Northwood @ Woodward

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why was Northwood not renovated before the school re-opened 20 years ago?

Same reason SSIMS and Sligo Creek ES weren't renovated from the old Blair building around the same time to a level that would make them comparable facilities to others that were new or renovated atound that time. It was Silver Spring/Wheaton instead of Bethesda/Potomac. Not enough juice (political $), fewer squeaky wheels among parents and no BOE champion like Pat O'Neill was.

Most county building funds have been focused on new builds to address expanding population up county. Down County (whether it's the rich or poor parts) have been bottom of the priority list, they just add portables and patch up old buildings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why was Northwood not renovated before the school re-opened 20 years ago?

Same reason SSIMS and Sligo Creek ES weren't renovated from the old Blair building around the same time to a level that would make them comparable facilities to others that were new or renovated atound that time. It was Silver Spring/Wheaton instead of Bethesda/Potomac. Not enough juice (political $), fewer squeaky wheels among parents and no BOE champion like Pat O'Neill was.

Most county building funds have been focused on new builds to address expanding population up county. Down County (whether it's the rich or poor parts) have been bottom of the priority list, they just add portables and patch up old buildings.

Except for Arcola, Bel Pre, Glen Haven, Glenalllan, Roscoe Nix, Sargent Shriver, Flora Singer, Weller Road, Wheaton Woods, Woodlin, Wheaton HS, Edison HS....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why was Northwood not renovated before the school re-opened 20 years ago?

Same reason SSIMS and Sligo Creek ES weren't renovated from the old Blair building around the same time to a level that would make them comparable facilities to others that were new or renovated atound that time. It was Silver Spring/Wheaton instead of Bethesda/Potomac. Not enough juice (political $), fewer squeaky wheels among parents and no BOE champion like Pat O'Neill was.

Most county building funds have been focused on new builds to address expanding population up county. Down County (whether it's the rich or poor parts) have been bottom of the priority list, they just add portables and patch up old buildings.

The boe spent the money on new offices for them. So, clearly there is money floating around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ correct, because Planning Board successfully claimed overcrowding was due to neighborhood turnover and not new builds. Cut the amount new builds (developers) have to pay, and said they would raise the recordation tax. The they didn't raise the recirdation tax for a couple years, and that effectively cut the amount available for building schools at a time when we had 3 HSs in the works (Northwood, Woodward and Crown).

Abysmal planning from Planning Board, MCPS, and Council, who all work in silos, rather than together

Claim is a good word here. What the planning board actually did was hand-select study areas that had turnover but very little new construction. And then they counted every kid whose registration address was a “recent sale” (never defining recent) as an additional student without regard to whether the people who moved out also sent kids to MCPS, so if a household with four kids moved out and a household with one kid moved in, the house counted as +1 instead of -3. Neither planning nor the council cared about funding school construction. They were just focused on producing some fuzzy math that made it look like giving developers a tax break was budget neutral.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anytime a school relocates to a holding school things are iffy. Our kids' ES did it for 18 months, into an absolute wreck of a holding facility with a trailer park out back because it was nowhere near large enough. At least the Woodward building will be new!

It’s new, but critical areas will not be finished. Glad my kid graduated this year.

[Anonymous]

Who should I vote for in the upcoming BOE election so AS NOT to reelect the Bd members who made the decisions that led to Northwood getting the complete shaft?

All of the problems were easily anticipated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who should I vote for in the upcoming BOE election so AS NOT to reelect the Bd members who made the decisions that led to Northwood getting the complete shaft?

All of the problems were easily anticipated.

Those decisions were made in 2018-19, and Smondrowski and Evans were on the board then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who should I vote for in the upcoming BOE election so AS NOT to reelect the Bd members who made the decisions that led to Northwood getting the complete shaft?

All of the problems were easily anticipated.

I'm voting for Zimmerman, Stewart (both new) and Harris (new-ish as of 2020; read somewhere that she had kids at SSIMS so I think she lives in the catchment area).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who should I vote for in the upcoming BOE election so AS NOT to reelect the Bd members who made the decisions that led to Northwood getting the complete shaft?

All of the problems were easily anticipated.

I'm voting for Zimmerman, Stewart (both new) and Harris (new-ish as of 2020; read somewhere that she had kids at SSIMS so I think she lives in the catchment area).

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who should I vote for in the upcoming BOE election so AS NOT to reelect the Bd members who made the decisions that led to Northwood getting the complete shaft?

All of the problems were easily anticipated.

Which problems? They went in knowing it was going to be inconvenient for all parties. Holding schools always are.