Woodward Boundary Study Update and ACTION by Oct 23rd for Tuckerman Families

[Elaine Liao Avin]

KP Families --

To follow-up from last week's PTA meeting, I wanted to recap the current options for KP in the Woodward Boundary Study plus some additional update/context post-PTA meeting that I learned from our WJ Cluster meeting (monthly meeting amongst all schools in the WJ Cluster).

TLDR (too long, didn't read) version: We have an opportunity to continue to advocate to keep Tuckerman area articulating with the rest of KP to the current schools (North Bethesda and Walter Johnson) and have the WJ cluster advocate on our behalf. We need to pulse Tuckerman area families to determine if there is enough sentiment to do so. We created a short survey for Tuckerman area families to complete. The deadline is Thursday, October 23rd by 7 pm ET.  The open time on this survey is short but the questions are simple. The tight turnaround time is so that if there is enough support from Tuckerman, that we run it up the chain to WJ Cluster to see if we can get it into their testimony to the Board of Education on Tuesday October 28th. See survey here --> Tuckerman Family Survey

For the rest of the KP Community, a couple of additional points of clarification:

• Additional guidance for the broader KP community, including suggested messages for how to respond to the MCPS survey about the new boundary options, is coming soon (once we have clarified a position on Tuckerman). It will be important to advocate for the KP community to underscore our support for keeping our assignments to North Bethesda Middle School and Walter Johnson in this set of options. Please stay tuned for that additional guidance coming via email soon!

• There has been news circulating about the Crown Boundary Study and the use of Crown as a holding school (potentially) and it delaying boundary changes. While that may be the case, it does not impact Woodward's boundary study.  Headlines are very generic and do not acknowledge that there are two separate boundary studies happening at the same time. Woodward is actually being used right now as a holding school for Northwood High School until their construction is complete which is set for School Year 2027 - 2028 time frame and the time in which boundary changes for our study would take into effect.

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Summary recap below, a more detailed recap can be accessed here

Overview

• The current school boundary options are becoming more refined and realistic though advocacy remains important as things could still shift

• A future elementary school (ES) boundary study is being incorporated into MCPS CIP plan, signaling ongoing broader changes.

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Garrett Park (GP) Impact

• GP is significantly affected, with split articulations between Woodward and Walter Johnson (WJ), dividing the town and surrounding neighborhoods.

• Options B and D are most favorable for GP:

  • Option D achieves 85% capacity at both Woodward and WJ, a healthy utilization.

  • GP prefers to be kept together and assigned to Woodward to avoid splitting the community.

  • A modified Option B could potentially meet this goal.

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Facility Utilization Considerations

• WJ’s capacity will reduce from ~140% to 75–85%. (first three options are under 80%)

• Staying above 80% capacity is important to maintain programming and class offerings.

• Option D includes reassigning part of Loiderman (Viers Mill ES) to WJ and brings utilization up to 85%

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KP Tuckerman Area

• There’s a potential alignment between GP’s and KP’s goals:

  • If GP moves fully to Woodward, it reduces WJ enrollment, which could justify keeping Tuckerman with KP in NB/WJ to offset numbers.

• Consensus from Tuckerman families is needed before advocating.

  • Mixed informal feedback, some do support the shift to Woodward due to walkability.

  • Tuckerman’s impact on NB capacity would be minimal (50–55 students); other schools that flow into NB may be concerned though

  • There will be an ES boundary study at some point, time and scope TBD. Hard to see at this point if/how it can help with this current split articulation we are seeing

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Versión en Español  

Para dar seguimiento a la reunión del PTA de la semana pasada, quería resumir las opciones actuales para KP en el Estudio de Límites de Woodward, además de proporcionar una actualización y contexto adicional posterior a la reunión del PTA, que aprendí en nuestra reunión del grupo WJ (una reunión mensual entre todas las escuelas del grupo WJ).

Versión TLDR (resumen para quien no quiere leer todo):

Tenemos la oportunidad de seguir abogando para que el área de Tuckerman continúe articulando con el resto de KP hacia las escuelas actuales (North Bethesda y Walter Johnson) y que el grupo WJ abogue en nuestro nombre. Necesitamos consultar a las familias del área de Tuckerman para determinar si existe suficiente interés para hacerlo. Creamos una breve encuesta para que las familias del área de Tuckerman la completen.

