Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe anything is "safe" at this point. My kid rides a bus to a middle school where there is not a single walker. All the kids in the same neighborhood, even those across the street or on the same block as the middle school take a bus to another middle school that is 10 minutes away.

That's a school without a walk zone. But if your school has a walk zone (which almost all of them do), and you live within that walk zone, then you will be "safe" to remain a walker.

LOL nothing is safe. Our school has homes right next to it. They all go to another school because of racial balancing. No house is in a safe zone.

Because they're not in the walk zone. Why is this so hard to understand?

It may help to look at a boundary study map. Here are some from the last completed study:

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/ClarksburgES9_OptionsRound1package.pdf

You can see that each school zone has been further divided into numbered zones. The zones labeled W1, L1, and G1 are the MCPS-designated "walk zones." These zones ending with 1 were excluded from the reassignment options so those students could remain walkers. Zones with numbers other than 1 were eligible to be included in the reassignment options, because those neighborhoods were already getting bus service. (There was no zone C1 because Clarksburg ES has no walk zone.)

The exception to this would be where you have two schools located so close to each other that their walk zones overlap. In this case, students in the overlapping area could possibly be reassigned from one school to the other, but would still remain walkers.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all this redrawing the boundaries talk, is there a distance you live from a school where they will not be allowed to change your designated school? Like if you live on the same block as a school? If you’re considered a walker and don’t have an assigned bus? If you live within a half mile? Or is no one safe?

Ask Horizon Hill neighborhood - who literally back up to Frost MS and Wootton HS and were re-zoned and bused to JW and RM 2-3 miles away.

It also lowered their home values by $50K at the time and about $100-$130K now.

This happened in 1987. Y'all need to get over it.

DP.. It's not a question of "getting over it". It's a direct response to OP's question - that this kind of thing has happened before, and could potentially happen again for diversity.

If MCPS is serious about "walk zones", then during the Crown HS boundary analysis, they should look at making that zone back to a walk zone. They are within a walking distance to Wootton/Frost but currently have to take a bus ride to RM/JW. If MCPS does this, then we know that they are serious about "walk zones". If they don't, then we know that, indeed, "diversity" trumps everything.

Looking at things that have been decided less than 35 years ago is more telling. The last time they did a HS boundary study, in 2019, there were changes made such that areas of the Northwest cluster which had been very walkable to Seneca Valley were rightly rezoned to Seneca Valley. There was also a part of the Clarksburg cluster which was originally included in an area to be rezoned to SV, but was ultimately kept at Clarksburg due to a newly available walkable option there. I see no reason to doubt MCPS when they have said, repeatedly, that they are aiming to maximize walkers, and when they have been rezoning neighborhoods accordingly.

PP here. Yes, I do think that the upcounty boundary decision indicates that they are indeed moving in the walk zone direction, however, I am not sure if they will do this with HH because HH brings a lot of SES diversity to RM. Fallsgrove will likely be zoned for Crown HS. This is why what they do with HH will be more telling.

????????????????

The reason why HH was rezoned to RM back in the 80s was to bring UMC income to RMHS.

That was in 1987. It is now 2023. Many things have changed in Montgomery County since 1987.

Yes, including the fact that Crown HS will be built and some UMC from RM cluster will be zoned to Crown. More than likely, HH will not go to Crown, but it could be rezoned to Wootton if they are serious about the walk factor.

So, a split articulation for Ritchie Park ES? Or should middle-school and high-school students cross Falls Road as walkers?

New Mark Commons walkers already cross Falls Rd AND Great Falls Rd to get to JW.

Why can't middle and high schoolers cross Falls Rd and walk down Wootton. Super easy and better than having 3 buses

? NMC is *MUCH* closer to RM than Wootton. It should be considered walking distance to RM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe anything is "safe" at this point. My kid rides a bus to a middle school where there is not a single walker. All the kids in the same neighborhood, even those across the street or on the same block as the middle school take a bus to another middle school that is 10 minutes away.

