Emergency Legal Filing Seeks to Halt MCPS Plan to Close Wootton High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine paying all your high taxes for decades, only to have your local school closed down and your students bussed miles away to another community. Like putting away money for a new car, only to have it given to your neighbors on the next block over, who offer to let you come and use it instead of getting your own.
I hope they prevail.

Imagine being such an entitled POS that you compare having your kid's assigned public high school relocated 3 miles away to a brand new building to which your child will receive free bus service, and thinking that is somehow analogous to buying a new car and having it given to your neighbors.

I’d be thrilled for an extra mile away and bus. We are just under two miles, a dangerous walk so we drive. It sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I was reading something from someone regarding Wootton today and it made it sound like they really believe Wootton is "closing"... are they the exception or are there really a significant number of people who genuinely consider this an actual closure (despite how obviously untrue that is)?

I kind of just assumed that the Wootton people have been using dramatic "our school is closing!!!" language because they don't like the location swap and want to keep Wootton in the original building that they can walk to, and figure that pretending it's a closure will serve those goals.

But there's no way any reasonable person could actually confuse a location change with a school closure, could they?

I thought that was just dramatic language to try to get their way because they don't want

Some of it is motivated reasoning; Maryland state regulations, COMAR, have specific rules and procedures that have to be followed if a school is closed. If they can convince a judge that this is a closure, then MCPS and the BoE didn't follow those procedures and maybe they can reverse it. That's why the filing has the words "de facto closing" because they know it doesn't fit the definition of an actual school closing.

Some of it is also probably just semantics; they are essentially closing the building for regular students, although I think the community can continue to rent out the building. There's a Chinese School that rents out the building on Sunday and I'm sure there's other rental uses.

And then there are the people who think that adding Fields Roads and increasing FARMS from 14 to 19% is a plot by MCPS to destroy a W school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I was reading something from someone regarding Wootton today and it made it sound like they really believe Wootton is "closing"... are they the exception or are there really a significant number of people who genuinely consider this an actual closure (despite how obviously untrue that is)?

I kind of just assumed that the Wootton people have been using dramatic "our school is closing!!!" language because they don't like the location swap and want to keep Wootton in the original building that they can walk to, and figure that pretending it's a closure will serve those goals.

But there's no way any reasonable person could actually confuse a location change with a school closure, could they?

I thought that was just dramatic language to try to get their way because they don't want

Some of it is motivated reasoning; Maryland state regulations, COMAR, have specific rules and procedures that have to be followed if a school is closed. If they can convince a judge that this is a closure, then MCPS and the BoE didn't follow those procedures and maybe they can reverse it. That's why the filing has the words "de facto closing" because they know it doesn't fit the definition of an actual school closing.

Some of it is also probably just semantics; they are essentially closing the building for regular students, although I think the community can continue to rent out the building. There's a Chinese School that rents out the building on Sunday and I'm sure there's other rental uses.

And then there are the people who think that adding Fields Roads and increasing FARMS from 14 to 19% is a plot by MCPS to destroy a W school.

The same building you said was unsafe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine paying all your high taxes for decades, only to have your local school closed down and your students bussed miles away to another community. Like putting away money for a new car, only to have it given to your neighbors on the next block over, who offer to let you come and use it instead of getting your own.
I hope they prevail.

Did you just figure out you live in a society? Taxes fund public schools, but they are not tuition payments. You pay them even if you don’t have kids. And kids who live in cheap apartments and pay very little taxes still get to go to the same school. You pay taxes to the county, and the county decides how to spend it based on who we all vote for. Just like you don’t get better postal service or trash collection or national defense based on how much you pay in taxes, you also don’t get better schools.

I don’t think anyone is confused about how taxes work. No one is saying taxes are tuition or that paying more should get you a better school.

The issue is simpler than that. People expect a public system to plan responsibly and follow through on what it said it was going to do. When that doesn’t happen—and the solution ends up being something much more disruptive—it’s fair to question it.

“You live in a society” doesn’t really answer that. Of course decisions are collective and resources are shared. But that doesn’t mean every decision is automatically the right one, or that communities shouldn’t push back when something doesn’t make sense to them.

