![]() ![]() Segregation also exacerbates the county’s persistent achievement gap, or disparity in academic performance between black, Latinx, or lower-income students and their white, Asian, or higher-income counterparts. For instance, the county has limited construction funding, but we’re building new classrooms when (at least in some cases) we have empty space that we could use. Image by the author.Īs education researcher (and former MCPS parent) Rick Kahlenberg notes, segregated schools actually cost the public more to fix all of the other problems it creates. Whitman High School in Bethesda, which has almost no black or low-income students, will get a $24.5 million addition. Meanwhile, a few miles away at Springbrook High School, which has nearly four hundred empty seats, MCPS is taking away teachers because there aren’t enough students. To avoid redistricting students to a “less desirable” school, MCPS has planned multi-million-dollar additions at Whitman and Bethesda-Chevy Chase high schools. Schools where enrollment is rising sit next to schools with hundreds of empty seats. With the boundaries largely stuck in place, the majority of the county’s minority and low-income students have become clustered in East County and the Upcounty, while schools in the wealthier west side of the county remain predominantly white. (This often has to do with the relationship between school reputation and property values.) As a result, the Board of Education redraws boundaries rarely, like when a new school opens. Like the District, Montgomery County Public Schools hasn't done a county-wide boundary study in decades, due to resistance from parents who don't want their kids' school to change. In January, the Montgomery County Board of Education hired a consultant to look at the catchment areas for each of the county’s 200-plus schools with a focus on diversity. As the county struggles to address these issues, a debate is raging about who belongs in our community, and who gets to benefit from its resources. Montgomery County’s public schools are growing, and they’re also growing more segregated by race and class, which is hurting student performance across the board. ![]() Students, parents, teachers, and community members filled the cafeteria at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda for last night's boundary study meeting. ![]()
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