McKenney Hills Information

 

Upcoming Meetings

 

The parent advisory committee reps for this process for Woodlin are:


From Chris R., 10/15/2011

 

The Board of Education will be reviewing the recommendation and any alternatives on November 2, 2011. Public hearings will be held on November 10 and 14, 2011 and action is scheduled for November 17, 2011.

 

From Chris R., 9/21/2011

 

We would like to offer a primer for new parents (and an update for old parents) on this spring’s study committee, conducted by MCPS, to determine the boundaries of the new elementary school at the site of the former McKenney Hills education center. This elementary school is scheduled to open in Fall 2012, and is located at 2600 Hayden Drive, which is up Georgia Avenue.

 

Over the spring, a committee of parents from Woodlin, Oakland Terrace ES, Sligo MS and Newport Mills MS met to review boundary options laid out by MCPS staff. These parents were not asked to make a recommendation as to the best option. Their role was to review the options presented and offer feedback as to whether they met certain criteria. The full report can be found here.

 

The criteria and committee members’ feedback can be found starting on page 37 of the above link. The Woodlin PTA also offered a position paper. It begins on page 79 of the report. You may note that the various committee members’ analysis largely stated that the option that most closely met the established criteria was 6B. Under this option, no children from Woodlin would be re-zoned to the new school at the McKenney Hills site. The process, continues, however.

 

On October 14, the new superintendent, Joshua Starr, will make a formal recommendation on boundaries to the County Board of Education. After the recommendation is released, parents, schools or communities may contact the Board of Education to share support or concerns with the recommendation.

 

At a November 2nd work session, the Board will review this recommendation and feedback. In addition, on November 10th and 14th, the Board will hold public hearings, and will vote on November 14th. Both the October recommendation and the November hearings and Board vote will provide opportunities for all families to voice their opinions and feedback. We are strongly encouraged to do so. The PTA will continue to keep you posted during this process.

 

From Mary V., 5/17/2011

 

The McKenny Hills future elementary school process continues. The school district put together several new options that are very slight adjustments of options 1 and 2 from the first round. Again, these adjustments were to address concerns from Oakland Terrace community members that more kids be slated to walk to both Oakland Terrace and the new McKenny Hills site schools (requiring a re-drawing of the 'walking zone' lines on the street map). On May 19, the boundary committee will be commenting on these new two options.

 

There is a public meeting on May 25 - everyone is invited to this public meeting for all comments on the options. (At Newport Mills MS Cafeteria 7:00 - 8:30pm)

 

From Marvy V., 4/14/2011

 

The boundary advisory committee for boundary adjustment met last night. The boundary advisory committee is charged with evaluating the options developed by the Montgomery County Public Schools for the boundaries of the future Down County Consortium 29/McKenney Hills school. Evaluation is measured against a set of criteria set in March.

 

Representatives from Woodlin, Oakland Terrace, Sligo and Newport Middle Schools discussed the options and found some measure of agreement. Discussion revealed that option 1B meets most of the criteria (option 1 was the one that left the current Woodlin service area in tact - the B refers to middle school assignments from Woodlin).

 

Several representatives from the Oakland Terrance service area recommended that MCPS explore re-designing the zones directly around the new McKenney Hills school site so that more students living directly adjacent to that school could walk to school. The revised options, if made, will probably not impact Woodlin students.

 

The Committee's work is not done. Please remember that the boundary advisory committee is not "voting" on options, and does not have the final say on what the boundaries will be. The new MCPS Superintendent has the final say, in November. In addition to the committee's work, the Woodlin PTA will be developing a position paper with an opinion on the options.

 

The process continues now with the MCPS looking into adjusting the zone boundaries directly adjacent to the McKenney Hills site. There will be a second round of option review in May. Interested community members should come to the May 25 public meeting & discussion.

 

From Chris R., 3/18/2011

 

Five options were presented yesterday evening. The first option was to move no one at Woodlin. Under this option, it is estimated that Woodlin would have 525 children during the 2012-13 school year (116% capacity), settling in at around 550 children in coming years.

 

The second, third and fourth options are all the same for Woodlin (these options offer various impacts on Oakland Terrace). It would involve taking about 25 children from the “Seminary area," and assigning them to McKenney Hills. The specific area is the neighborhood that lies west of the railroad tracks and north of Walter Reed. In the map that you can find on the county and PTA websites this is section W-4. Under this option, Woodlin would have 500 children during the 2012-13 school year (110% capacity), settling in at around 520 children in coming years. The demographic breakdown of Woodlin (in terms of racial diversity, ethnicity, FARMS rates, ESOL, etc) would remain pretty much unchanged.

 

The fifth option involves taking 50 children from the western half of Woodside Forest and assigning them to McKenney Hills. The specific area is the neighborhood bounded on the west by Georgia Avenue, on the south by Dale Drive (although homes on the South Side of Dale wouldn’t be affected), and on the southeast by Crosby and Red Oak (those two streets WOULD be affected). In the map that you can find on the county and PTA websites this is section  W-6. Under this option, Woodlin would have 470 children during the 2012-13 school year (104% capacity), settling in at around 490 children in coming years. The demographic breakdown of Woodlin would remain pretty much unchanged here, as well.

