Showing posts with label Boundary Study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boundary Study. Show all posts
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Thursday, March 19, 2020
MCPS BOUNDARY ANALYSIS INTERIM REPORT Released
CONTENTS
Section I: Introduction and Analysis
- Introduction
- Data Analysis
- Benchmarking
Section II: Community Engagement
Appendix
Friday, January 24, 2020
Board of Education to Meet with Planning Board to Discuss Artificial Turf, Pedestrian Safety, Boundary Analysis #OffCamera #OpenMeeting
This is an Open Meeting of these two public bodies, however, the meeting will not be videotaped or live streamed. The public is welcome to attend and film the meeting.
Lunch will be served and paid for by taxpayers, but the public will not be permitted to eat the food.
Montgomery County Planning Board Agenda at this link.
Agenda for Board of Education and Planning Board luncheon is below.
Lunch will be served and paid for by taxpayers, but the public will not be permitted to eat the food.
Montgomery County Planning Board Agenda at this link.
Agenda for Board of Education and Planning Board luncheon is below.
Monday, January 13, 2020
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Monday, January 6, 2020
Hundreds of Public Comments About Montgomery County’s School Boundary Review Released
Hundreds of parents, homeowners and students have submitted comments to Montgomery County Public Schools about the district’s controversial review of school boundaries. The assessment was ordered amid growing concern about overcrowding in some buildings and a push to diversify the county’s schools.
Montgomery County Public Schools has scheduled a Tuesday evening public meeting at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda to hear comments and feedback about the boundary assessment. In a public records request, News4 has obtained hundreds of comments submitted electronically by the public...
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Friday, December 13, 2019
NY Department of Education has hired the firm WXY to direct the planning process. Queens Pols Rip City's Handling Of School Integration Process
Queens Pols Rip City's Handling Of School Integration Process
Elected officials in Queens are criticizing the city's handling of a plan to improve racial diversity in District 28 schools.
By Maya Kaufman, Patch Staff
|
..."For the record, none of the signatories of this letter are opposed to diversity and equity in our schools," the officials wrote. "However, it is our responsibility to report to you that the way this process has been introduced to our respective communities has been opaque, confusing, and inconsistent."....."It would be inappropriate for any of us to support a diversity plan created without meaningful conversation and engagement of our constituents," the officials wrote...
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Guest Post: OPEN MESSAGE TO WXY ARCHITECTURE + URBAN DESIGN "We are a smart county, we can handle the truth."
OPEN MESSAGE TO WXY ARCHITECTURE + URBAN DESIGN
WXY Architecture + Urban Design: In the interest of trust and transparency it is imperative that you are forthcoming in your upcoming community engagement meetings about what you are specifically working on and what you are specifically delivering to MCPS for the Boundary Analysis project.
We don't care what you are "recommending" or "not recommending", what are you PRODUCING?
The MCPS Boundary Analysis RFP called for the winning consultant to "explore potential modifications to current school boundaries that comport to the four factors in Policy FAA, Educational Facilities Planning: student demographics, geography, stability of assignments over time, and facility utilization" (link is below).
You won the MCPS Boundary Analysis contract based on your very detailed and comprehensive Proposal and Work Plan that does exactly that (link is below).
Your Proposal explicitly states that you will deliver to MCPS three new Cluster Boundary options based on weighted Key Performance Indicator criteria that align to MCPS Policy FAA (with predominant weighting given to demographics), utilizing your "School Rezoning Model" and your "Algorithmic School Rezoning Tool". (WXY Proposal – Section 3.3, page 28 - TASK 3.3 CLUSTER SCENARIO ALTERNATIVES.)
Your Proposal Work Plan has you working on that task as we speak. (WXY Proposal – Section 3.3, Page 37 - 3.2 SCHEDULE OF SERVICES - "Cluster Alternatives" milestone.)
There is nothing about the Boundary Analysis RFP or your corresponding Proposal Work Plan that is just a "study" or is just "data gathering". The WXY Proposal Work Plan specifically produces three modified Cluster Boundaries, and delivers them to MCPS in the spring of 2020.
Now you are claiming in your community engagement meetings that you are only doing a "study" and just "data gathering". You state that you are not "recommending" any boundary options, trying to give the impression that you are not PRODUCING any boundary options.
This strains credibility.
If you are indeed not producing the Cluster Boundary options stated in the Boundary Analysis RFP and in your corresponding Proposal that won you the contract, then you are de-scoping a third of the Boundary Analysis project. You are removing a key deliverable that is your calling card, and that led to you winning this contract.
If the Boundary Analysis is now just a de-scoped "study" that is just "data gathering", then no responsible Contract Officer would allow you to collect your full $473,800 fee.
If the Boundary Analysis is now just a de-scoped "study" that is just "data gathering", then your level of staffing would need to be immediately reduced accordingly.
But of course, the more likely scenario is that you are indeed doing what the Boundary Analysis RFP and your Proposal Work Plan explicitly says you will do, but you are obfuscating that with evasive wording to make it look otherwise.
You are claiming that the Boundary analysis is just a "study" that is just "data gathering", and that you are not "recommending" boundary modifications . . . but you never actually say that the Boundary Analysis RFP and WXY Proposal Work Plan were officially de-scoped, to not produce and deliver the modified Cluster Boundary options they explicitly state are being done.