That's a school without a walk zone. But if your school has a walk zone (which almost all of them do), and you live within that walk zone, then you will be "safe" to remain a walker.

LOL nothing is safe. Our school has homes right next to it. They all go to another school because of racial balancing. No house is in a safe zone.

Because they're not in the walk zone. Why is this so hard to understand?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe anything is "safe" at this point. My kid rides a bus to a middle school where there is not a single walker. All the kids in the same neighborhood, even those across the street or on the same block as the middle school take a bus to another middle school that is 10 minutes away.

That's a school without a walk zone. But if your school has a walk zone (which almost all of them do), and you live within that walk zone, then you will be "safe" to remain a walker.

LOL nothing is safe. Our school has homes right next to it. They all go to another school because of racial balancing. No house is in a safe zone.

Name the school, please?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe anything is "safe" at this point. My kid rides a bus to a middle school where there is not a single walker. All the kids in the same neighborhood, even those across the street or on the same block as the middle school take a bus to another middle school that is 10 minutes away.

That's a school without a walk zone. But if your school has a walk zone (which almost all of them do), and you live within that walk zone, then you will be "safe" to remain a walker.

LOL nothing is safe. Our school has homes right next to it. They all go to another school because of racial balancing. No house is in a safe zone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all this redrawing the boundaries talk, is there a distance you live from a school where they will not be allowed to change your designated school? Like if you live on the same block as a school? If you’re considered a walker and don’t have an assigned bus? If you live within a half mile? Or is no one safe?

Ask Horizon Hill neighborhood - who literally back up to Frost MS and Wootton HS and were re-zoned and bused to JW and RM 2-3 miles away.

It also lowered their home values by $50K at the time and about $100-$130K now.

That’s terrible and a huge concern for many. Not just moving out of a walkable neighborhood school, but losing a huge amount of equity on a house. That is a lot of money!

Who can forget the Rezoning Of Horizon Hill in 1987? It's right up there with Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Bleeding Kansas, the Stamp Act...

I think anyone here would be upset if the equity in their home dropped $150K.

It started at $50K. A couple more pages, and their home value will have dropped $500K at this rate.

Presumably there are also folks whose property value went up with the great rezoning of horizon him? Yay for them?

And maybe someday people will figure out student success has more to do with parents than school assignment.

All the more reason people shouldn't pay extra for a home (currently) zoned for School A vs. School B.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all this redrawing the boundaries talk, is there a distance you live from a school where they will not be allowed to change your designated school? Like if you live on the same block as a school? If you’re considered a walker and don’t have an assigned bus? If you live within a half mile? Or is no one safe?

Ask Horizon Hill neighborhood - who literally back up to Frost MS and Wootton HS and were re-zoned and bused to JW and RM 2-3 miles away.

It also lowered their home values by $50K at the time and about $100-$130K now.

That’s terrible and a huge concern for many. Not just moving out of a walkable neighborhood school, but losing a huge amount of equity on a house. That is a lot of money!

Who can forget the Rezoning Of Horizon Hill in 1987? It's right up there with Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Bleeding Kansas, the Stamp Act...

I think anyone here would be upset if the equity in their home dropped $150K.

It started at $50K. A couple more pages, and their home value will have dropped $500K at this rate.

Presumably there are also folks whose property value went up with the great rezoning of horizon him? Yay for them?

And maybe someday people will figure out student success has more to do with parents than school assignment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all this redrawing the boundaries talk, is there a distance you live from a school where they will not be allowed to change your designated school? Like if you live on the same block as a school? If you’re considered a walker and don’t have an assigned bus? If you live within a half mile? Or is no one safe?

Ask Horizon Hill neighborhood - who literally back up to Frost MS and Wootton HS and were re-zoned and bused to JW and RM 2-3 miles away.

It also lowered their home values by $50K at the time and about $100-$130K now.

This happened in 1987. Y'all need to get over it.

DP.. It's not a question of "getting over it". It's a direct response to OP's question - that this kind of thing has happened before, and could potentially happen again for diversity.

