MCPS suggests postponing Crown High School opening for use as holding school

Story in Bethesda Today, reporter Ashlyn Campbell. Full story here.

Declining enrollment cited as reason; boundary study change would be required

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is considering a plan to use the upcoming Crown High School in Gaithersburg, which is currently under construction, as a holding school rather than opening it in 2027 as scheduled, the district told the county school board Thursday. 

“We would like to explore the idea of potentially making Crown a holding school for a few years while we continue to assess our enrollment projections,” Taylor said, noting that the district’s enrollment is declining. “[To] make sure that we are fully utilizing our buildings to their highest and best value, this makes a lot of sense. That being said, it can make a lot of sense and still be a terrible idea.”

If the district moves ahead with the plan, the change would impact the district’s ongoing boundary study that is expected to determine which students would attend the new high school.

Montgomery Co. Board of Ed. votes 7-1 to change certain school boundaries despite protests

https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-co-votes-to-change-school-boundaries?fbclid=IwAR2iK7_mee1Te3-Y_lBbH4xRs7Z7hFr5_E3-iyxmhctD3QFVvy_1HUL5a08

WTOP: Parents, students protest school boundary change in Montgomery County

Parents and children, many from Clarksburg, Maryland, turned out in strong numbers to protest changes to school district boundaries Tuesday night outside the Montgomery County Board of Education.

Inside board headquarters, members voted 7-1 to approve Superintendent Jack Smith’s recommendation for school district boundary changes for Clarksburg, Northwest and Seneca Valley High Schools...

...“I have two siblings, and they’re going to two different schools; and all three of us, we’re going to be going to three different schools in three different ZIP codes and that’s a lot,” Van Herksen said...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/11/parents-and-students-protest-school-boundary-change/

With the final vote tonight, here’s a timeline of what’s happened in the Howard redistricting process

Almost 10 months to the day after the Howard County Board of Education charged the superintendent to embark on a comprehensive redistricting process, the final vote to move 5,320 students for next September is today.

On Monday, the school board took three straw votes to move a total of 5,320 students; however, the final number of students affected will change because rising juniors being grandfathered was not factored in at the time of the straw vote. The school board’s plan currently looks to move 2,827 elementary, 486 middle and 2,007 high school students...

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/howard/cng-ho-redistricting-timeline-20191007-4vofm7bchbh33kjtgq6ccnuqzq-story.html

.@MCPS School Districts Debate: equity, capacity & access are among the data points analyzed in study to be released tonight. Interesting contrast in 2 screenshots from website. Second is from approved contract.

.@MCPS School Districts Debate: equity, capacity & access are among the data points analyzed in study to be released tonight. Interesting contrast in 2 screenshots from website. Second is from approved contract. @PCMC1 @fox5dc pic.twitter.com/IUaZa6Y2k4

— Melanie Alnwick (@fox5melanie) November 18, 2019

Cost of MCPS School Boundary Analysis Capped at $475,000

A countywide review of school-attendance boundaries is expected to cost up to $475,000, according to school board documents.

On Thursday, the Montgomery County Board of Education is scheduled to award a contract for the review to New York-based WXY Architecture + urban design, with a cost “not to exceed” $475,000 for fiscal year 2020, a draft resolution says.

“This firm demonstrated a connection to the intent of the project scope; brings the potential for innovative approaches to this assessment and review; and had support from the community stakeholders engaged in our review process,” the document says.

The contract will be for one year with up to three one-year renewal options, according to school board documents.

School system officials said a copy of the firm’s proposal could not be released Tuesday because it could contain “proprietary information” that would need to be redacted before public review.

In January, the Board of Education passed a resolution to hire a consultant to evaluate school boundaries, which determine what area schools students will attend based on where they live. Elementary and middle schools “feed” high schools near them, creating school clusters...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/cost-of-mcps-school-boundary-analysis-capped-at-475000/

MCPS receives update on Boundary Review Analysis

ROCKVILLE –Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) staff amended its timeline for the boundary review analysis, days before it was scheduled to recommend a consultant to the Board of Education.

Staff wrote in the request for proposal that it would recommend a selection to the board on Aug. 1. However, Chief Operating Officer Andy Zuckerman and Executive Director of Operations Essie McGuire announced during the board of education’s July 29 business meeting that they will instead recommend a consultant or group of consultants during the next scheduled board of education meeting, on Aug. 29, four weeks after the original date. MCPS had received two proposals and is considering both.