But why should anybody have to guess?
We are happy to be proven wrong. You can clear up any "misinformation" by immediately disclosing your current detailed contract Statement of Work, Project Plan, Milestones, Deliverables already submitted to MCPS, and Deliverables to be submitted to MCPS through the end of 2020.
We will certainly MPIA [Maryland Public Information Act] this information. The specifics will come out. There is no productive gain for anybody in obfuscating this information.
If it is revealed that the entire time you were parading around the county saying the Boundary Analysis was "just a study", you were also producing modified Cluster Boundary options and delivering them to MCPS . . . any level of trust left in you and MCPS will be completely burned to the ground.
The time for obfuscation and spin is over. The time to be transparent and forthcoming is now - starting at the upcoming December 11th Julius West MS community engagement meeting.
There is no point anymore in any kind of a smokescreen. We are a smart county, we can handle the truth.
MCPS Boundary Anaysis RFP Link:
WXY Boundary Anaysis Proposal and Work Plan:
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Over 4,700 Citizens Have Joined a Facebook Group to Respond to the Board of Education's Boundary Analysis
Today that group released a response to the Board of Education's boundary analysis and proposal process.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2168433996799135/about/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2168433996799135/about/
1994: SLIPPING TOWARDS SEGREGATION Local Control and Eroding Desegregation in Montgomery County, Maryland from Harvard Project on School Desegregation
Segregation in Montgomery County Public Schools was discussed in a Harvard University 1994 Report of a study of how MCPS was dealing with problems of separate and unequal education for minority students.
Susan Eaton and Elizabeth Crutcher, Harvard University
Slipping Towards Segregation: Local Control and Eroding Desegregation in Montgomery County, Maryland
1994
...“Segregation is a serious education issue. And the rapid growth of segregation for Latinos and African Americans In Montgomery County occurs both by race and poverty. This report shows that the share of African and American and Latino children in schools with relatively high levels of poverty was many times that of Whites and rapidly increasing in recent years as White exposure to proverty remained at relatively low levels. Since concentrated poverty is very strongly related to unequal achievement at the school level, this rapid growth of concentrated poverty conditions for minority students suggests growing inqeuality in educational experiences and the development of more schools suffering from the dual problems of racial and economic isolation. The county’s educational leaders are well aware of the link between concertrated poverty and education inequality but chose to attack it primarily through relatively small added resources for some the high poverty school rather than a plan to prevent the spread of such segregation.”..
WXY Studio does Diversity Plans. They do not primarily do boundary/capacity studies.
WXY Studio appears to have worked with school systems about 3-4 times to create DIVERSITY PLANS. Below is the current Diversity Plan that WXY is doing for District 28 in Queens, New York. Here are the Process Goals for that project. Notice that capacity/overcrowding issues are not mentioned.
PROCESS GOALS
In addition to the overall goal of increasing school diversity in each of the districts, District 28 specifically hopes to achieve the following process goals:
• Increase access to D28 middle schools for all D28 students.
• Position student voice at the center of our work.
• Find new opportunities for social emotional learning, community building, and equitable resources for students across the district.
• Foster more inclusive and integrated middle schools.
http://d28diversityplan.com/Monday, December 9, 2019
Adam Lubinsky of the urban planning/architecture firm WXY Studio said at the presentation…New York City has one of the most segregated school districts in the country; in many respects, the most segregated school district in the country."
..."While in many ways we feel like we've come a long way [since Brown]," Adam Lubinsky of the urban planning/architecture firm WXY Studio said at the presentation (misleadingly billed as a community feedback "discussion"), "there has been a real process since the '80s of public schools beginning to re-segregate. And a lot of that has to do with the way choice policies have been utilized…New York City has one of the most segregated school districts in the country; in many respects, the most segregated school district in the country."..
https://reason.com/2019/09/17/is-everyone-who-opposes-a-new-school-zoning-plan-in-brooklyn-racist/#comments
https://reason.com/2019/09/17/is-everyone-who-opposes-a-new-school-zoning-plan-in-brooklyn-racist/#comments
2012: WXY assessment for Boston Public Schools
Initial Assessment of Alternatives to the Boston Public Schools Assignment Policy
http://bpsworkshop.com/sites/default/files/documents/files/2012-10-15%20Alternative%20Proposals%20Assessment.pdf
http://bpsworkshop.com/sites/default/files/documents/files/2012-10-15%20Alternative%20Proposals%20Assessment.pdf
Board of Education Hires 3 Firms to do Districtwide Boundary Analysis
Each company is linked to their website for reference.
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
@tomrousseyABC7 · Tonight will be the first open meeting at a school on a “district boundary analysis“ Montgomery Co. Public Schools is doing.
Tonight will be the first open meeting at a school on a “district boundary analysis“ Montgomery Co. Public Schools is doing.— Tom Roussey (@tomrousseyABC7) December 4, 2019
Protesters who opposed a boundary vote involving Northwest, Seneca Valley & Clarksburg high schools last week fear it’s the beginning of a countywide trend pic.twitter.com/0x2NHM02BQ
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