La fecha límite es el jueves 23 de octubre a las 5 p. m. (hora del este).
El periodo para responder la encuesta es corto, pero las preguntas son simples. El tiempo ajustado es para que, si existe suficiente apoyo desde Tuckerman, podamos escalarlo al grupo WJ y tratar de incluirlo en su testimonio ante la Junta de Educación el martes 28 de octubre.  Encuesta aquí → [Encuesta para familias de Tuckerman]

Para el resto de la comunidad de KP, algunos puntos de aclaración adicionales:

• Se está preparando una guía adicional para toda la comunidad de KP, incluyendo sugerencias sobre cómo responder la encuesta de MCPS sobre las nuevas opciones de límites escolares (boundary options), y será compartida pronto (una vez que tengamos una posición clara sobre Tuckerman).  Será importante que la comunidad de KP defienda que se mantenga la asignación a North Bethesda Middle School y Walter Johnson en las opciones actuales. ¡Manténganse atentos al correo electrónico para más información pronto!

• También ha circulado información sobre el Estudio de Límites de Crown y el uso potencial de Crown como escuela temporal (holding school), lo que podría retrasar los cambios de límites. Aunque eso podría ser cierto, no afecta al estudio de límites de Woodward.  Los titulares de noticias han sido muy generales y no reconocen que hay dos estudios de límites separados ocurriendo al mismo tiempo.  Actualmente, Woodward se está utilizando como escuela temporal para Northwood High School, hasta que terminen su construcción, que está prevista para el año escolar 2027–2028, que es cuando se implementarían los cambios de límites relacionados con nuestro estudio.
  
  

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Resumen general a continuación (un resumen más detallado está disponible aquí)

Panorama general

• Las opciones actuales de límites escolares se están volviendo más concretas y realistas, aunque la defensa comunitaria sigue siendo importante ya que aún podrían haber cambios.

• Un futuro estudio de límites para escuelas primarias (ES) está siendo incluido en el plan CIP de MCPS, lo que indica cambios más amplios en curso.

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Impacto en Garrett Park (GP)

• GP está siendo significativamente afectado, con articulaciones divididas entre Woodward y Walter Johnson (WJ), lo que divide al pueblo y los vecindarios cercanos.

• Las opciones B y D son las más favorables para GP:

  • La Opción D logra una capacidad del 85% tanto en Woodward como en WJ, lo que representa un uso saludable.

  • GP prefiere mantenerse unido y asignado a Woodward para evitar dividir a la comunidad.

  • Una opción B modificada podría potencialmente cumplir con este objetivo.

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Consideraciones sobre el uso de instalaciones

• La capacidad de WJ se reducirá de aproximadamente 140% a entre 75% y 85%. (las tres primeras opciones están por debajo del 80%)

• Mantener una capacidad superior al 80% es importante para conservar la programación y la oferta de clases.

• La Opción D incluye reasignar parte de Loiderman (Viers Mill ES) a WJ y lleva el uso al 85%.

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Área de Tuckerman en KP

• Hay una posible alineación entre los objetivos de GP y KP:

  • Si GP se traslada completamente a Woodward, se reduce la inscripción en WJ, lo que podría justificar mantener a Tuckerman con KP en NB/WJ para equilibrar los números.

• Se necesita consenso de las familias de Tuckerman antes de proceder con la defensa comunitaria.

  • Retroalimentación informal mixta; algunas familias apoyan el traslado a Woodward debido a la cercanía caminando (walkability).

• El impacto de Tuckerman en la capacidad de NB sería mínimo (50–55 estudiantes); sin embargo, otras escuelas que se articulan hacia NB podrían estar preocupadas.

• Habrá un estudio de límites para escuelas primarias en algún momento; el tiempo y el alcance están por definirse. Es difícil ver en este momento si o cómo podría ayudar con la articulación dividida que estamos viendo ahora.