McGuire said that the date change will not disrupt the schedule of the boundary review analysis because staff had allowed extra time for that...

https://mont.thesentinel.com/2019/08/08/mcps-receives-update-on-boundary-review-analysis/?fbclid=IwAR1qvRXlQb6ToGp_i3PxzvmSJPC-9yhxWx1E9en-P2Mr42Rj_1hEdd1ifx0

Montgomery School Board Expected To Delay Awarding Contract for Boundary Analysis

The Montgomery County Board of Education is expected to delay awarding a contract to conduct a controversial countywide school-attendance boundary analysis by one month.

The school board was expected to award the contract on Monday for the study of attendance boundaries, but will delay that decision to Aug. 29 to further vet proposals, according to a memo from Superintendent Jack Smith.

In January, the Board of Education passed a resolution to hire a consultant to evaluate school boundaries, which determine what area schools students will attend based on where they live. Elementary and middle schools “feed” high schools near them, creating school clusters.

The boundary analysis is the school system’s first comprehensive look at school boundaries in at least 20 years. It has pitted a contingent of students lobbying for more diverse schools against parents who fear long bus rides for their children or decreased home values if boundaries shift.

In late June, Montgomery County Public Schools released a “request for proposals” outlining the duties of the selected contractor for the year-long project...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/montgomery-school-board-expected-to-delay-awarding-contract-for-boundary-analysis/

Fox5: Some Montgomery County parents fear new boundaries for school communities

Mayor Jud Ashman said the solution wasn’t fast or broad enough to serve the city’s needs.

School Roundtable Will Seek Solutions to Overcrowding 

A new MCPS group will discuss potential ways to relieve overcrowding at schools in and around Gaithersburg, possibly including Rachel Carson Elementary School (RCES), as the city’s mayor and council continue to criticize what they feel are short-sighted solutions to the problem.
On Dec. 17, MCPS will host a public information session about a roundtable discussion group that will explore potential options for absorbing projected enrollment increases at Gaithersburg schools. The roundtable will include five representatives each from the Gaithersburg, Col. Zadok Magruder and Thomas S. Wooton high school clusters, as well as potentially from Latino and African-American advocacy groups in those communities.
The roundtable’s recommendations, which they will send to MCPS Interim Superintendent Larry A. Bowers in March, could include new ideas for RCES...

 http://towncourier.com/school-roundtable-will-seek-solutions-to-overcrowding/

NBC4 Video: MCPS to Consider Redrawing Some School Boundaries

Proposed Boundary Changes, Overcrowding and Planning Recommendations Released

Interim Superintendent's Recommendations

• Supplement A-Interim Superintendent's Recommendation for Clarksburg/Damascus Middle School Boundaries
• Supplement B- Interim Superintendent's Recommendation to Address Elementary School Overutilization in the Lower Portion of the Downcounty Consortium
• Supplement C-Interim Superintendent's Recommendation for a Tri-Cluster Roundtable Discussion Group for the Gaithersburg, Col. Zadok Magruder, and Thomas S. Wootton Clusters
• Supplement D- Interim Superintendent's Recommendation for a Walter Johnson Cluster Roundtable Discussion Group
• Supplement E-Interim Superintendent's Recommendation to Address the Rachel Carson Elementary School Overutilization

MCPS to Consider Redrawing Some School Boundaries

Montgomery County Public Schools will consider redrawing some of its school boundaries, shifting high school students in the process, according to a report by the News-4 I-Team...

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/333065851.html

My Two Cents: MCPS And The Third Rail

by Joseph Hawkins 

This past Monday, I listened to some of the County Council’s discussion of the achievement gap in our public schools. I didn’t listen to all three-plus hours, but I heard enough to know that the issue of changing school boundaries is a serious third rail among Board of Education members. 

As a possible gap-closing strategy, changing boundaries was discussed because study after study in Montgomery County reveals that low-income MCPS students perform better when they attend public schools where the student body is economically diverse... 

http://www.bethesdanow.com/2014/07/16/my-two-cents-mcps-and-the-third-rail/

WTOP: School boundaries discussion at County Council on July 14th

Listen to WTOP report:

https://soundcloud.com/kryanwtop/boundaries-1-kry-7-15-14mp3

WPost: Montgomery schools may explore boundary changes to address achievement gap

The Montgomery County Council pressed school officials Monday to consider shifting attendance boundaries to make schools more economically and racially diverse — a potential and politically volatile remedy for a persistent achievement gap.

