Taylor's Feb Rec for Crown Boundary Study

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the woman who went to the candidate forum last night and who was the only person when asking a question that was repeatedly shouted at and interrupted throughout my attempt to ask the candidates my question. For every person who spoke, we all quietly and respectfully listened. Once it was my turn to speak, as I tried to explain why many of us parents support the rec and don't want to stay in the building with no money for renovations until the next cycle, multiple people in the audience started screaming and shouting at me, interrupting and telling me to ask my question. I refuse to be silenced and so I kept on talking over the shouting. I asked the candidates about Policy FAA's factor that *requires* that a boundary change strive to *increase* diversity and whether if elected they would follow that requirement even if they had constituents telling them that they don't want to move because of increased diversity. And important preface to that question was me informing them of the fact that I have personally been told to my face on Tuesday night (with witnesses!) and I have seen numerous comments in writing that some people are against the Rec because they don't want to go to school with Crown kids. This is a verifiable fact that has been said to me directly, in person, with witnesses, and in writing with hundreds of witnesses. I never once said any racial group was racist, obviously, and to say otherwise is defamatory and I will not tolerate it. There's a video. Also, one of the candidates previously expressed support and encouragement for the planned lawsuit against the BOE she is running for, which I took the opportunity to call out as disqualifying. After the forum was over, I approached the woman who told the crowd at Tuesday's forum to ask her why she said what she said about MCPS getting approval for options A-G but not H, in light of the facts and the law. We got into a heated exchange and decided to agree to disagree. I was then approached by several people, at different times, who came up to me yelling about Dufief, yelling at me "why did Dufief drag us into this" "just go to Crown" "you're hypocrites." There were a couple of nice people who actually engaged respectfully with me in productive conversations about getting renovations at Wootton and how to improve this process. One woman in particular who is against the Rec was so sweet to me in particular, and asked me about what I had heard. I told her exactly the racist comments I was told on Tuesday, and she told me to ignore those voices. We even talked with one of the candidates who approached me after to thank me for bravely speaking out and calling out racism, and who admonished those who rudely screamed and interrupted me. Many of the candidates thanked me in their answers for bravely calling this to their attention. I have dozens of messages from parents over the past few months decrying the racism they've witnessed, sending me the screenshots of vile comments made about certain demographics and whose stated reason for not wanting to go to Crown is because of the demographics of the Crown kids. I can't begin to explain how hurtful this is to Crown families I've talked with. No one including me is saying ALL people who are against the rec are racist, of course. There are many different reasons people have to be against the rec. I am being an ally and calling out the racist comments I am told directly and see with my own eyes. There are so many issues with this boundary process, and it's unfortunate as a community that all too often when discussing the merits of particular ways to address boundaries, those conversations are hijacked by some individuals to throw in race into the debate. The silence and complicity of not calling out these individuals when they make racist comments is destructive to the community and it undermines the very valid reasons and objections people may have. Let's do better folks.

Yes, please let’s do better. The crowd did not single you out. They interrupted you because you start telling everyone their opposition was racist.

I was standing right by the woman you “approached.”’ And by I approach, I mean you rushed over to yell at her.

This was not an “heated exchange.” This was you yelling at her face non stop. I heard her telling you multiple times that she would love to have a civil conversation with you but you kept screaming at her. She never once yelled in your face. It took one of the CANDIDATES to step in and physically remove this woman from you for you to stop yelling at her.

As Dr. Taylor said, just relax. Do better.

A lot of people move to the W school's to self-segregate. Race, income, iq....all factors.

If she was screaming at that poster, that screamer had no intention of having a civil conversation, and there was no need for them to have a conversation, as that conversation is not a conversation; it's the screamer bullying the person with a different opinion. How many people are really upset over Wootton moving to Crown? That auditorium was not even 1/3 full, and some of those people were politicians and others, not families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no irreversible decisions. If there's a baby boom or a federal government hiring boom leading to families flocking to Rockville, Wootton can be re-opened.

But it won't be the same Wootton because it will be determined that some feeder ES schools remain at Crown.

So it could be something like Dufief and Stone Mill stays at Crown. While the other original feeder schools go back to Wootton.

