Why was Magruder left out of the boundary study?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I listened to all of today’s Board meeting virtually. My heart goes out to the Magruder community. I really do feel for them. To go from a pretty crappy school only to attend a holding school at a slightly better but still crappy building, without any real timeline?

So I have two questions (yes I know the whole H and Wootton being moved is a hot issue, but let’s suspend that for the purpose of this thread):

1. Why isn’t Magruder excluded from the boundary study in the first place?
2. How is what is happening to Magruder justifiable?

One of their speakers said it perfectly. Wootton is supposedly so unsafe and in poor condition such that the entire student body must go to a new building, yet somehow okay for the more diverse and less resourced Magruder community???

If Magruder ends up attending a holding school, it’s because they will ACTUALLY get a school renovation. That means at the end of it, they have a new school! I think many schools would trade off a couple of years in not ideal conditions to have a fully renovated school in the same location as before when it’s all over.

The issue is no funding right now. Moving Wootton to Crown solves several problems. Removes the need for a full wootton renovation and prevents the county from using a brand new school as a holding school. I personally think something happened behind the scenes with the city of Gaithersburg and it’s just a no go to use crown as holding.

But that’s the problem right—Magruder isn’t on the CIP!!! Even if the recommendation is passed, the only thing guaranteed is Wootton kids get a new school. There’s no guaranteed that there is funding for Wootton to be made into a holding school and no guarantee that Magruder will be renovated. You are asking the Magruder community to support something in abstract. How can we trust that when MCPS continuously ignore us?

100% it’s bonkers to me that magruder is supporting this Rockville amendment. It’s going to mean it takes even longer to have enough funding for the renovations. Also if you think Wootton won’t flip on them the minute option H gets shut down to jump in front of magruder for renovations you’re out of your mind. As Laura said tonight the amendment actually alluded to Wootton going first.

Have you read the Rockville amendment? Nowhere does it say or allude to Wootton going first. Laura is either an idiot who can’t read or purposefully attempting to create friction where it doesn’t exist.

Literally Wootton folks at the BOE meeting answered Laura by saying Magruder would go first. But nice try.

Oh the receipts I could show you…

Show ‘em 🧾🍿

[Anonymous]

The boundary studies, as originally scoped by McKnight's team, were for schools near-ish to Woodward, Crown, and Damascus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I listened to all of today’s Board meeting virtually. My heart goes out to the Magruder community. I really do feel for them. To go from a pretty crappy school only to attend a holding school at a slightly better but still crappy building, without any real timeline?

So I have two questions (yes I know the whole H and Wootton being moved is a hot issue, but let’s suspend that for the purpose of this thread):

1. Why isn’t Magruder excluded from the boundary study in the first place?
2. How is what is happening to Magruder justifiable?

One of their speakers said it perfectly. Wootton is supposedly so unsafe and in poor condition such that the entire student body must go to a new building, yet somehow okay for the more diverse and less resourced Magruder community???

If Magruder ends up attending a holding school, it’s because they will ACTUALLY get a school renovation. That means at the end of it, they have a new school! I think many schools would trade off a couple of years in not ideal conditions to have a fully renovated school in the same location as before when it’s all over.

The issue is no funding right now. Moving Wootton to Crown solves several problems. Removes the need for a full wootton renovation and prevents the county from using a brand new school as a holding school. I personally think something happened behind the scenes with the city of Gaithersburg and it’s just a no go to use crown as holding.

But that’s the problem right—Magruder isn’t on the CIP!!! Even if the recommendation is passed, the only thing guaranteed is Wootton kids get a new school. There’s no guaranteed that there is funding for Wootton to be made into a holding school and no guarantee that Magruder will be renovated. You are asking the Magruder community to support something in abstract. How can we trust that when MCPS continuously ignore us?

100% it’s bonkers to me that magruder is supporting this Rockville amendment. It’s going to mean it takes even longer to have enough funding for the renovations. Also if you think Wootton won’t flip on them the minute option H gets shut down to jump in front of magruder for renovations you’re out of your mind. As Laura said tonight the amendment actually alluded to Wootton going first.

