Overcrowding at Walter johnson

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Join the club. My kid is at Einstein and the stairwells are jammed, hallways crowded, some classrooms can't accommodate number of kids. My main concern is safety in case there is an emergency/evacuation.

Yep. Same at our high school. It is SO crowded.

The population in Montgomery County has exploded in the past 5-10 years. Almost ever school (ES/MS/HS) is overcrowded and understaffed.

Understaffed, yes. But there are a significant number of schools that are well below their capacity. Last year, 12 high schools were under capacity and 13 were over capacity, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Join the club. My kid is at Einstein and the stairwells are jammed, hallways crowded, some classrooms can't accommodate number of kids. My main concern is safety in case there is an emergency/evacuation.

Yep. Same at our high school. It is SO crowded.

The population in Montgomery County has exploded in the past 5-10 years. Almost ever school (ES/MS/HS) is overcrowded and understaffed.

Understaffed, yes. But there are a significant number of schools that are well below their capacity. Last year, 12 high schools were under capacity and 13 were over capacity, for example.

The capacity goal is 80-100%, so schools in that range aren't considered "under".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Join the club. My kid is at Einstein and the stairwells are jammed, hallways crowded, some classrooms can't accommodate number of kids. My main concern is safety in case there is an emergency/evacuation.

Yep. Same at our high school. It is SO crowded.

The population in Montgomery County has exploded in the past 5-10 years. Almost ever school (ES/MS/HS) is overcrowded and understaffed.

Understaffed, yes. But there are a significant number of schools that are well below their capacity. Last year, 12 high schools were under capacity and 13 were over capacity, for example.

The capacity goal is 80-100%, so schools in that range aren't considered "under".

Still, it's not accurate to say "almost every school is overcrowded."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Join the club. My kid is at Einstein and the stairwells are jammed, hallways crowded, some classrooms can't accommodate number of kids. My main concern is safety in case there is an emergency/evacuation.

Yep. Same at our high school. It is SO crowded.

The population in Montgomery County has exploded in the past 5-10 years. Almost ever school (ES/MS/HS) is overcrowded and understaffed.

Understaffed, yes. But there are a significant number of schools that are well below their capacity. Last year, 12 high schools were under capacity and 13 were over capacity, for example.

The capacity goal is 80-100%, so schools in that range aren't considered "under".

Still, it's not accurate to say "almost every school is overcrowded."

Also not accurate to say that 12 high schools were ‘under capacity’. That’s not true.

MCPS is stretched thin. Ask any teacher or staff member.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

Literally, cluster representatives, who had been fighting the good fight for years for less crowding in the WJ cluster, got fed up with the process and sent kids to private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

Literally, cluster representatives, who had been fighting the good fight for years for less crowding in the WJ cluster, got fed up with the process and sent kids to private school.

What other options were there besides reopening Woodward? I believe the construction started when it did because the Woodward building was still being used as Tilden MS for several years, so if they had started sooner what would have happened with the MS kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Join the club. My kid is at Einstein and the stairwells are jammed, hallways crowded, some classrooms can't accommodate number of kids. My main concern is safety in case there is an emergency/evacuation.

Yep. Same at our high school. It is SO crowded.

The population in Montgomery County has exploded in the past 5-10 years. Almost ever school (ES/MS/HS) is overcrowded and understaffed.

Understaffed, yes. But there are a significant number of schools that are well below their capacity. Last year, 12 high schools were under capacity and 13 were over capacity, for example.

The capacity goal is 80-100%, so schools in that range aren't considered "under".

Still, it's not accurate to say "almost every school is overcrowded."

Also not accurate to say that 12 high schools were ‘under capacity’. That’s not true.

MCPS is stretched thin. Ask any teacher or staff member.

I think there are two different things being talked about here. If it's building capacity, then yes it is accurate to say that 12 high schools were under capacity. This means the enrollment is below the stated capacity for the building's number of classrooms, size of cafeteria, parking lots, hallways, etc. But staffing levels are a separate consideration, as an under-capacity building can still have large class sizes, not enough teachers or other staff members available. And obviously it is even worse to have an over-capacity building, like WJ and 12 other high schools, and also have the staffing issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

Literally, cluster representatives, who had been fighting the good fight for years for less crowding in the WJ cluster, got fed up with the process and sent kids to private school.

What other options were there besides reopening Woodward? I believe the construction started when it did because the Woodward building was still being used as Tilden MS for several years, so if they had started sooner what would have happened with the MS kids?