Then those Dufief and Stone Mill families wouldn't be in the same type of school that Wootton was. Like I said, it might not be a bad school. But would it be top five or ten in the state?

If the building conditions were really that bad, then wouldn't the pro H Wootton families jump at the chance for a new school regardless if the rest of the community goes with them? No, they spent all time wanting to keep the community together and now they want the new school too.

And the Rosemont island people? It used to be a given, you either choose a nice house/newer school or you choose the higher performing schools and sacrifice what you get a bit. Take the developments around Lakeforest mall. Some people may have initially bought into those neighborhoods for the nice/new homes. But a good number of families moved out once it was time for their kids to go to school. The homes around Rosemont island are on the expensive side. But they would be even more expensive if they were zoned for another school. And the Rosemont island people want the nice homes they got AND a higher performing school.

No, it won't be the "same Wootton" nor will it even be called Wootton since that same will be taken by the school @ Crown. But families who live near it would attend, albeit not with the exact same 6 clusters they do now. But that's life. Boundaries change. If you want a school district that never changes, move to a small town. A high school's entire student body turns over every 4 years anyway.

With the redistricting, no school will be the same. Most schools are having significant changes, including redistricting, staffing reductions, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the potential FARMS rate at Wootton @ Crown?

Asking as a family in a Woodward zone.

19%. Wootton's current FARMS rate is 14%.

Students with parent who are low income can also be smart and do well in school.

correct and the worst option here is that parents/kids are ashamed of filling out the FARMS form because they see rhertoric like this. then they go to school hungry, when they could get 2 meals and be able to focus, learn, play sports, and do activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the potential FARMS rate at Wootton @ Crown?

Asking as a family in a Woodward zone.

19%. Wootton's current FARMS rate is 14%.

Students with parent who are low income can also be smart and do well in school.

They absolutely can - and more kids with low income parents would do better if they got to go to better schools. Having more socioeconomically diverse schools vs. schools where the poverty is concentrated is good for all kids, because it ensures that all kids get access to better resources (for example, wealthier schools often offer more advanced coursework and schools with higher levels of poverty have smaller class sizes - both things that are good for everyone) and have better life skills (like the kind of understanding and empathy you need to have for others to prevent yourself from yelling about how poor kids are going to ruin your school in a public forum).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t homes in Crown far more expensive?

Hence the Crown families are eager to bring the Wootton families to Crown.

The Churchill people don't want to go to Wootton because they see it as a downgrade.

Similar to how some Wootton families don't trust that the school will maintain it's same academic standing with the move.

Then the Crown/Rosemont island people don't want their kids to go to Gaithersburg HS.

So there is a bit of classism going on and it's going on at different levels.

With the Wootton families, remember it's not just academic performance but also stability. Where sure the enrollment numbers currently show there's a decline in enrollment. But what happens when enrollment goes back up? Richard Montgomery and Bayard were both opened at over capacity and have portables right? So that should show confidence in the projections from MCPS. So they have empty school building on Wootton Parkway and reopen and some of the previous areas that fed into Wootton would stay at Crown. Those families that have to stay at Crown probably won't be at a bad school. But it won't be the third top school in the state.

This is why a lot of Wootton families are questioning the data and input for question H and want more information on it before anything is finalized. But in a lot of ways it seems like MCPS revealed option H at the 11th hour with questionable data.

And this is why Wootton families are asking for MCPS to slowdown and show proof behind the data before making irreversible decisions.

hearing so much about wootton's current state, I am highly doubting this claim of 3rd top school in the state? How can it be that high when they don't have functioning science labs? Do they just bypass all the MCPS curriculum that's done at QO, RM, NW etc? No bunson burners? seems like they could be measuring things inaccurately. sus.

Rankings are typically mostly based on test scores, which are generally largely a result of the demographics of the student body. Doesn't tell you much about the teachers, classes, or facilities (other than that they didn't screw up the advantage of having a student body who came in largely primed to excel on tests already.)

