizon. Do the council and MCPS talk to each other about this sort of thing? How do they approve these types of projects without having a plan on where the kids can go (besides adding portables which is not a solution). There doesn’t seem to be any thought as to the long term impacts to our schools……

Portables ARE the permanent solution in MCPS. County council loves them and has been using them for 45 years. Schools will always be overcrowded. The council loves the optics of looking like poor Montgomery county needs more money for its sad overcrowded schools.
Overcrowded schools are needed to get the budget increased every year. MCPS is then free to waste as much money as they like.
Next year schools will still be overcrowded and MCPS will go back and cry for more money again.

Many schools are undercrowded, but somehow we never talk about undercrowded schools on DCUM.

They could redraw boundaries every few years like Howard County does, and it would address most of the overcrowding and save all the money they spend leasing 400+ portable classrooms. But there's no political will to deal with the inevitable complaints from parents.

It would not address most of the overcrowding. It would address some of the overcrowding.

In fact, MCPS paid a consultant to look into this issue. Remember the boundary analysis, which some posters on DCUM kept trying to alarm and horrify everyone with?

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/publicinfo/Boundary_Analysis/interim-report/02b_Utilization.pdf

Ashburton ES has been been overcrowded for a long time yet they approved and started building the townhomes and SFH at Amalyn, now it will only get worse. In order to get around the building moratorium the developers promised some of the acreage to build an additional ES in the new development. Who knows if and when that will actually happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county council has approved construction of a huge new apartment complex in our neighborhood, but our local ES is already over capacity with no new updates/improvements on the horizon. Do the council and MCPS talk to each other about this sort of thing? How do they approve these types of projects without having a plan on where the kids can go (besides adding portables which is not a solution). There doesn’t seem to be any thought as to the long term impacts to our schools……

Portables ARE the permanent solution in MCPS. County council loves them and has been using them for 45 years. Schools will always be overcrowded. The council loves the optics of looking like poor Montgomery county needs more money for its sad overcrowded schools.
Overcrowded schools are needed to get the budget increased every year. MCPS is then free to waste as much money as they like.
Next year schools will still be overcrowded and MCPS will go back and cry for more money again.

Many schools are undercrowded, but somehow we never talk about undercrowded schools on DCUM.

They could redraw boundaries every few years like Howard County does, and it would address most of the overcrowding and save all the money they spend leasing 400+ portable classrooms. But there's no political will to deal with the inevitable complaints from parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county council has approved construction of a huge new apartment complex in our neighborhood, but our local ES is already over capacity with no new updates/improvements on the horizon. Do the council and MCPS talk to each other about this sort of thing? How do they approve these types of projects without having a plan on where the kids can go (besides adding portables which is not a solution). There doesn’t seem to be any thought as to the long term impacts to our schools……

Portables ARE the permanent solution in MCPS. County council loves them and has been using them for 45 years. Schools will always be overcrowded. The council loves the optics of looking like poor Montgomery county needs more money for its sad overcrowded schools.
Overcrowded schools are needed to get the budget increased every year. MCPS is then free to waste as much money as they like.
Next year schools will still be overcrowded and MCPS will go back and cry for more money again.

Many schools are undercrowded, but somehow we never talk about undercrowded schools on DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo expects 200,000 people to move in over the next 25 or so years. Gotta go somewhere. The council and planning have thrown their hands up at MCPS' lack of effort to manage their end of it.

They can limit building -> housing crunch

They can fund school facility needs -> increased taxes or budget crunch

They can do neither -> overcrowded schools

My guess is #3. They don't really care about this aspect of education and haven't for a couple of decades.

The approved six-year MCPS Capital Improvement Plan is $1.771 billion, including funding for the planning, design, and/or construction of 10 elementary school capacity projects, 3 middle school capacity projects, 4 high school capacity projects, and 11 major capital projects—5 at the elementary school level, 2 at the middle school level, and 4 at the high school level.

Oddly, OP still hasn't told us which school and which building project they're complaining about. Which is odd, because it's not possible to answer OP's questions without that information. Without it, all we know is that there is supposedly some Title 1 elementary school somewhere in Montgomery County which is over capacity and is near a site where a "huge new apartment complex" is supposed to be built.

For reference, the Title 1 elementary schools in 2023 are Arcola, Bel Pre, Brookhaven, Brown Station, Burnt Mills, Clopper Mill, Cresthaven, Capt. James Daly, Fairland, Gaithersburg, Galway, Georgian Forest, Greencastle, Harmony Hills, Highland, Jackson Road, JoAnn Leleck, Kemp Mill, Lake Seneca, New Hampshire Estates, Roscoe Nix, Oakview, Rolling Terrace, Sargent Shriver, South Lake, Stedwick, Strathmore, Summit Hall, Twinbrook, Viers Mill, Washington Grove, Watkins Mill, Weller Road, Wheaton Woods, Whetstone.