Have you read the Rockville amendment? Nowhere does it say or allude to Wootton going first. Laura is either an idiot who can’t read or purposefully attempting to create friction where it doesn’t exist.

Literally Wootton folks at the BOE meeting answered Laura by saying Magruder would go first. But nice try.

Oh the receipts I could show you…

Show ‘em 🧾🍿

Alas, if only. Let’s just say magruder should be very, very careful snuggling up with the Wootton walkers. There was a time when Wootton was also buddying up with crown back when they wanted both schools to fully open. They look out for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally I think this is all BS.
It doesn’t look good for a brand new state of the art building to be a holding school, so mcps moves Wootton there.

Magruder isn’t on the CIP.
There’s no money to renovate Wootton.

Mark my words: Wootton will just sit there for years and years and the building will keep deteriorating.

There’s no firm plan to use Wootton as a holding school (no solid plans to invest the money and Magruder isn’t even on the CIP) because MCPS has no intention of actually converting Wootton into a holding school.

Except they just did exactly that by using brand-new Woodward as a holding school for Northwood while new Northwood is being built.

So clearly if it was ok to do there, why not do the same with Crown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I think this is all BS.
It doesn’t look good for a brand new state of the art building to be a holding school, so mcps moves Wootton there.

Magruder isn’t on the CIP.
There’s no money to renovate Wootton.

Mark my words: Wootton will just sit there for years and years and the building will keep deteriorating.

There’s no firm plan to use Wootton as a holding school (no solid plans to invest the money and Magruder isn’t even on the CIP) because MCPS has no intention of actually converting Wootton into a holding school.

Except they just did exactly that by using brand-new Woodward as a holding school for Northwood while new Northwood is being built.

So clearly if it was ok to do there, why not do the same with Crown?

The difference is that MCPS had the projections to know they would have the population in that region of the county to fill Woodward. Woodward was built up as a new high school and is being used as a holding school only temporarily; MCPS wouldn't spend the large sum of money to do a complete teardown and rebuild if Woodward was only going to be used as a holding school.

One main flaw in the Rockville amendment is that it predetermines that a 24th high school is needed. If enrollment doesn't recover, then MCPS would have spent money to rebuild a school whose capacity wasn't needed. The other main flaw of course is that MCPS doesn't have the money to rebuild either of the schools at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Just to give you some perspective, and tbh, I think the board is ineffective/useless at their oversight, Taylor is a MAGA hiding in plain site, and the entrenched MCPS staff hold way to much sway, there are over 200 schools in the system. They cannot shower each one with money and fixes every year. There are always going to be brand new or completely overhauled schools (Clarksberg ES, Poolesville HS [talk about jumping the line/least bang for your buck], Woodward HS, Crown HS, Northwood HS, Paintbranch HS, Gaithersburg HS, Wheaton HS and many more), and schools that are near the top of the list that need money and a complete overhaul (Wooton HS, Damascus HS, Magruder HS, Eastern MS, and many more).

There are never enough funds to meet all of the needs and those schools that were redone, were in the same place as Magruder and Damascus and Eastern until they were renovated. Some are always going to be brand new some are always going to be in dire straits, and some are in the middle. It's been that way for decades, and will be that way for decades

[Anonymous]

What dies conversion to a holding school cost? It's a HS. It would continue to be a HS?

[Anonymous]

They are just finishing building 3 high schools all at the same time (Northwood, Woodward, Crown). That is a major financial drain.

Poolesville and Northwood came to CIP meetings for YEARS with slide shows about how their school was falling apart; students testified, parents testified, PTA testified. They’d been waiting a long time and making their case over and over and over again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I think this is all BS.
It doesn’t look good for a brand new state of the art building to be a holding school, so mcps moves Wootton there.

Magruder isn’t on the CIP.
There’s no money to renovate Wootton.

Mark my words: Wootton will just sit there for years and years and the building will keep deteriorating.

There’s no firm plan to use Wootton as a holding school (no solid plans to invest the money and Magruder isn’t even on the CIP) because MCPS has no intention of actually converting Wootton into a holding school.

Except they just did exactly that by using brand-new Woodward as a holding school for Northwood while new Northwood is being built.

So clearly if it was ok to do there, why not do the same with Crown?