Oh but they can impact your property values which is what many H opponents really care about. They are having a visceral reaction to having strategically chosen to buy a certain house at a certain price so it would be assigned to a certain high school and now it will be assigned to a different high school. They aren't sure if their property value will hold and that is upsetting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the woman who went to the candidate forum last night and who was the only person when asking a question that was repeatedly shouted at and interrupted throughout my attempt to ask the candidates my question. For every person who spoke, we all quietly and respectfully listened. Once it was my turn to speak, as I tried to explain why many of us parents support the rec and don't want to stay in the building with no money for renovations until the next cycle, multiple people in the audience started screaming and shouting at me, interrupting and telling me to ask my question. I refuse to be silenced and so I kept on talking over the shouting. I asked the candidates about Policy FAA's factor that *requires* that a boundary change strive to *increase* diversity and whether if elected they would follow that requirement even if they had constituents telling them that they don't want to move because of increased diversity. And important preface to that question was me informing them of the fact that I have personally been told to my face on Tuesday night (with witnesses!) and I have seen numerous comments in writing that some people are against the Rec because they don't want to go to school with Crown kids. This is a verifiable fact that has been said to me directly, in person, with witnesses, and in writing with hundreds of witnesses. I never once said any racial group was racist, obviously, and to say otherwise is defamatory and I will not tolerate it. There's a video. Also, one of the candidates previously expressed support and encouragement for the planned lawsuit against the BOE she is running for, which I took the opportunity to call out as disqualifying. After the forum was over, I approached the woman who told the crowd at Tuesday's forum to ask her why she said what she said about MCPS getting approval for options A-G but not H, in light of the facts and the law. We got into a heated exchange and decided to agree to disagree. I was then approached by several people, at different times, who came up to me yelling about Dufief, yelling at me "why did Dufief drag us into this" "just go to Crown" "you're hypocrites." There were a couple of nice people who actually engaged respectfully with me in productive conversations about getting renovations at Wootton and how to improve this process. One woman in particular who is against the Rec was so sweet to me in particular, and asked me about what I had heard. I told her exactly the racist comments I was told on Tuesday, and she told me to ignore those voices. We even talked with one of the candidates who approached me after to thank me for bravely speaking out and calling out racism, and who admonished those who rudely screamed and interrupted me. Many of the candidates thanked me in their answers for bravely calling this to their attention. I have dozens of messages from parents over the past few months decrying the racism they've witnessed, sending me the screenshots of vile comments made about certain demographics and whose stated reason for not wanting to go to Crown is because of the demographics of the Crown kids. I can't begin to explain how hurtful this is to Crown families I've talked with. No one including me is saying ALL people who are against the rec are racist, of course. There are many different reasons people have to be against the rec. I am being an ally and calling out the racist comments I am told directly and see with my own eyes. There are so many issues with this boundary process, and it's unfortunate as a community that all too often when discussing the merits of particular ways to address boundaries, those conversations are hijacked by some individuals to throw in race into the debate. The silence and complicity of not calling out these individuals when they make racist comments is destructive to the community and it undermines the very valid reasons and objections people may have. Let's do better folks.

Yes, please let’s do better. The crowd did not single you out. They interrupted you because you start telling everyone their opposition was racist.

I was standing right by the woman you “approached.”’ And by I approach, I mean you rushed over to yell at her.

This was not an “heated exchange.” This was you yelling at her face non stop. I heard her telling you multiple times that she would love to have a civil conversation with you but you kept screaming at her. She never once yelled in your face. It took one of the CANDIDATES to step in and physically remove this woman from you for you to stop yelling at her.

As Dr. Taylor said, just relax. Do better.

Got it, so civility > calling out racism. Not the PP, but if you're so grievously offended by being called racist, you really need to look inward on which lady you're telling to do better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t homes in Crown far more expensive?

Hence the Crown families are eager to bring the Wootton families to Crown.

The Churchill people don't want to go to Wootton because they see it as a downgrade.

Similar to how some Wootton families don't trust that the school will maintain it's same academic standing with the move.

Then the Crown/Rosemont island people don't want their kids to go to Gaithersburg HS.

So there is a bit of classism going on and it's going on at different levels.

With the Wootton families, remember it's not just academic performance but also stability. Where sure the enrollment numbers currently show there's a decline in enrollment. But what happens when enrollment goes back up? Richard Montgomery and Bayard were both opened at over capacity and have portables right? So that should show confidence in the projections from MCPS. So they have empty school building on Wootton Parkway and reopen and some of the previous areas that fed into Wootton would stay at Crown. Those families that have to stay at Crown probably won't be at a bad school. But it won't be the third top school in the state.