If MCPS is serious about "walk zones", then during the Crown HS boundary analysis, they should look at making that zone back to a walk zone. They are within a walking distance to Wootton/Frost but currently have to take a bus ride to RM/JW. If MCPS does this, then we know that they are serious about "walk zones". If they don't, then we know that, indeed, "diversity" trumps everything.

Looking at things that have been decided less than 35 years ago is more telling. The last time they did a HS boundary study, in 2019, there were changes made such that areas of the Northwest cluster which had been very walkable to Seneca Valley were rightly rezoned to Seneca Valley. There was also a part of the Clarksburg cluster which was originally included in an area to be rezoned to SV, but was ultimately kept at Clarksburg due to a newly available walkable option there. I see no reason to doubt MCPS when they have said, repeatedly, that they are aiming to maximize walkers, and when they have been rezoning neighborhoods accordingly.

PP here. Yes, I do think that the upcounty boundary decision indicates that they are indeed moving in the walk zone direction, however, I am not sure if they will do this with HH because HH brings a lot of SES diversity to RM. Fallsgrove will likely be zoned for Crown HS. This is why what they do with HH will be more telling.

????????????????

The reason why HH was rezoned to RM back in the 80s was to bring UMC income to RMHS.

That was in 1987. It is now 2023. Many things have changed in Montgomery County since 1987.

HH has houses that have sold around the $1M mark recently. I know this is poor for DCUM but saying it’s bringing SES diversity to RM is absurd.

To be fair, they didn't say what kind of diversity. In a high-poverty school (which RM isn't), students from affluent households add diversity.

exactly, that was the point. The FARMs rate at RM was much higher prior to the rezoning back in the 80s. HH brought the UMC diversity to RM.

I know things are different now, but with Crown HS being built, and taking Fallsgrove will take a good chunk of umc neighborhoods out of RM. Obviously, no one knows what the boundary will look like when all is said and done, but my point was that if they are serious about walk zones, then HH would need to go back to Wootton.

To a PP's point, my understanding is that RP went to JWMS, but then to Wootton HS, so yes, there could be some split articulation after MS, but that is not unusual here.

No RP went to Frost/Wootton - as walkers.

I believe there will be a lot of restructuring. I think King Farm will finally not be split down the middle and the entire neightborhood will go to Gaithersburg HS to increase more UMC diversity.
Fallsgrove will go to Crown
New development on the Pike and Tower Oaks will go to RM

Overall these changes will make RM worse than it already has been lately. But at least it won't be overcrowded. It's embarrassing they rejected an additional unfinished floor shell be built when they were approving plans of the new RM. They already have the smallest parking lot and it is full of portables.

Meaning what?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all this redrawing the boundaries talk, is there a distance you live from a school where they will not be allowed to change your designated school? Like if you live on the same block as a school? If you’re considered a walker and don’t have an assigned bus? If you live within a half mile? Or is no one safe?

Ask Horizon Hill neighborhood - who literally back up to Frost MS and Wootton HS and were re-zoned and bused to JW and RM 2-3 miles away.

It also lowered their home values by $50K at the time and about $100-$130K now.

That’s terrible and a huge concern for many. Not just moving out of a walkable neighborhood school, but losing a huge amount of equity on a house. That is a lot of money!

Who can forget the Rezoning Of Horizon Hill in 1987? It's right up there with Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Bleeding Kansas, the Stamp Act...

I think anyone here would be upset if the equity in their home dropped $150K.

It started at $50K. A couple more pages, and their home value will have dropped $500K at this rate.

Presumably there are also folks whose property value went up with the great rezoning of horizon him? Yay for them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe anything is "safe" at this point. My kid rides a bus to a middle school where there is not a single walker. All the kids in the same neighborhood, even those across the street or on the same block as the middle school take a bus to another middle school that is 10 minutes away.

That's a school without a walk zone. But if your school has a walk zone (which almost all of them do), and you live within that walk zone, then you will be "safe" to remain a walker.