Taylor said he needs a holding school. If it isn’t Woodward containing in that capacity, then it’s either Wootton or Crown. That means Wootton must be remediated in order to justify moving its kids to Crown.

Also, the current enrollment dip is temporary and school districts operate on 40 year timelines. So it will need both Wootton and Crown in the next 10-15 years. Faced with that fact, it’s kinda stupid to close a top performing high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I listened to all of today’s Board meeting virtually. My heart goes out to the Magruder community. I really do feel for them. To go from a pretty crappy school only to attend a holding school at a slightly better but still crappy building, without any real timeline?

So I have two questions (yes I know the whole H and Wootton being moved is a hot issue, but let’s suspend that for the purpose of this thread):

1. Why isn’t Magruder excluded from the boundary study in the first place?
2. How is what is happening to Magruder justifiable?

One of their speakers said it perfectly. Wootton is supposedly so unsafe and in poor condition such that the entire student body must go to a new building, yet somehow okay for the more diverse and less resourced Magruder community???

No wonder so many showed up at the rally Monday: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1317433.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are just finishing building 3 high schools all at the same time (Northwood, Woodward, Crown). That is a major financial drain.

Poolesville and Northwood came to CIP meetings for YEARS with slide shows about how their school was falling apart; students testified, parents testified, PTA testified. They’d been waiting a long time and making their case over and over and over again.

In hindsight, that was a crazy move to do.

I would guess most school systems could probably only reasonably manage the build out of 1-2 high schools at a time.

[Anonymous]

The conditions of schools are unacceptable for both Wootton and Magruder - and others actually. But the limiting factor is money.

Wootton is being offered a solution but doesn't want it. Magruder isn't even being offered Wootton as a holding school right now - it will be a long time. MCPS isn't saying - here Magruder, we are sending you to an equally bad holding school (Wootton) and you get a new school as long as you sit tight there for a bit. They are saying, we are strategically able to not open another HS due to enrollment decline, meet the needs of one community that has been advocating for a new school (Wootton), and eventually meet the needs of more schools and faster. It isn't great and it still isn't enough but it's probably the best option based on where we are. But Magruder should know - they aren't headed to Wootton anytime soon. And this isn't even about who needs it more or not. This is just how it is playing out.

MCPS won't even commit to much of anything with Wootton, other than they addressed the rumor that they are going to sell the property (they aren't), though I'm sure many don't believe it still. So when there are arguments against spending money to fix up Wootton if you are just going to rebuild it - it makes sense but it doesn't. It is all just hypotheticals at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The conditions of schools are unacceptable for both Wootton and Magruder - and others actually. But the limiting factor is money.

Wootton is being offered a solution but doesn't want it. Magruder isn't even being offered Wootton as a holding school right now - it will be a long time. MCPS isn't saying - here Magruder, we are sending you to an equally bad holding school (Wootton) and you get a new school as long as you sit tight there for a bit. They are saying, we are strategically able to not open another HS due to enrollment decline, meet the needs of one community that has been advocating for a new school (Wootton), and eventually meet the needs of more schools and faster. It isn't great and it still isn't enough but it's probably the best option based on where we are. But Magruder should know - they aren't headed to Wootton anytime soon. And this isn't even about who needs it more or not. This is just how it is playing out.

MCPS won't even commit to much of anything with Wootton, other than they addressed the rumor that they are going to sell the property (they aren't), though I'm sure many don't believe it still. So when there are arguments against spending money to fix up Wootton if you are just going to rebuild it - it makes sense but it doesn't. It is all just hypotheticals at this point.

That’s exactly the problem. Everything for Magruder is hypothetical, and we’ve been pushed back and ignored year after year.

If Crown was to be a holding school, Magruder will have a higher chance of seeing something happen, as MCPS wouldn’t want a brand new school just to sit there empty. Crown as a holding school is the fastest option for Magruder. Whereas with the current recommendation, who knows when Wootton will ever be ready as a holding school and who knows when Magruder will ever see renovations. Not to mention Crown is a much more accessible school location wise.