Well, they did build on that enormous property over by green acres where the put the new Tilden Ms — that was large enough for a HS. I’m one of the r cluster folks that had younger kids (class of 27 and class of 29) honestly, I believed them when they said they had a plan—-I just never imagined it would take so long for them to effectuate it! All the stupid squabbles about whether it would be an arts program, whether it would have an athletic field, trees, etc. didn’t help…and then everything came to a roaring standstill with the pandemic. Of course all the tear down construction by developers did not stop during the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

Literally, cluster representatives, who had been fighting the good fight for years for less crowding in the WJ cluster, got fed up with the process and sent kids to private school.

Or, their kids are in college now. Someone else's turn to take up the fight. MCPS moves at a snails pace, you have to keep the pressure on!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

Literally, cluster representatives, who had been fighting the good fight for years for less crowding in the WJ cluster, got fed up with the process and sent kids to private school.

What other options were there besides reopening Woodward? I believe the construction started when it did because the Woodward building was still being used as Tilden MS for several years, so if they had started sooner what would have happened with the MS kids?

Well, they did build on that enormous property over by green acres where the put the new Tilden Ms — that was large enough for a HS. I’m one of the r cluster folks that had younger kids (class of 27 and class of 29) honestly, I believed them when they said they had a plan—-I just never imagined it would take so long for them to effectuate it! All the stupid squabbles about whether it would be an arts program, whether it would have an athletic field, trees, etc. didn’t help…and then everything came to a roaring standstill with the pandemic. Of course all the tear down construction by developers did not stop during the pandemic.

Had they considered building the new HS there, or was there NIMBY resistance to that idea?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

Literally, cluster representatives, who had been fighting the good fight for years for less crowding in the WJ cluster, got fed up with the process and sent kids to private school.

What other options were there besides reopening Woodward? I believe the construction started when it did because the Woodward building was still being used as Tilden MS for several years, so if they had started sooner what would have happened with the MS kids?

Well, they did build on that enormous property over by green acres where the put the new Tilden Ms — that was large enough for a HS. I’m one of the r cluster folks that had younger kids (class of 27 and class of 29) honestly, I believed them when they said they had a plan—-I just never imagined it would take so long for them to effectuate it! All the stupid squabbles about whether it would be an arts program, whether it would have an athletic field, trees, etc. didn’t help…and then everything came to a roaring standstill with the pandemic. Of course all the tear down construction by developers did not stop during the pandemic.

Had they considered building the new HS there, or was there NIMBY resistance to that idea?

No, the old Tilden MS had always been slated for a new Tilden MS, but they did a bunch of things with the building until they got off the dime. They used as a holding school for the Hoover MS rebuild and they leased it out to a private school before the dates were on the books to get the Tilden MS kids out of the Woodward building to make that plot into the new Woodward HS. I'm sure there were seveal other budget delays in there. MCPS can act quickly when they feel some urgency - The North Bethesda MS addition completed in 2018 is a good example. Northwood HS is in worse shape than WJ, but the decision to put the Northwood students in the rebuilt Woodward as a holding school pushed the project out even further, CIP funding delay notwithstanding. DD says WJ feels a lot more crowded this year than last, so maybe they'll blow by the 550 over capacity when the real numbers come in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

Literally, cluster representatives, who had been fighting the good fight for years for less crowding in the WJ cluster, got fed up with the process and sent kids to private school.

What other options were there besides reopening Woodward? I believe the construction started when it did because the Woodward building was still being used as Tilden MS for several years, so if they had started sooner what would have happened with the MS kids?

Well, they did build on that enormous property over by green acres where the put the new Tilden Ms — that was large enough for a HS. I’m one of the r cluster folks that had younger kids (class of 27 and class of 29) honestly, I believed them when they said they had a plan—-I just never imagined it would take so long for them to effectuate it! All the stupid squabbles about whether it would be an arts program, whether it would have an athletic field, trees, etc. didn’t help…and then everything came to a roaring standstill with the pandemic. Of course all the tear down construction by developers did not stop during the pandemic.

Had they considered building the new HS there, or was there NIMBY resistance to that idea?

No, the old Tilden MS had always been slated for a new Tilden MS, but they did a bunch of things with the building until they got off the dime. They used as a holding school for the Hoover MS rebuild and they leased it out to a private school before the dates were on the books to get the Tilden MS kids out of the Woodward building to make that plot into the new Woodward HS. I'm sure there were seveal other budget delays in there. MCPS can act quickly when they feel some urgency - The North Bethesda MS addition completed in 2018 is a good example. Northwood HS is in worse shape than WJ, but the decision to put the Northwood students in the rebuilt Woodward as a holding school pushed the project out even further, CIP funding delay notwithstanding. DD says WJ feels a lot more crowded this year than last, so maybe they'll blow by the 550 over capacity when the real numbers come in.