When there are houses that are literally a short walking distance of the school, yes, there is a walk zone. MCPS just chooses not to have it to justify its decisions. At the upcounty boundary study, they had an opportunity to revise the boundaries for Neelsville Middle School so that kids within walking distance to that school can attend and walk to that school instead of continuing to take the bus to MLK MS. They didn't do that. Demographics is their primary priority; the other factors are secondary. Full stop.

Nope. If there is no safe walking route, then it is not a walk zone, even if it's literally across the street (355 and Germantown Road, in the case of Neelsville Middle School). You want more kids to walk? Then you should push the county and the state for safe routes to school.

I'm talking about Stratford Knolls community which is on the same side of 355 as Neelsville Middle School- where homes are less than a mile away from the school. I don't know how much safer you want those kids to walk. All the kids have to do is walk the nice, safe sidewalks of Shakespeare Blvd. and Neelsville Church Rd. where the school is. Kids don't have to step foot on 355 at all.

So you want Sally K. Ride ES to split articulate to THREE middle schools - MLK, Clemente, and Neelsville? Do you live in this neighborhood and want your child to walk to Neelsville, or do you live in an area which got reassigned from Rocky Hill/Clarksburg to Neelsville/Seneca Valley, and you're still angry about it and you think those other homeowners/kids over there should have been assigned to Neelsville/Seneca Valley instead of you/your kids?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all this redrawing the boundaries talk, is there a distance you live from a school where they will not be allowed to change your designated school? Like if you live on the same block as a school? If you’re considered a walker and don’t have an assigned bus? If you live within a half mile? Or is no one safe?

Ask Horizon Hill neighborhood - who literally back up to Frost MS and Wootton HS and were re-zoned and bused to JW and RM 2-3 miles away.

It also lowered their home values by $50K at the time and about $100-$130K now.

This happened in 1987. Y'all need to get over it.

DP.. It's not a question of "getting over it". It's a direct response to OP's question - that this kind of thing has happened before, and could potentially happen again for diversity.

If MCPS is serious about "walk zones", then during the Crown HS boundary analysis, they should look at making that zone back to a walk zone. They are within a walking distance to Wootton/Frost but currently have to take a bus ride to RM/JW. If MCPS does this, then we know that they are serious about "walk zones". If they don't, then we know that, indeed, "diversity" trumps everything.

Looking at things that have been decided less than 35 years ago is more telling. The last time they did a HS boundary study, in 2019, there were changes made such that areas of the Northwest cluster which had been very walkable to Seneca Valley were rightly rezoned to Seneca Valley. There was also a part of the Clarksburg cluster which was originally included in an area to be rezoned to SV, but was ultimately kept at Clarksburg due to a newly available walkable option there. I see no reason to doubt MCPS when they have said, repeatedly, that they are aiming to maximize walkers, and when they have been rezoning neighborhoods accordingly.

PP here. Yes, I do think that the upcounty boundary decision indicates that they are indeed moving in the walk zone direction, however, I am not sure if they will do this with HH because HH brings a lot of SES diversity to RM. Fallsgrove will likely be zoned for Crown HS. This is why what they do with HH will be more telling.

????????????????

The reason why HH was rezoned to RM back in the 80s was to bring UMC income to RMHS.

That was in 1987. It is now 2023. Many things have changed in Montgomery County since 1987.

Yes, including the fact that Crown HS will be built and some UMC from RM cluster will be zoned to Crown. More than likely, HH will not go to Crown, but it could be rezoned to Wootton if they are serious about the walk factor.

So, a split articulation for Ritchie Park ES? Or should middle-school and high-school students cross Falls Road as walkers?

New Mark Commons walkers already cross Falls Rd AND Great Falls Rd to get to JW.