This is why a lot of Wootton families are questioning the data and input for question H and want more information on it before anything is finalized. But in a lot of ways it seems like MCPS revealed option H at the 11th hour with questionable data.

And this is why Wootton families are asking for MCPS to slowdown and show proof behind the data before making irreversible decisions.

hearing so much about wootton's current state, I am highly doubting this claim of 3rd top school in the state? How can it be that high when they don't have functioning science labs? Do they just bypass all the MCPS curriculum that's done at QO, RM, NW etc? No bunson burners? seems like they could be measuring things inaccurately. sus.

Rankings are typically mostly based on test scores, which are generally largely a result of the demographics of the student body. Doesn't tell you much about the teachers, classes, or facilities (other than that they didn't screw up the advantage of having a student body who came in largely primed to excel on tests already.)

Oh but they can impact your property values which is what many H opponents really care about. They are having a visceral reaction to having strategically chosen to buy a certain house at a certain price so it would be assigned to a certain high school and now it will be assigned to a different high school. They aren't sure if their property value will hold and that is upsetting.

makes sense why all the people with phone #'s linked to realtors are in the comments sections against the relocation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the woman who went to the candidate forum last night and who was the only person when asking a question that was repeatedly shouted at and interrupted throughout my attempt to ask the candidates my question. For every person who spoke, we all quietly and respectfully listened. Once it was my turn to speak, as I tried to explain why many of us parents support the rec and don't want to stay in the building with no money for renovations until the next cycle, multiple people in the audience started screaming and shouting at me, interrupting and telling me to ask my question. I refuse to be silenced and so I kept on talking over the shouting. I asked the candidates about Policy FAA's factor that *requires* that a boundary change strive to *increase* diversity and whether if elected they would follow that requirement even if they had constituents telling them that they don't want to move because of increased diversity. And important preface to that question was me informing them of the fact that I have personally been told to my face on Tuesday night (with witnesses!) and I have seen numerous comments in writing that some people are against the Rec because they don't want to go to school with Crown kids. This is a verifiable fact that has been said to me directly, in person, with witnesses, and in writing with hundreds of witnesses. I never once said any racial group was racist, obviously, and to say otherwise is defamatory and I will not tolerate it. There's a video. Also, one of the candidates previously expressed support and encouragement for the planned lawsuit against the BOE she is running for, which I took the opportunity to call out as disqualifying. After the forum was over, I approached the woman who told the crowd at Tuesday's forum to ask her why she said what she said about MCPS getting approval for options A-G but not H, in light of the facts and the law. We got into a heated exchange and decided to agree to disagree. I was then approached by several people, at different times, who came up to me yelling about Dufief, yelling at me "why did Dufief drag us into this" "just go to Crown" "you're hypocrites." There were a couple of nice people who actually engaged respectfully with me in productive conversations about getting renovations at Wootton and how to improve this process. One woman in particular who is against the Rec was so sweet to me in particular, and asked me about what I had heard. I told her exactly the racist comments I was told on Tuesday, and she told me to ignore those voices. We even talked with one of the candidates who approached me after to thank me for bravely speaking out and calling out racism, and who admonished those who rudely screamed and interrupted me. Many of the candidates thanked me in their answers for bravely calling this to their attention. I have dozens of messages from parents over the past few months decrying the racism they've witnessed, sending me the screenshots of vile comments made about certain demographics and whose stated reason for not wanting to go to Crown is because of the demographics of the Crown kids. I can't begin to explain how hurtful this is to Crown families I've talked with. No one including me is saying ALL people who are against the rec are racist, of course. There are many different reasons people have to be against the rec. I am being an ally and calling out the racist comments I am told directly and see with my own eyes. There are so many issues with this boundary process, and it's unfortunate as a community that all too often when discussing the merits of particular ways to address boundaries, those conversations are hijacked by some individuals to throw in race into the debate. The silence and complicity of not calling out these individuals when they make racist comments is destructive to the community and it undermines the very valid reasons and objections people may have. Let's do better folks.

Yes, please let’s do better. The crowd did not single you out. They interrupted you because you start telling everyone their opposition was racist.