Of these Title 1 (in 2023) elementary schools, here are the ones that were over capacity in the fall of 2021: Burnt Mills (but a new addition will be finished in August 2023), Gaithersburg (but Harriet Tubman ES opened in August 2022), Greencastle (but a new addition will be finished in August 2025), JoAnn Leleck (Cresthaven and Roscoe Nix were supposed to get additions, but that didn't work; now there is a site selection process for a new grade 3-5 elementary school), Lake Seneca, Oakview, Sargent Shriver, South Lake (but there's an approved addition, which still might not be enough and then there might be boundary changes), Summit Hall (but Harriet Tubman ES opened in August 2022), Watkins Mill.

Does anyone know of a "huge new apartment complex" that is supposed to be built within the boundaries of JoAnn Leleck ES, Lake Seneca ES, Oakview ES, Sargent Shriver ES, South Lake ES, or Watkins Mill ES?

Anonymous wrote:The county council has approved construction of a huge new apartment complex in our neighborhood, but our local ES is already over capacity with no new updates/improvements on the horizon. Do the council and MCPS talk to each other about this sort of thing? How do they approve these types of projects without having a plan on where the kids can go (besides adding portables which is not a solution). There doesn’t seem to be any thought as to the long term impacts to our schools……

Portables ARE the permanent solution in MCPS. County council loves them and has been using them for 45 years. Schools will always be overcrowded. The council loves the optics of looking like poor Montgomery county needs more money for its sad overcrowded schools.
Overcrowded schools are needed to get the budget increased every year. MCPS is then free to waste as much money as they like.
Next year schools will still be overcrowded and MCPS will go back and cry for more money again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county council has approved construction of a huge new apartment complex in our neighborhood, but our local ES is already over capacity with no new updates/improvements on the horizon. Do the council and MCPS talk to each other about this sort of thing? How do they approve these types of projects without having a plan on where the kids can go (besides adding portables which is not a solution). There doesn’t seem to be any thought as to the long term impacts to our schools……

OP, the county council does not approve construction, that's not how it works.

What is your neighborhood? Which is your local ES?

LOL it is exactly how it works. They hire the planning board to do exactly what they want.
Nice try at deflecting responsibility, but you failed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo expects 200,000 people to move in over the next 25 or so years. Gotta go somewhere. The council and planning have thrown their hands up at MCPS' lack of effort to manage their end of it.

They can limit building -> housing crunch

They can fund school facility needs -> increased taxes or budget crunch

They can do neither -> overcrowded schools

My guess is #3. They don't really care about this aspect of education and haven't for a couple of decades.

The lack of action will create a crisis. The only solution will be to raise taxes in order to improve schools. Taxes will be raised and then the funds will be diverted to whatever. It's happened before it will happen again. Same old playbook.

Anonymous wrote:MoCo expects 200,000 people to move in over the next 25 or so years. Gotta go somewhere. The council and planning have thrown their hands up at MCPS' lack of effort to manage their end of it.

They can limit building -> housing crunch

They can fund school facility needs -> increased taxes or budget crunch

They can do neither -> overcrowded schools

My guess is #3. They don't really care about this aspect of education and haven't for a couple of decades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The council just wants things to get really bad so they can get people to accept even more tax increases to remedy a problem they created.

You don't even know where the OP is complaining about.

It’s a problem throughout the county. County leadership is corrupt and inept. They have been over-developing the county for years. Without any thought to the negative impact it has had on our school system.

Look at how they pushed through the Thrive plan. Most people in the county were against it, but hey forced it though anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. This is an issue. Apartments count less towards school capacity as we still operate under ancient assumptions that families dont live there. Take this up with the council and school board. This is a major problem with condo and apartment construction all over the county. Of course we should build more housing. But then we should update the school capacity estimators based on units build to more closely resemble what actually happens and apply to the developers and use those funds to build more schools!!

THIS

Twinbrook ES is facing the same issue. Rampant over-development. The County Council allows developers to build, without requiring the appropriate infrastructure for the areas.

We get what we vote for in Montgomery County.

Twinbrook ES is UNDER capacity.

I’ve been wondering about this - then what’s with the huge permanent trailers at Twinbrook?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The council just wants things to get really bad so they can get people to accept even more tax increases to remedy a problem they created.

You don't even know where the OP is complaining about.

It doesn't matter. They allow new construction in any area regardless of whether schools are already far over capacity.

So, you're opposed to all new construction, anywhere? Wow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The council just wants things to get really bad so they can get people to accept even more tax increases to remedy a problem they created.

You don't even know where the OP is complaining about.

It doesn't matter. They allow new construction in any area regardless of whether schools are already far over capacity.