Crown boundary study Option H

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, this would just be a 2 year move, right? They would rebuild Wotton and send kids back there when done?

No. Permanent move I believe for Option H. The money will go to fund Damascus or Magruder HS renovations.

Just curious: aren't more people concerned about this? This seems like a pretty radical proposal. Admittedly, I am not very well versed in the issue. As I understand, the idea is to permanently close Wootton and, instead, open a new school in Gaithersburg. Am I missing something? Are Wootton families OK with this? What about families in Gaithersburg? Wasn't the new school supposed to address their issues?

Wootton families don’t want to move but there isn’t a good choice. They want safe schools. It would still keep the Wootton name. It will also pull in surrounding neighborhoods so Wootton feeders plus some new ones. That will help the immediate neighborhood too. That said, the overcrowding issues this whole thing was supposed to address no longer apply. Overcrowding is not what it was ten years ago. In this option, moving Wootton to this new building, every single middle and high school except Churchill is under 100% utilization. Churchill is a couple of percents over but no one wants to leave so it is what it is.

Option H calls this cluster Crown, with Wootton in Parenthesis, which I take to mean that Wootton will be renamed to Crown. With all resulting possibilities, like the new Crown (Wootton) belonging to region 5, no longer 4. And Wootton no longer being a school, but possibly becoming the new holding school (and no significant fixes, like the proposal for SSIMS closing).

What do local families think of Wootton becoming a holding school? Concerns about traffic? Wootton Parkway is a one-lane road each side that is already clogged during school transit times.

Wrong and wrong. It’s going to be named something like “Wootton at crown” and will remain in region 4. It will have the STEM magnet should the regional model pass. All of this information is out there, do some research.

I've done plenty of research. MCPS keeps changing info. If what you said is true, where did you get that info?

Remember, the regional programs still keep getting shifted around and changing. So just because they say SMCS will be at Wootton right now doesn't actually mean that SMCS will be at Wootton if the regional model passes.

[Anonymous]

What neighborhoods are being added to Wootton at Crown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous what they are doing to Wotton students. They will now bus them all the way to Crown, a lot of these kids live less than 2 miles from Churchill. The board is clueless and out of touch with reality. I hope impacted community advocates for these kids.

Just stop you entited shit.

Honestly the kids impacted from Churchill are as close to Wootton as Churchill. And Wootton is a better HS so what's the problem Oh wait you can not continue to lie and say you are wealthy

[Anonymous]

Idk, this makes a lot of sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What neighborhoods are being added to Wootton at Crown?

Half of rosemont elem right now officially and probably more before all is said and done. Wootton is 1800 kids, crown can hold 2200 currently and my understanding is they plan to fill it.

[Anonymous]

Why do people care about the name? Yes, they care about the composition, whether it retains the same teachers, the distance. All of that makes sense. But who cares about the name??

On the holding school issue, I think it's possible traffic would be made worse though they could possibly make some changes to accommodate that if they're making improvements for it to become a holding school. The reason is that a) ALL students will be bussed, so there will be more busses than currently; and b) i'm guessing that holding schools tend to have more drivers, -- mostly more kids driving but even some parents/caregivers making the trek in the afternoon. Because it is so late when the bus gets them home so they otherwise would miss practices and appointments. This is just a guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is Fields Rd a disconnected island zoned to Gaithersburg when much of it could be in the walk zone to Crown?

I agree with this.

I kind of see what they did. Where since they took some of the Rosemont ES out of Gaithersburg HS, they added Fields Road ES back into it. So it resulted in Gaitherburg HS's numbers not changing much.

But Fields Road ES has about 50 percent FARMS and taking that area out of the QO school district, dropped QO's FARMS rate by ten percent. So accounted for ten percent of QO's current FARMS rate. They should've either assigned the Fields Road ES area to Crown because they are adjacent to each other or leave it at QO. And this helps in bringing down Gaithersburg HS's FARMS numbers too.

Although the Fields Road ES area is adjacent to the Crown area, I don't think it's really walkable. From school site to school site, it's about 1.6 miles by walking. (compared to 2.5 miles to driving to Gaithersburg HS) But the outer edges of the Field Road ES school zone is further out. And I don't think any of the roads that borders the Crown/Rio area are really safe to cross every day. Muddy Branch, Sam Eig Highway, Great Seneca, etc. There is that overpass at Washingtonian Blvd but that would increase the walking distance to get there.

[Anonymous]

^^^ also in my point about walkability, I think MCPS should provide bus service to any areas going to Crown but outside of that 28/Sam Eig Highway/Great Seneca Highway perimeter.

The Fields Road ES area should definitely be zoned to either Crown or QO. And not be an island to Gaithersburg HS.

[Anonymous]

Bulldoze Wooton and build a Julius West equivalent at Frost MS with ample parking and ease of drop off and pick up.

Crown name is changed to Wooton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idk, this makes a lot of sense to me.

+1 MCPS is looking at things holistically. Parents are looking at this as it impacts them directly, which is understandable. But, closing Wootton and moving them to Crown makes total sense given the declining enrollment overall and budgetary constraints.

[Anonymous]

Wooton and Frost are complete dumps. Demo entire area and build a massive Frost MS campus. Then all the Wooton homeowners can breathe easier for their future resale value.

[Anonymous]

Then Travillah should be moved to QO. Travelling by bus to Crown will
be excessive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:H is a great option. Wootton get's a brand new school and the Crown community still gets their high school except now it's called Wootton. Also, there is no need to get on 270 to get to Crown but even if they do get on 270, it's going the opposite direction of traffic both too and from the school. I also agree this is a great way to get some diversity into Wootton.

Diversity?? Wootton has 36% Asian, 12% African American and 8% Hispanic. What's the "good quota" for diversity? And why we have to bring the diversity card on any conversations.

36% Asian? Honestly seems like 70-80

[Anonymous]

Lmao. What a load of garbage to say “MCPS is looking at things holistically.”

We wouldn’t have been in this discussion if they are competent and professional! Bunch of politicians care about their own political agenda more than getting everyone prepared for college!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Idk, this makes a lot of sense to me.

+1 MCPS is looking at things holistically. Parents are looking at this as it impacts them directly, which is understandable. But, closing Wootton and moving them to Crown makes total sense given the declining enrollment overall and budgetary constraints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people care about the name? Yes, they care about the composition, whether it retains the same teachers, the distance. All of that makes sense. But who cares about the name??

On the holding school issue, I think it's possible traffic would be made worse though they could possibly make some changes to accommodate that if they're making improvements for it to become a holding school. The reason is that a) ALL students will be bussed, so there will be more busses than currently; and b) i'm guessing that holding schools tend to have more drivers, -- mostly more kids driving but even some parents/caregivers making the trek in the afternoon. Because it is so late when the bus gets them home so they otherwise would miss practices and appointments. This is just a guess.

The distance is a pain. Teachers, admin and other staff always change. You cannot count on it year to year.