I was standing right by the woman you “approached.”’ And by I approach, I mean you rushed over to yell at her.

This was not an “heated exchange.” This was you yelling at her face non stop. I heard her telling you multiple times that she would love to have a civil conversation with you but you kept screaming at her. She never once yelled in your face. It took one of the CANDIDATES to step in and physically remove this woman from you for you to stop yelling at her.

As Dr. Taylor said, just relax. Do better.

A lot of people move to the W school's to self-segregate. Race, income, iq....all factors.

If she was screaming at that poster, that screamer had no intention of having a civil conversation, and there was no need for them to have a conversation, as that conversation is not a conversation; it's the screamer bullying the person with a different opinion. How many people are really upset over Wootton moving to Crown? That auditorium was not even 1/3 full, and some of those people were politicians and others, not families.

People with families don't have time to go to these meetings. That doesn't mean that they aren't upset or have strong feelings in either direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t homes in Crown far more expensive?

Hence the Crown families are eager to bring the Wootton families to Crown.

The Churchill people don't want to go to Wootton because they see it as a downgrade.

Similar to how some Wootton families don't trust that the school will maintain it's same academic standing with the move.

Then the Crown/Rosemont island people don't want their kids to go to Gaithersburg HS.

So there is a bit of classism going on and it's going on at different levels.

With the Wootton families, remember it's not just academic performance but also stability. Where sure the enrollment numbers currently show there's a decline in enrollment. But what happens when enrollment goes back up? Richard Montgomery and Bayard were both opened at over capacity and have portables right? So that should show confidence in the projections from MCPS. So they have empty school building on Wootton Parkway and reopen and some of the previous areas that fed into Wootton would stay at Crown. Those families that have to stay at Crown probably won't be at a bad school. But it won't be the third top school in the state.

This is why a lot of Wootton families are questioning the data and input for question H and want more information on it before anything is finalized. But in a lot of ways it seems like MCPS revealed option H at the 11th hour with questionable data.

And this is why Wootton families are asking for MCPS to slowdown and show proof behind the data before making irreversible decisions.

hearing so much about wootton's current state, I am highly doubting this claim of 3rd top school in the state? How can it be that high when they don't have functioning science labs? Do they just bypass all the MCPS curriculum that's done at QO, RM, NW etc? No bunson burners? seems like they could be measuring things inaccurately. sus.

Rankings are typically mostly based on test scores, which are generally largely a result of the demographics of the student body. Doesn't tell you much about the teachers, classes, or facilities (other than that they didn't screw up the advantage of having a student body who came in largely primed to excel on tests already.)

Oh but they can impact your property values which is what many H opponents really care about. They are having a visceral reaction to having strategically chosen to buy a certain house at a certain price so it would be assigned to a certain high school and now it will be assigned to a different high school. They aren't sure if their property value will hold and that is upsetting.

A home purchase is the largest one people will make in their lives. Giving the community less than 2 months (really only 1 month with the holidays) to provide input, then essentially ignoring that input because a decision had been made a year earlier, is absolutely grounds to be upset about a decline in the value of one’s home.

Test scores and school rankings take decades to establish, stay stable for many years, and any decline takes decades.

MCPS is transplanting Wootton to Crown because it wants to give it an instant reputation- why else would it transfer the Wootton name if over 40% of the new student body isn’t from historical Wootton. Families would have far less of a problem if the boundary was changed only to allow Wootton a brand new building- not to add 40% more kids. This would be consistent with MCPS’ stated desire to provide a safe building and save money by not renovating Wootton. Likewise, Wootton would have room to grow and the new developments in Rockville would attract new families wanting to attend Wootton But this is about Gaithersburg grabbing a W school away from Rockville, along with the tax revenue from families wanting to live close to Wootton @ Crown.

And before anyone says that would mean Wootton would be an under enrolled school, Taylor’s Woodward recommendation leaves WJ at 77% utilization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t homes in Crown far more expensive?

Hence the Crown families are eager to bring the Wootton families to Crown.

The Churchill people don't want to go to Wootton because they see it as a downgrade.

Similar to how some Wootton families don't trust that the school will maintain it's same academic standing with the move.