At the end of the day, this isn’t about wanting more than anyone else. It’s about expecting consistency and reasonable planning from the system everyone is paying into.

Exactly! Which is why the same people who are bashing Wootton are going to be screaming when their school gets closed in the next round. If it happens to Wootton and you didn’t care, don’t be crying when it happens to you.

I’m a Cold Spring mom and fully expect to have our school closed in the next round. I am grateful because the school isn’t up to modern standards.

Be careful what you wish for. When cold spring closes, I don’t think yall are staying with Churchill… JY won’t be on the board anymore to cut backroom deals

Where would the Cold Spring kids go if it closed? Beverly Farms and Wayside? Is there any room at Ritchie Park?

Ritchie Park will be heavily underutilized once the Fallsgrove people are moved out because of the non-contiguous island assignment. So yes, RP will need new students to maintain itself open.

Fallsgrove goes to Ritchie Park? That's crazy.

Yes, so we're going to get a bunch of musical chairs from all of this at the ES boundary study. Beall and College Gardens are also underutilized so they could place the Fallsgrove people into one or both of those because technically they are contiguous. However, the more obvious move would be to put Fallsgrove people into Lakewood and thus Wootton @ Crown. If they do that, then College Gardens will need to take on the part of King Farm that goes to Washington Grove. And someone will need to leave Wootton to QO (probably DuFief areas if the school is closed). And then someone will need to go from QO to Gaithersburg to make up for King Farm leaving xD. This will all be so fun /s

[Anonymous]

Way to go Wooton families. Make MCPs spend a ton of money on legal fees so now all school have less resources, and less staffing and less money to spend on OUR kids. Do you have any idea what long term mold issues look like?? Oh but wait… your property values will MAYBE remain the same so who gives an f about the long term health ramifications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Way to go Wooton families. Make MCPs spend a ton of money on legal fees so now all school have less resources, and less staffing and less money to spend on OUR kids. Do you have any idea what long term mold issues look like?? Oh but wait… your property values will MAYBE remain the same so who gives an f about the long term health ramifications.

You do realize taxes are going up, and Wootton has nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine paying all your high taxes for decades, only to have your local school closed down and your students bussed miles away to another community. Like putting away money for a new car, only to have it given to your neighbors on the next block over, who offer to let you come and use it instead of getting your own.
I hope they prevail.

Imagine being such an entitled POS that you compare having your kid's assigned public high school relocated 3 miles away to a brand new building to which your child will receive free bus service, and thinking that is somehow analogous to buying a new car and having it given to your neighbors.

Where's all this kindness and tolerance I keep hearing about?

It is somewhere else where people understand what public school means, which is that the people that live near a public school building didn't pay for it by themselves and don't own it. And kids that live in other places have families that also pay taxes and have the same right to public school as your kids do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Way to go Wooton families. Make MCPs spend a ton of money on legal fees so now all school have less resources, and less staffing and less money to spend on OUR kids. Do you have any idea what long term mold issues look like?? Oh but wait… your property values will MAYBE remain the same so who gives an f about the long term health ramifications.

Legal challenges aren’t about “taking money from kids”—they’re about making sure big decisions are made correctly and transparently, and if the process was sound it should hold up. No one is saying building issues or things like mold should be ignored; the question is whether relocating an entire school is the right fix or whether those problems should be addressed directly. And reducing everything to property values just sidesteps the reality that people can care about building conditions, good planning, and community impact all at the same time.

Based on your logic, no legal challenges to ANY government decisions should ever be made because the government would have to spend tax dollars to defend itself. I guess the indigent shouldn’t get public defenders for criminal cases because those cost tax dollars too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way to go Wooton families. Make MCPs spend a ton of money on legal fees so now all school have less resources, and less staffing and less money to spend on OUR kids. Do you have any idea what long term mold issues look like?? Oh but wait… your property values will MAYBE remain the same so who gives an f about the long term health ramifications.