Let Magruder use Crown, then Wootton. Then revisit the boundary study 5 years or so from now. By then, enrollment may be in a completely different place as international students and federal jobs come back, and all the housing developments continue to boom in that area. You don’t have to operate a 27th school if you deem it to be unnecessary then. You can still move Wootton to Crown, in fact, Wootton would already be at Crown if Crown is a holding school. Just make a plan for Magruder

Magruder has been patient.
Magruder has been polite.

The time for all that is over.
Magruder can’t wait any longer.
Magruder is one of the highest FARMS schools in all of the county. Is this why the Board thinks it can ignore us time and time again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The conditions of schools are unacceptable for both Wootton and Magruder - and others actually. But the limiting factor is money.

Wootton is being offered a solution but doesn't want it. Magruder isn't even being offered Wootton as a holding school right now - it will be a long time. MCPS isn't saying - here Magruder, we are sending you to an equally bad holding school (Wootton) and you get a new school as long as you sit tight there for a bit. They are saying, we are strategically able to not open another HS due to enrollment decline, meet the needs of one community that has been advocating for a new school (Wootton), and eventually meet the needs of more schools and faster. It isn't great and it still isn't enough but it's probably the best option based on where we are. But Magruder should know - they aren't headed to Wootton anytime soon. And this isn't even about who needs it more or not. This is just how it is playing out.

MCPS won't even commit to much of anything with Wootton, other than they addressed the rumor that they are going to sell the property (they aren't), though I'm sure many don't believe it still. So when there are arguments against spending money to fix up Wootton if you are just going to rebuild it - it makes sense but it doesn't. It is all just hypotheticals at this point.

That’s exactly the problem. Everything for Magruder is hypothetical, and we’ve been pushed back and ignored year after year.

If Crown was to be a holding school, Magruder will have a higher chance of seeing something happen, as MCPS wouldn’t want a brand new school just to sit there empty. Crown as a holding school is the fastest option for Magruder. Whereas with the current recommendation, who knows when Wootton will ever be ready as a holding school and who knows when Magruder will ever see renovations. Not to mention Crown is a much more accessible school location wise.

Let Magruder use Crown, then Wootton. Then revisit the boundary study 5 years or so from now. By then, enrollment may be in a completely different place as international students and federal jobs come back, and all the housing developments continue to boom in that area. You don’t have to operate a 27th school if you deem it to be unnecessary then. You can still move Wootton to Crown, in fact, Wootton would already be at Crown if Crown is a holding school. Just make a plan for Magruder

Magruder has been patient.
Magruder has been polite.

The time for all that is over.
Magruder can’t wait any longer.
Magruder is one of the highest FARMS schools in all of the county. Is this why the Board thinks it can ignore us time and time again?

Magruder isn’t a W school so it’s okay to be screwed over.

All the Ws come out looking great after this boundary study.

Whitman: 🤣 don’t even get me started
WJ: the new Whitman
Winston Churchill: untouched boundaries despite initial options. The only change is added cold spring es, which the Churchill community prefers.
Wootton: perhaps the most controversial but they are still getting a brand new state of the art school that wasn’t even meant for them—some may say they benefited the most. And this new school remains in region 4.

Screw everyone else I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I think this is all BS.
It doesn’t look good for a brand new state of the art building to be a holding school, so mcps moves Wootton there.

Magruder isn’t on the CIP.
There’s no money to renovate Wootton.

Mark my words: Wootton will just sit there for years and years and the building will keep deteriorating.

There’s no firm plan to use Wootton as a holding school (no solid plans to invest the money and Magruder isn’t even on the CIP) because MCPS has no intention of actually converting Wootton into a holding school.

Except they just did exactly that by using brand-new Woodward as a holding school for Northwood while new Northwood is being built.

So clearly if it was ok to do there, why not do the same with Crown?

Taylor said he needs a holding school. If it isn’t Woodward containing in that capacity, then it’s either Wootton or Crown. That means Wootton must be remediated in order to justify moving its kids to Crown.

Also, the current enrollment dip is temporary and school districts operate on 40 year timelines. So it will need both Wootton and Crown in the next 10-15 years. Faced with that fact, it’s kinda stupid to close a top performing high school.

There's a demographic cliff coming. MCPS is looking at closing ES because of the enrollment decline. I don't see enrollment jumping in 10 years.