Then the Crown/Rosemont island people don't want their kids to go to Gaithersburg HS.

So there is a bit of classism going on and it's going on at different levels.

With the Wootton families, remember it's not just academic performance but also stability. Where sure the enrollment numbers currently show there's a decline in enrollment. But what happens when enrollment goes back up? Richard Montgomery and Bayard were both opened at over capacity and have portables right? So that should show confidence in the projections from MCPS. So they have empty school building on Wootton Parkway and reopen and some of the previous areas that fed into Wootton would stay at Crown. Those families that have to stay at Crown probably won't be at a bad school. But it won't be the third top school in the state.

This is why a lot of Wootton families are questioning the data and input for question H and want more information on it before anything is finalized. But in a lot of ways it seems like MCPS revealed option H at the 11th hour with questionable data.

And this is why Wootton families are asking for MCPS to slowdown and show proof behind the data before making irreversible decisions.

hearing so much about wootton's current state, I am highly doubting this claim of 3rd top school in the state? How can it be that high when they don't have functioning science labs? Do they just bypass all the MCPS curriculum that's done at QO, RM, NW etc? No bunson burners? seems like they could be measuring things inaccurately. sus.

Rankings are typically mostly based on test scores, which are generally largely a result of the demographics of the student body. Doesn't tell you much about the teachers, classes, or facilities (other than that they didn't screw up the advantage of having a student body who came in largely primed to excel on tests already.)

Oh but they can impact your property values which is what many H opponents really care about. They are having a visceral reaction to having strategically chosen to buy a certain house at a certain price so it would be assigned to a certain high school and now it will be assigned to a different high school. They aren't sure if their property value will hold and that is upsetting.

A home purchase is the largest one people will make in their lives. Giving the community less than 2 months (really only 1 month with the holidays) to provide input, then essentially ignoring that input because a decision had been made a year earlier, is absolutely grounds to be upset about a decline in the value of one’s home.

Test scores and school rankings take decades to establish, stay stable for many years, and any decline takes decades.

MCPS is transplanting Wootton to Crown because it wants to give it an instant reputation- why else would it transfer the Wootton name if over 40% of the new student body isn’t from historical Wootton. Families would have far less of a problem if the boundary was changed only to allow Wootton a brand new building- not to add 40% more kids. This would be consistent with MCPS’ stated desire to provide a safe building and save money by not renovating Wootton. Likewise, Wootton would have room to grow and the new developments in Rockville would attract new families wanting to attend Wootton But this is about Gaithersburg grabbing a W school away from Rockville, along with the tax revenue from families wanting to live close to Wootton @ Crown.

And before anyone says that would mean Wootton would be an under enrolled school, Taylor’s Woodward recommendation leaves WJ at 77% utilization.

Home values are not going to decline. That is absurd. But even if they did, it is not MCPS's job to prop up property values that are held up by racism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t homes in Crown far more expensive?

Hence the Crown families are eager to bring the Wootton families to Crown.

The Churchill people don't want to go to Wootton because they see it as a downgrade.

Similar to how some Wootton families don't trust that the school will maintain it's same academic standing with the move.

Then the Crown/Rosemont island people don't want their kids to go to Gaithersburg HS.

So there is a bit of classism going on and it's going on at different levels.

With the Wootton families, remember it's not just academic performance but also stability. Where sure the enrollment numbers currently show there's a decline in enrollment. But what happens when enrollment goes back up? Richard Montgomery and Bayard were both opened at over capacity and have portables right? So that should show confidence in the projections from MCPS. So they have empty school building on Wootton Parkway and reopen and some of the previous areas that fed into Wootton would stay at Crown. Those families that have to stay at Crown probably won't be at a bad school. But it won't be the third top school in the state.

This is why a lot of Wootton families are questioning the data and input for question H and want more information on it before anything is finalized. But in a lot of ways it seems like MCPS revealed option H at the 11th hour with questionable data.

And this is why Wootton families are asking for MCPS to slowdown and show proof behind the data before making irreversible decisions.

hearing so much about wootton's current state, I am highly doubting this claim of 3rd top school in the state? How can it be that high when they don't have functioning science labs? Do they just bypass all the MCPS curriculum that's done at QO, RM, NW etc? No bunson burners? seems like they could be measuring things inaccurately. sus.