Legal challenges aren’t about “taking money from kids”—they’re about making sure big decisions are made correctly and transparently, and if the process was sound it should hold up. No one is saying building issues or things like mold should be ignored; the question is whether relocating an entire school is the right fix or whether those problems should be addressed directly. And reducing everything to property values just sidesteps the reality that people can care about building conditions, good planning, and community impact all at the same time.

Based on your logic, no legal challenges to ANY government decisions should ever be made because the government would have to spend tax dollars to defend itself. I guess the indigent shouldn’t get public defenders for criminal cases because those cost tax dollars too.

Of course there should be the option of legal recourse when someone is at risk of losing their freedom or a basic human right. No such thing is occurring in this issue-your right to public education is being upheld.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way to go Wooton families. Make MCPs spend a ton of money on legal fees so now all school have less resources, and less staffing and less money to spend on OUR kids. Do you have any idea what long term mold issues look like?? Oh but wait… your property values will MAYBE remain the same so who gives an f about the long term health ramifications.

Legal challenges aren’t about “taking money from kids”—they’re about making sure big decisions are made correctly and transparently, and if the process was sound it should hold up. No one is saying building issues or things like mold should be ignored; the question is whether relocating an entire school is the right fix or whether those problems should be addressed directly. And reducing everything to property values just sidesteps the reality that people can care about building conditions, good planning, and community impact all at the same time.

Based on your logic, no legal challenges to ANY government decisions should ever be made because the government would have to spend tax dollars to defend itself. I guess the indigent shouldn’t get public defenders for criminal cases because those cost tax dollars too.

Of course there should be the option of legal recourse when someone is at risk of losing their freedom or a basic human right. No such thing is occurring in this issue-your right to public education is being upheld.

So the government can break the law as it pleases if you agree with the outcome? MCPS must follow the law. You might believe that it has, but that’s not up to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way to go Wooton families. Make MCPs spend a ton of money on legal fees so now all school have less resources, and less staffing and less money to spend on OUR kids. Do you have any idea what long term mold issues look like?? Oh but wait… your property values will MAYBE remain the same so who gives an f about the long term health ramifications.

Legal challenges aren’t about “taking money from kids”—they’re about making sure big decisions are made correctly and transparently, and if the process was sound it should hold up. No one is saying building issues or things like mold should be ignored; the question is whether relocating an entire school is the right fix or whether those problems should be addressed directly. And reducing everything to property values just sidesteps the reality that people can care about building conditions, good planning, and community impact all at the same time.

Based on your logic, no legal challenges to ANY government decisions should ever be made because the government would have to spend tax dollars to defend itself. I guess the indigent shouldn’t get public defenders for criminal cases because those cost tax dollars too.

Of course there should be the option of legal recourse when someone is at risk of losing their freedom or a basic human right. No such thing is occurring in this issue-your right to public education is being upheld.

So the government can break the law as it pleases if you agree with the outcome? MCPS must follow the law. You might believe that it has, but that’s not up to you.

Just because the Parkway parents didn't like the process or the outcome also doesn't mean MCPS didn't follow the law.

The two claims in the emergency filing are weak, but maybe they're saving up the actual good arguments for the lawsuit when this filing is denied?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way to go Wooton families. Make MCPs spend a ton of money on legal fees so now all school have less resources, and less staffing and less money to spend on OUR kids. Do you have any idea what long term mold issues look like?? Oh but wait… your property values will MAYBE remain the same so who gives an f about the long term health ramifications.

Legal challenges aren’t about “taking money from kids”—they’re about making sure big decisions are made correctly and transparently, and if the process was sound it should hold up. No one is saying building issues or things like mold should be ignored; the question is whether relocating an entire school is the right fix or whether those problems should be addressed directly. And reducing everything to property values just sidesteps the reality that people can care about building conditions, good planning, and community impact all at the same time.

Based on your logic, no legal challenges to ANY government decisions should ever be made because the government would have to spend tax dollars to defend itself. I guess the indigent shouldn’t get public defenders for criminal cases because those cost tax dollars too.

Of course there should be the option of legal recourse when someone is at risk of losing their freedom or a basic human right. No such thing is occurring in this issue-your right to public education is being upheld.