[Elaine Liao Avin]

Hi KP Community

Friendly reminder to Tuckerman families that survey closes today at 7 pm ET.

TLDR (too long, didn't read) version: We have an opportunity to continue to advocate to keep Tuckerman area articulating with the rest of KP to the current schools (North Bethesda and Walter Johnson) and have the WJ cluster advocate on our behalf. We need to pulse Tuckerman area families to determine if there is enough sentiment to do so. We created a short survey for Tuckerman area families to complete. The deadline is Thursday, October 23rd by 7 pm ET.  The open time on this survey is short but the questions are simple. The tight turnaround time is so that if there is enough support from Tuckerman, that we run it up the chain to WJ Cluster to see if we can get it into their testimony to the Board of Education on Tuesday October 28th. See survey here --> Tuckerman Family Survey

Thank you,

Elaine

[Ryan D]

FYI I shared the survey with our entire Tuckerman Heights HOA so hopefully more responses will come today.

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[Elaine Liao Avin]

KP Community --

I wanted to provide a quick update on where we landed with the survey last week and other activities impacting theWJ cluster testimony tomorrow at the Board of Education Meeting:

• There was an overwhelming majority (95% out of 80 respondents) among the Tuckerman family survey asking for us to continue to advocate for the Tuckerman community stay with the rest of KP to NB and WJ.
• KP PTA Board met and voted to support the position the survey reflected
• NBMS PTA also performed a similar survey and their Board also voted to support the position
• Garrett Park also had a majority vote to advocate to keep Garrett Park articulating together and not split between Woodward and WJ

WJ Cluster Coordinators are testifying tomorrow (Tuesday, October 28th) at the Board of Education meeting and covering the points below (not final language or full testimony, just the highlights).  We are asking for those who are able to, come join the meeting and wear green (WJ cluster color) in support of our Cluster Coordinators and support for Tuckerman Families!  

Meeting Date: Tuesday, October 28th

Address: 15 West Gude Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850

Meeting Start Time: 6 pm (WJ will testify the first half of the meeting)  WEAR GREEN!

WJ Cluster Advocacy Points (2 minutes of testimony):

1. We support the latest round of boundary study options and take note of the fact that they are consistent with the WJ Clusters' long-standing position, that current WJ schools are re-scoped to articulate into either WJ or Woodward in this process.  In specific, the Cluster supports the majority positions of our Kensington Parkwood and Garrett Park elementary school communities, that the current boundary study options be modified so that they are not split, and each continue to articulate as contiguous communities. Based on the numbers in the study, we’re not seeing a compelling rationale for why the proposed splits are required.

2. We share the concerns broadly stated throughout the MCPS community about the pace of the Program Analysis and the many unanswered questions and uncertainty that that's leading to, especially for middle and high school families. It may make sense that some aspects of the process be slowed, so that a more thoughtful plan for transitions and grandfathering be developed, and more open and inclusive community engagement can take place.  In specific we want to touch on the small but important concern that appropriate resources are allocated to transition bussing. The transportation system is already under-capacity and there will be greater requirements for moving students back & forth between schools under the new plan. Along with many other questions about the impacts of the regional programs proposal, we want to ensure that this hasn’t been overlooked.

3. The cluster strongly supports the need for an elementary school boundary study, to address the serious over-capacity issues that some of our schools are facing, particularly in the Ashburton and Farmland communities. And while we understand the Superintendent’s rationale for making this a county-wide study, we want to ensure that within that process our unique cluster-specific issues are acknowledged and addressed, and not in any way minimized in that larger project.

4. While we see the need for the ES boundary study to proceed at a deliberate pace, we're going to firmly ask alongside that initiative for greater transparency in MCPS's methodology for calculating school enrollment projections & capacity requirements, as driven by future residential development. In particular, our cluster is affected by a corridor of development that includes Old Georgetown and the Pike & Rose area, which suggests that WJ schools' enrollment may continue to grow, even while county-wide MCPS enrollment may see an overall decline.

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As always, please feel free to reach out with questions. Guidance on next steps for KP on the boundary survey forthcoming.

Thanks,

Elaine