Why can't middle and high schoolers cross Falls Rd and walk down Wootton. Super easy and better than having 3 buses

Well, they cross Maryland Ave. But anyway middle and high schoolers certainly could cross Falls Road, but would their parents agree to this? Or would they insist on getting a school bus? Or would they just drive, i.e., another 100+ cars doing dropoff/pickup at Wootton and Frost?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all this redrawing the boundaries talk, is there a distance you live from a school where they will not be allowed to change your designated school? Like if you live on the same block as a school? If you’re considered a walker and don’t have an assigned bus? If you live within a half mile? Or is no one safe?

Ask Horizon Hill neighborhood - who literally back up to Frost MS and Wootton HS and were re-zoned and bused to JW and RM 2-3 miles away.

It also lowered their home values by $50K at the time and about $100-$130K now.

That’s terrible and a huge concern for many. Not just moving out of a walkable neighborhood school, but losing a huge amount of equity on a house. That is a lot of money!

Who can forget the Rezoning Of Horizon Hill in 1987? It's right up there with Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Bleeding Kansas, the Stamp Act...

I think anyone here would be upset if the equity in their home dropped $150K.

...the Battle of Kosovo...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all this redrawing the boundaries talk, is there a distance you live from a school where they will not be allowed to change your designated school? Like if you live on the same block as a school? If you’re considered a walker and don’t have an assigned bus? If you live within a half mile? Or is no one safe?

Ask Horizon Hill neighborhood - who literally back up to Frost MS and Wootton HS and were re-zoned and bused to JW and RM 2-3 miles away.

It also lowered their home values by $50K at the time and about $100-$130K now.

This happened in 1987. Y'all need to get over it.

DP.. It's not a question of "getting over it". It's a direct response to OP's question - that this kind of thing has happened before, and could potentially happen again for diversity.

If MCPS is serious about "walk zones", then during the Crown HS boundary analysis, they should look at making that zone back to a walk zone. They are within a walking distance to Wootton/Frost but currently have to take a bus ride to RM/JW. If MCPS does this, then we know that they are serious about "walk zones". If they don't, then we know that, indeed, "diversity" trumps everything.

Looking at things that have been decided less than 35 years ago is more telling. The last time they did a HS boundary study, in 2019, there were changes made such that areas of the Northwest cluster which had been very walkable to Seneca Valley were rightly rezoned to Seneca Valley. There was also a part of the Clarksburg cluster which was originally included in an area to be rezoned to SV, but was ultimately kept at Clarksburg due to a newly available walkable option there. I see no reason to doubt MCPS when they have said, repeatedly, that they are aiming to maximize walkers, and when they have been rezoning neighborhoods accordingly.

PP here. Yes, I do think that the upcounty boundary decision indicates that they are indeed moving in the walk zone direction, however, I am not sure if they will do this with HH because HH brings a lot of SES diversity to RM. Fallsgrove will likely be zoned for Crown HS. This is why what they do with HH will be more telling.

????????????????

The reason why HH was rezoned to RM back in the 80s was to bring UMC income to RMHS.

That was in 1987. It is now 2023. Many things have changed in Montgomery County since 1987.

HH has houses that have sold around the $1M mark recently. I know this is poor for DCUM but saying it’s bringing SES diversity to RM is absurd.

To be fair, they didn't say what kind of diversity. In a high-poverty school (which RM isn't), students from affluent households add diversity.

exactly, that was the point. The FARMs rate at RM was much higher prior to the rezoning back in the 80s. HH brought the UMC diversity to RM.

I know things are different now, but with Crown HS being built, and taking Fallsgrove will take a good chunk of umc neighborhoods out of RM. Obviously, no one knows what the boundary will look like when all is said and done, but my point was that if they are serious about walk zones, then HH would need to go back to Wootton.

To a PP's point, my understanding is that RP went to JWMS, but then to Wootton HS, so yes, there could be some split articulation after MS, but that is not unusual here.

No RP went to Frost/Wootton - as walkers.