So the government can break the law as it pleases if you agree with the outcome? MCPS must follow the law. You might believe that it has, but that’s not up to you.

Just because the Parkway parents didn't like the process or the outcome also doesn't mean MCPS didn't follow the law.

The two claims in the emergency filing are weak, but maybe they're saving up the actual good arguments for the lawsuit when this filing is denied?

So let the process play out. Btw, this situation likely wouldn’t exist if MCPS had done things in a more transparent way, so it only has itself to blame.

[Anonymous]

What is the chance that this claim win? Will crown HS move back to zone 5 and regional programs in zone 5 in each HS changed as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way to go Wooton families. Make MCPs spend a ton of money on legal fees so now all school have less resources, and less staffing and less money to spend on OUR kids. Do you have any idea what long term mold issues look like?? Oh but wait… your property values will MAYBE remain the same so who gives an f about the long term health ramifications.

Legal challenges aren’t about “taking money from kids”—they’re about making sure big decisions are made correctly and transparently, and if the process was sound it should hold up. No one is saying building issues or things like mold should be ignored; the question is whether relocating an entire school is the right fix or whether those problems should be addressed directly. And reducing everything to property values just sidesteps the reality that people can care about building conditions, good planning, and community impact all at the same time.

Based on your logic, no legal challenges to ANY government decisions should ever be made because the government would have to spend tax dollars to defend itself. I guess the indigent shouldn’t get public defenders for criminal cases because those cost tax dollars too.

Of course there should be the option of legal recourse when someone is at risk of losing their freedom or a basic human right. No such thing is occurring in this issue-your right to public education is being upheld.

So the government can break the law as it pleases if you agree with the outcome? MCPS must follow the law. You might believe that it has, but that’s not up to you.

Just because the Parkway parents didn't like the process or the outcome also doesn't mean MCPS didn't follow the law.

The two claims in the emergency filing are weak, but maybe they're saving up the actual good arguments for the lawsuit when this filing is denied?

So let the process play out. Btw, this situation likely wouldn’t exist if MCPS had done things in a more transparent way, so it only has itself to blame.

Of course it would still exist because fundamentally Parkway families are upset about the outcome, not the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way to go Wooton families. Make MCPs spend a ton of money on legal fees so now all school have less resources, and less staffing and less money to spend on OUR kids. Do you have any idea what long term mold issues look like?? Oh but wait… your property values will MAYBE remain the same so who gives an f about the long term health ramifications.

Legal challenges aren’t about “taking money from kids”—they’re about making sure big decisions are made correctly and transparently, and if the process was sound it should hold up. No one is saying building issues or things like mold should be ignored; the question is whether relocating an entire school is the right fix or whether those problems should be addressed directly. And reducing everything to property values just sidesteps the reality that people can care about building conditions, good planning, and community impact all at the same time.

Based on your logic, no legal challenges to ANY government decisions should ever be made because the government would have to spend tax dollars to defend itself. I guess the indigent shouldn’t get public defenders for criminal cases because those cost tax dollars too.

Of course there should be the option of legal recourse when someone is at risk of losing their freedom or a basic human right. No such thing is occurring in this issue-your right to public education is being upheld.

So the government can break the law as it pleases if you agree with the outcome? MCPS must follow the law. You might believe that it has, but that’s not up to you.

Just because the Parkway parents didn't like the process or the outcome also doesn't mean MCPS didn't follow the law.

The two claims in the emergency filing are weak, but maybe they're saving up the actual good arguments for the lawsuit when this filing is denied?

So let the process play out. Btw, this situation likely wouldn’t exist if MCPS had done things in a more transparent way, so it only has itself to blame.

MCPS was going to be sued either way because the Wootton boundaries were changing and the Wootton parents are some of the most engaged parents in the county and they have the resources to hire lawyers. If it wasn't the Parkway parents, it'd be the DuFief dads. The only way to avoid a lawsuit was to keep the status quo, which wasn't possible because they built an entirely new school and need to fill it with kids.

I'm here mostly to see if someone can actually point to a process deficiency, because MCPS will be doing another boundary study immediately and maybe we can save the next angry school group some money on lawyer fees.