MCPS suggests postponing Crown High School opening for use as holding school

[Anonymous]

QO is overcrowded by hundreds. This school needs to open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM has 10 portables in the parking lots right now. RM was promised an expansion until Crown was approved

10?
WJ has 19 portables…

And WJ will have a new school to reduce that overcrowding.

In the current boundary study options and if Crown turns into a holding scholl, RM will get no overcrowding relief. That is why I brought it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good. Now if they could add in also not rebuilding an aging high school and using Crown instead once it has been used as a holding school to rebuild one less than originally planned aging high schools. We do not need another high school to pay to operate during declining enrollment and it makes sense to not renovate a decrepit current high school when there is an available new school. MCPS needs to be consolidating schools and closing the most underutilized/in disrepair not expanding. The more old schools in need of massive repair that can be closed with students attending underutilized in better repair nearby schools, the better for the fiscal future of MCPS.

10000% I posted back in the spring on here about this that crown should be a holding school to replace these two since it’s too late to undo the decision to build crown. I believe I shared that feedback when responding to the survey in May, so glad to see they’ve agreed.

Today I started thinking as you described. They should replace one of Magruder or Wootton (probably Magruder based on geography) build it a bit larger to accommodate future growth and potential boundary changes and then move the other (Wootton) to Crown indefinitely. Wootton could become a holding school for future renovations (QO and Churchill will be about 45 and 35 years in 2035. If the need arises due to growth down the road they reopen a brand new Wootton.

The location of Wootton is awful anyway given proximity to Crown, RM and Churchill. Crown should have not been built given its location also being so close to Wootton and Gaithersburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Use it to hold Damascus so they can be built faster than onsite, then Magruder, then move Wootton to it and use Wootton as a holding school.

100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:QO is overcrowded by hundreds. This school needs to open.

QO needs replacement in about 10-15 years anyway. I could see Wootton moving to Crown permanently in the future and taking some of QO and RM students

[Anonymous]

Wootton’s location is terrible, too close to other schools especially with Crown built too close to it, but also the land it’s on is awkward and Frost doesn’t have room to expand, it’s also ancient. Frost could be expanded a bit when replaced which would help make the terrible situation of middle schools in Potomac/Rockville being awkward sized for 3 high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WTF was all this boundary study for then?

I have this same question. How many thousands of dollars did this study cost? And will the option they decide ever be implemented?

[Anonymous]

does Wootton have any portables?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wootton’s location is terrible, too close to other schools especially with Crown built too close to it, but also the land it’s on is awkward and Frost doesn’t have room to expand, it’s also ancient. Frost could be expanded a bit when replaced which would help make the terrible situation of middle schools in Potomac/Rockville being awkward sized for 3 high schools.

That might be one way of looking at it.

But remember Wootton was there first being built in 1970. So was there first and any schools built after it should have accounted for current school locations.

Quince Orchard came later in 1988. Northwest 1998.

Other than it's old and rundown, where it hasn't had a major renovation since built, there really was no issues with Wootton in terms of location and capacity. Wootton got drawn into the conversations when they were looking to move Wayside into it and also moving some of the areas assigned to Wootton over to Crown.

The major issue is that Crown shouldn't have been built where it was and there was no need for it.

Also, there's a stream that goes between Wootton and Frost. So Frost wouldn't be able to expand to any of the land that Wootton is on either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton’s location is terrible, too close to other schools especially with Crown built too close to it, but also the land it’s on is awkward and Frost doesn’t have room to expand, it’s also ancient. Frost could be expanded a bit when replaced which would help make the terrible situation of middle schools in Potomac/Rockville being awkward sized for 3 high schools.

That might be one way of looking at it.

But remember Wootton was there first being built in 1970. So was there first and any schools built after it should have accounted for current school locations.

Quince Orchard came later in 1988. Northwest 1998.

Other than it's old and rundown, where it hasn't had a major renovation since built, there really was no issues with Wootton in terms of location and capacity. Wootton got drawn into the conversations when they were looking to move Wayside into it and also moving some of the areas assigned to Wootton over to Crown.

The major issue is that Crown shouldn't have been built where it was and there was no need for it.

Also, there's a stream that goes between Wootton and Frost. So Frost wouldn't be able to expand to any of the land that Wootton is on either way.

A stream never stops development in Montgomery County. They will just build over it.

[Anonymous]

After spending all this money on the boundary study for the Damascus expansion, that part of it had better at least go forward if crown does not in fact open. We had better not see a total loss of funds from this time consuming and extremely costly study

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After spending all this money on the boundary study for the Damascus expansion, that part of it had better at least go forward if crown does not in fact open. We had better not see a total loss of funds from this time consuming and extremely costly study

+1000. We already asked to have Damascus removed since it got removed from the CIP last year and now Taylor is talking about a brand new school that won’t open until 2031. The current 6th graders will be seniors by then.

It was also supposed to help relieve overcrowding at Clarksburg which has at least 14 portables.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After spending all this money on the boundary study for the Damascus expansion, that part of it had better at least go forward if crown does not in fact open. We had better not see a total loss of funds from this time consuming and extremely costly study

+1000. We already asked to have Damascus removed since it got removed from the CIP last year and now Taylor is talking about a brand new school that won’t open until 2031. The current 6th graders will be seniors by then.

It was also supposed to help relieve overcrowding at Clarksburg which has at least 14 portables.

+1 The superintendent owes the community answers about portions of the boundary study affecting Damascus. If he was going to make sweeping statements about using Crown as a holding school he should have clarified what was to happen to the boundary study for the rest of us upcounty. It’s unacceptable especially after all the emotional turmoil of delaying the construction of DHS 2 years ago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton’s location is terrible, too close to other schools especially with Crown built too close to it, but also the land it’s on is awkward and Frost doesn’t have room to expand, it’s also ancient. Frost could be expanded a bit when replaced which would help make the terrible situation of middle schools in Potomac/Rockville being awkward sized for 3 high schools.

That might be one way of looking at it.

But remember Wootton was there first being built in 1970. So was there first and any schools built after it should have accounted for current school locations.

Quince Orchard came later in 1988. Northwest 1998.

Other than it's old and rundown, where it hasn't had a major renovation since built, there really was no issues with Wootton in terms of location and capacity. Wootton got drawn into the conversations when they were looking to move Wayside into it and also moving some of the areas assigned to Wootton over to Crown.

The major issue is that Crown shouldn't have been built where it was and there was no need for it.

Also, there's a stream that goes between Wootton and Frost. So Frost wouldn't be able to expand to any of the land that Wootton is on either way.

Yeah, I’m not getting why the location of Wootton is problematic. It’s quite convenient for many people. And having it close to Frost is nice - there’s some ability to share facilities, have joint events, etc. I think it helps create a sense of community.

I also agree that the bigger issue is that there isn’t really the need for Crown at the moment. Using it as a holding school seems like the ideal solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After spending all this money on the boundary study for the Damascus expansion, that part of it had better at least go forward if crown does not in fact open. We had better not see a total loss of funds from this time consuming and extremely costly study

This superintendent likes to make changes on a dime. Stay tuned. More money to be wasted in the future.