 

Note that all five options leave Woodlin above our calculated capacity, generally by between 5 to 15%. Two of the 5 options leave Oakland Terrace above its calculated capacity. All have McKenney Hills at roughly 85-90% of its stated capacity. An important reason is to allow room for McKenney Hills to grow, should its enrollment exceed projections. The footprint of the new school really doesn’t offer room for portables or expansion, so MCPS needed to leave some breathing room.

 

We will have a map for the school to put up that offers a little more detail about neighborhoods, although what is written above pretty much covers it.

 

As a reminder, when the committee meets on 4/14, they will share our input with MCPS staff. MCPS staff may possibly take from this meeting a charge to create additional options to consider (i.e., take additional/different sectors from Woodlin...), depending on the feedback they get from the committee members (who will be reporting on our feedback). These would be reviewed and discussed then at the 5/5 and 5/19 meetings. If no other new options are requested, there would be no meetings on 5/5 and 5/19.

 

MCPS staff will present these options and committee members’ feedback to the new superintendent this summer. She or he will provide his or her recommendation to the Board of Education, which will review and make the final decisions on the new boundaries, in November. 

 

From Chris R., 2/25/2011

 

I want to stress again how important it is for folks to come out to the committee meetings, which start next Thursday, 3/3 at Sligo MS. The other sessions of the committee will be: 3/17, 4/14, 5/5, 5/19, 6/2. There will be another broad public meeting on May 25th at Newport Mills.

One thing that struck those of who went to last night's meeting is the potential size of the disruption to Woodlin. Technically, our capacity is 350 students. Woodlin now has 500. That means that the redistricting, ideally in the county's eyes, would move 150 Woodlin children to McKenney Hills.

The school will likely open K-4, allowing 5th graders to finish up at Woodlin. However, if you have younger children, and you are zoned for McKenney Hills, that's where they will go, regardless of whether your 5th grader stays.

I am sure parents are of two minds. First, yes, it will be a brand new school. That is attractive. However, it will be a school that is across the Beltway and, for some of us, across Georgia. I don't know how the majority of people feel about the possibility of being moved. I ask, however, that we all take seriously the possibility of being moved. Don't assume it will or won't be you.

To be clear, this committee will not be drawing the boundaries, nor will they be voting on options. MCPS will present 3 to 5 options, on which this committee will offer thoughts and input. The committee members are invited, as well, to solicit input from other parents. They welcome this input.

We will also schedule a special meeting, early in April, to review this process.

I want to thank the Woodlin parents who did come to the public information meeting. Lisa Tenley and Pat Coleman (and I hope myself) in particular shared our views on how much we value Woodlin as a community school, and our concerns that we will lose this community by being rezoned into a school that's across a highway. We think and hope that MCPS heard and will continue to hear that to best serve the Woodlin community, minimizing the disruption is key.

From Chris Rutledge, 2/4/2011

 

I wanted to update you on the McKenney Hills/ Woodlin/ Oakland Terrace boundary redrawing progress and a meeting I attended last night. There are a few action and calendar items we need to undertake as well. First, to give you an overview of the proposed timeline for boundary changes, a committee of parents (more below) will be formed this month, to offer advice to MCPS through the spring on recommended boundaries MCPS will propose. This will also include full public meetings (also, see below).

 

Over the summer, the MCPS superintendent will review the recommendations made by his staff (with advice from the parent committee). This fall, the Board of Education will review and finalize the new boundaries, likely by Thanksgiving. Thus, we’ll all know where we’ll be in the 2012-2013 school year by the end of 2011. So, onto the committee.

 

We need three parents, preferably geographically (meaning not all living in the same neighborhood), ethnically, racially and gender diverse, to serve. Oakland Terrace, Sligo, and Einstein parents will also be contributing three parents each. To be clear, this committee will not be drawing the boundaries, nor will they be voting on options. MCPS will present 3 to 5 options, on which this committee will offer thoughts and input. The committee members are invited, as well, to solicit input from other parents. To serve, you will need to be able to commit to these dates (all Thursdays, all times 7 to 8:30, likely at Sligo MS): 3/3, 3/17, 4/14, 5/5, 5/19, 6/2. MCPS would like our names by the end of next week.

 

These meetings will also be open to the public, so even if you’re not on the committee, don’t be shy, come and see the process. In addition, there will be two community-wide forums with MCPS, likely at Einstein, but watch this space to confirm. These will take place February 24 and May 25.

 

Finally, Woodlin’s Book fair is Thursday April 7th. We may attach some discussion time with MCPS staff to that, since we don’t have a regular PTA meeting that month.

 

Two other key takeaways:

  1. McKenney Hills will likely open as a K-4 School, as has been the case in the past with similar new schools. Thus, Woodlin families in K to 2nd grade now are those affected.
  2. Since Oakland Terrace feeds into both Sligo and Newport Mills Middle Schools, it is possible that, down the road at least, middle school assignments for some of us will also be impacted. More on that to come.