The Tilden Lane space (with the current Tilden MS) is way too small for a high school. The Old Geo'town space (recently Tilden, future Woodward) is barely big enough for modern MCPS HS, and they backed the size of the school down a bit as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

Literally, cluster representatives, who had been fighting the good fight for years for less crowding in the WJ cluster, got fed up with the process and sent kids to private school.

What other options were there besides reopening Woodward? I believe the construction started when it did because the Woodward building was still being used as Tilden MS for several years, so if they had started sooner what would have happened with the MS kids?

Well, they did build on that enormous property over by green acres where the put the new Tilden Ms — that was large enough for a HS. I’m one of the r cluster folks that had younger kids (class of 27 and class of 29) honestly, I believed them when they said they had a plan—-I just never imagined it would take so long for them to effectuate it! All the stupid squabbles about whether it would be an arts program, whether it would have an athletic field, trees, etc. didn’t help…and then everything came to a roaring standstill with the pandemic. Of course all the tear down construction by developers did not stop during the pandemic.

Had they considered building the new HS there, or was there NIMBY resistance to that idea?

No, the old Tilden MS had always been slated for a new Tilden MS, but they did a bunch of things with the building until they got off the dime. They used as a holding school for the Hoover MS rebuild and they leased it out to a private school before the dates were on the books to get the Tilden MS kids out of the Woodward building to make that plot into the new Woodward HS. I'm sure there were seveal other budget delays in there. MCPS can act quickly when they feel some urgency - The North Bethesda MS addition completed in 2018 is a good example. Northwood HS is in worse shape than WJ, but the decision to put the Northwood students in the rebuilt Woodward as a holding school pushed the project out even further, CIP funding delay notwithstanding. DD says WJ feels a lot more crowded this year than last, so maybe they'll blow by the 550 over capacity when the real numbers come in.

The Tilden Lane space (with the current Tilden MS) is way too small for a high school. The Old Geo'town space (recently Tilden, future Woodward) is barely big enough for modern MCPS HS, and they backed the size of the school down a bit as a result.

According to Schools at-a-glance, Tilden's site size is 29.8 acres. The Woodward site is slightly smaller than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find lots of info about the new Woodward HS plans here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/woodwardhs.aspx

But the opening date has recently been pushed back to fall of 2026.

So none of the students currently in the school will benefit

And the WJ Cluster Coordinators were communicating information about this going back 8-10 years. They are long gone with kids out of MCPS. Those with younger kids weren't interested/didn't care/were to busy and dropped the ball.

You have to keep constant pressure on MCPS, the BOE, the Planning Board and the County Council. Kids don't vote, so it is up to the parents. When they don't keep the pressure on, this is what happens.

Literally, cluster representatives, who had been fighting the good fight for years for less crowding in the WJ cluster, got fed up with the process and sent kids to private school.

What other options were there besides reopening Woodward? I believe the construction started when it did because the Woodward building was still being used as Tilden MS for several years, so if they had started sooner what would have happened with the MS kids?

Well, they did build on that enormous property over by green acres where the put the new Tilden Ms — that was large enough for a HS. I’m one of the r cluster folks that had younger kids (class of 27 and class of 29) honestly, I believed them when they said they had a plan—-I just never imagined it would take so long for them to effectuate it! All the stupid squabbles about whether it would be an arts program, whether it would have an athletic field, trees, etc. didn’t help…and then everything came to a roaring standstill with the pandemic. Of course all the tear down construction by developers did not stop during the pandemic.

Had they considered building the new HS there, or was there NIMBY resistance to that idea?

No, the old Tilden MS had always been slated for a new Tilden MS, but they did a bunch of things with the building until they got off the dime. They used as a holding school for the Hoover MS rebuild and they leased it out to a private school before the dates were on the books to get the Tilden MS kids out of the Woodward building to make that plot into the new Woodward HS. I'm sure there were seveal other budget delays in there. MCPS can act quickly when they feel some urgency - The North Bethesda MS addition completed in 2018 is a good example. Northwood HS is in worse shape than WJ, but the decision to put the Northwood students in the rebuilt Woodward as a holding school pushed the project out even further, CIP funding delay notwithstanding. DD says WJ feels a lot more crowded this year than last, so maybe they'll blow by the 550 over capacity when the real numbers come in.

The Tilden Lane space (with the current Tilden MS) is way too small for a high school. The Old Geo'town space (recently Tilden, future Woodward) is barely big enough for modern MCPS HS, and they backed the size of the school down a bit as a result.

According to Schools at-a-glance, Tilden's site size is 29.8 acres. The Woodward site is slightly smaller than that.

Woodward is 27.31 acres, and WJ is 30.86 acres.