In Montgomery, the question of how students are assigned to neighborhood schools until now has largely been absent from the debate over how to close the troubling achievement gap. Such plans, like the onecurrently being considered for D.C. schools, inevitably trigger rancorous community debates. Boundary changes in the 151,000-student system have focused on accommodating enrollment increases and the opening of new schools.

But several council members told Superintendent Joshua P. Starr at a meeting of the council’s education committee on Monday that the idea of shifting students to address a gap in academic achievement merits serious consideration...

...After the hearing, school board member Christopher Barclay rejected the idea of boundary changes, saying he was offended by the notion that students of color could thrive only if surrounded by more middle-class and affluent whites.

“I don’t believe in white supremacy,” said Barclay, who is African American. He said without improvements in teacher quality and other reforms, especially in struggling schools, boundary changes would simply redistribute poor children, essentially hiding “pockets of need” inside more racially diverse schools. 

“What gets missed in this is, what are the abilities of those teachers to teach those children?” Barclay said. “I don’t want kids shipped all over the world.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/montgomery-schools-may-explore-boundary-changes-to-address-achievement-gap/2014/07/14/770475e0-0b7e-11e4-8341-b8072b1e7348_story.html

Bethesda Now: In Talking Achievement Gap, County Officials Touch On Prickly School Boundary Issue

The prickly subject of redrawing school boundaries to better integrate schools eventually made its way into the discussion of a widening achievement gap on Monday at the County Council.
MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr said the school system has never put redrawing boundaries “off limits,” but Councilmember Cherri Branson questioned why traditional boundaries have become regarded by some as “sacrosanct.”

http://www.bethesdanow.com/2014/07/14/in-talking-achievement-gap-county-officials-touch-on-prickly-school-boundary-issue/

Rosemary Hills will assign students to classes based on neighborhood for 2012-2013 school year.

A boundary change is coming for the BCC Cluster in 2013-2014.  In the meantime, one principal is putting children from the same neighborhood into classes for the 2012-2013 school year.  

UPDATED July 2  for Rosemary Hills Elementary Parents: 
The RHPS [Rosemary Hills Primary School] principle is amenable to ensuring East Bethesda students who will go on to attend BE [Bethesda Elementary] will have some other BE [Bethesda Elementary] bound students in their classes for the 2012-2013 school year.  
Parents who noted they lived in East Bethesda on kindergarten orientation forms will be placed with some other East Bethesda students.  Parents of Grade 1 and 2 students, and kindergarten parents who did not indicate East Bethesda residency at orientation, who would like to be placed with other East Bethesda students should forward the request in writing to RHPS Principle Ms. Debbie Ryan(Debbie_C_Ryan@mcpsmd.org).  

UPDATE July 19, 2012 12:30 PM:  Someone edited the wording of this website page after we posted this paragraph.  So, for our readers, below is the screen shot of the original webpage that we took when the above paragraph was posted.  The words after the red update have now been changed on the website. The original July 2nd paragraph started with "The RHPS Principal is..."  and was posted above.  You can go to the actual website at the link above and see what they have posted now, but who knows, it may be changed again or deleted.

Proposed School Boundary Area for McKenney Hills Elem. School Site

Here is the Proposed School Boundary Area for the McKenney Hills Elementary School/DCC#29 site that was used to calculate the Traffic Study posted here.


This is the type of information that can be found in the Exhibits to a Traffic Study for new school construction. 


Do parents and community members get to see this information before a new school construction project is approved by the Board of Education or the Montgomery County Planning Board? Only if they ask for it. 
Proposed Boundary for McKenney Hills School

A better view of scores and school boundaries

For those who prefer a pictorial view of data instead of tables of numbers, MoCoRealEstate.com has created a set of bar graphs that illustrate average SAT scores and SAT participation at MCPS high schools.*

Notably, the graphs are based on more recent data than is available from the Schools at a Glance summaries on the MCPS web site.

In addition to the SAT graphs, the site has what are probably the best cluster boundary maps available.  Unlike the primeval style boundary maps on the MCPS site, the MoCoRealEstate.com cluster boundary maps use the Google maps API so it's fast and easy to zoom in and look around.

*Please note that one should be careful in drawing conclusions from average SAT scores.  Average SAT scores can be driven up by, for example, discouraging lower performing students from taking the SAT or by encouraging students to take the SAT test several times and then reporting only the highest score.