I believe there will be a lot of restructuring. I think King Farm will finally not be split down the middle and the entire neightborhood will go to Gaithersburg HS to increase more UMC diversity.
Fallsgrove will go to Crown
New development on the Pike and Tower Oaks will go to RM

Overall these changes will make RM worse than it already has been lately. But at least it won't be overcrowded. It's embarrassing they rejected an additional unfinished floor shell be built when they were approving plans of the new RM. They already have the smallest parking lot and it is full of portables.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all this redrawing the boundaries talk, is there a distance you live from a school where they will not be allowed to change your designated school? Like if you live on the same block as a school? If you’re considered a walker and don’t have an assigned bus? If you live within a half mile? Or is no one safe?

Ask Horizon Hill neighborhood - who literally back up to Frost MS and Wootton HS and were re-zoned and bused to JW and RM 2-3 miles away.

It also lowered their home values by $50K at the time and about $100-$130K now.

This happened in 1987. Y'all need to get over it.

DP.. It's not a question of "getting over it". It's a direct response to OP's question - that this kind of thing has happened before, and could potentially happen again for diversity.

If MCPS is serious about "walk zones", then during the Crown HS boundary analysis, they should look at making that zone back to a walk zone. They are within a walking distance to Wootton/Frost but currently have to take a bus ride to RM/JW. If MCPS does this, then we know that they are serious about "walk zones". If they don't, then we know that, indeed, "diversity" trumps everything.

Looking at things that have been decided less than 35 years ago is more telling. The last time they did a HS boundary study, in 2019, there were changes made such that areas of the Northwest cluster which had been very walkable to Seneca Valley were rightly rezoned to Seneca Valley. There was also a part of the Clarksburg cluster which was originally included in an area to be rezoned to SV, but was ultimately kept at Clarksburg due to a newly available walkable option there. I see no reason to doubt MCPS when they have said, repeatedly, that they are aiming to maximize walkers, and when they have been rezoning neighborhoods accordingly.

PP here. Yes, I do think that the upcounty boundary decision indicates that they are indeed moving in the walk zone direction, however, I am not sure if they will do this with HH because HH brings a lot of SES diversity to RM. Fallsgrove will likely be zoned for Crown HS. This is why what they do with HH will be more telling.

????????????????

The reason why HH was rezoned to RM back in the 80s was to bring UMC income to RMHS.

That was in 1987. It is now 2023. Many things have changed in Montgomery County since 1987.

Yes, including the fact that Crown HS will be built and some UMC from RM cluster will be zoned to Crown. More than likely, HH will not go to Crown, but it could be rezoned to Wootton if they are serious about the walk factor.

So, a split articulation for Ritchie Park ES? Or should middle-school and high-school students cross Falls Road as walkers?

New Mark Commons walkers already cross Falls Rd AND Great Falls Rd to get to JW.

Why can't middle and high schoolers cross Falls Rd and walk down Wootton. Super easy and better than having 3 buses

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe anything is "safe" at this point. My kid rides a bus to a middle school where there is not a single walker. All the kids in the same neighborhood, even those across the street or on the same block as the middle school take a bus to another middle school that is 10 minutes away.

That's a school without a walk zone. But if your school has a walk zone (which almost all of them do), and you live within that walk zone, then you will be "safe" to remain a walker.

When there are houses that are literally a short walking distance of the school, yes, there is a walk zone. MCPS just chooses not to have it to justify its decisions. At the upcounty boundary study, they had an opportunity to revise the boundaries for Neelsville Middle School so that kids within walking distance to that school can attend and walk to that school instead of continuing to take the bus to MLK MS. They didn't do that. Demographics is their primary priority; the other factors are secondary. Full stop.

Nope. If there is no safe walking route, then it is not a walk zone, even if it's literally across the street (355 and Germantown Road, in the case of Neelsville Middle School). You want more kids to walk? Then you should push the county and the state for safe routes to school.

I'm talking about Stratford Knolls community which is on the same side of 355 as Neelsville Middle School- where homes are less than a mile away from the school. I don't know how much safer you want those kids to walk. All the kids have to do is walk the nice, safe sidewalks of Shakespeare Blvd. and Neelsville Church Rd. where the school is. Kids don't have to step foot on 355 at all.