Rankings are typically mostly based on test scores, which are generally largely a result of the demographics of the student body. Doesn't tell you much about the teachers, classes, or facilities (other than that they didn't screw up the advantage of having a student body who came in largely primed to excel on tests already.)

Oh but they can impact your property values which is what many H opponents really care about. They are having a visceral reaction to having strategically chosen to buy a certain house at a certain price so it would be assigned to a certain high school and now it will be assigned to a different high school. They aren't sure if their property value will hold and that is upsetting.

A home purchase is the largest one people will make in their lives. Giving the community less than 2 months (really only 1 month with the holidays) to provide input, then essentially ignoring that input because a decision had been made a year earlier, is absolutely grounds to be upset about a decline in the value of one’s home.

Test scores and school rankings take decades to establish, stay stable for many years, and any decline takes decades.

MCPS is transplanting Wootton to Crown because it wants to give it an instant reputation- why else would it transfer the Wootton name if over 40% of the new student body isn’t from historical Wootton. Families would have far less of a problem if the boundary was changed only to allow Wootton a brand new building- not to add 40% more kids. This would be consistent with MCPS’ stated desire to provide a safe building and save money by not renovating Wootton. Likewise, Wootton would have room to grow and the new developments in Rockville would attract new families wanting to attend Wootton But this is about Gaithersburg grabbing a W school away from Rockville, along with the tax revenue from families wanting to live close to Wootton @ Crown.

And before anyone says that would mean Wootton would be an under enrolled school, Taylor’s Woodward recommendation leaves WJ at 77% utilization.

1. change the name!
2. cities don't own the schools
3. 40% of new student body is bad math. hopefully you aren't taking an MCAP this month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the woman who went to the candidate forum last night and who was the only person when asking a question that was repeatedly shouted at and interrupted throughout my attempt to ask the candidates my question. For every person who spoke, we all quietly and respectfully listened. Once it was my turn to speak, as I tried to explain why many of us parents support the rec and don't want to stay in the building with no money for renovations until the next cycle, multiple people in the audience started screaming and shouting at me, interrupting and telling me to ask my question. I refuse to be silenced and so I kept on talking over the shouting. I asked the candidates about Policy FAA's factor that *requires* that a boundary change strive to *increase* diversity and whether if elected they would follow that requirement even if they had constituents telling them that they don't want to move because of increased diversity. And important preface to that question was me informing them of the fact that I have personally been told to my face on Tuesday night (with witnesses!) and I have seen numerous comments in writing that some people are against the Rec because they don't want to go to school with Crown kids. This is a verifiable fact that has been said to me directly, in person, with witnesses, and in writing with hundreds of witnesses. I never once said any racial group was racist, obviously, and to say otherwise is defamatory and I will not tolerate it. There's a video. Also, one of the candidates previously expressed support and encouragement for the planned lawsuit against the BOE she is running for, which I took the opportunity to call out as disqualifying. After the forum was over, I approached the woman who told the crowd at Tuesday's forum to ask her why she said what she said about MCPS getting approval for options A-G but not H, in light of the facts and the law. We got into a heated exchange and decided to agree to disagree. I was then approached by several people, at different times, who came up to me yelling about Dufief, yelling at me "why did Dufief drag us into this" "just go to Crown" "you're hypocrites." There were a couple of nice people who actually engaged respectfully with me in productive conversations about getting renovations at Wootton and how to improve this process. One woman in particular who is against the Rec was so sweet to me in particular, and asked me about what I had heard. I told her exactly the racist comments I was told on Tuesday, and she told me to ignore those voices. We even talked with one of the candidates who approached me after to thank me for bravely speaking out and calling out racism, and who admonished those who rudely screamed and interrupted me. Many of the candidates thanked me in their answers for bravely calling this to their attention. I have dozens of messages from parents over the past few months decrying the racism they've witnessed, sending me the screenshots of vile comments made about certain demographics and whose stated reason for not wanting to go to Crown is because of the demographics of the Crown kids. I can't begin to explain how hurtful this is to Crown families I've talked with. No one including me is saying ALL people who are against the rec are racist, of course. There are many different reasons people have to be against the rec. I am being an ally and calling out the racist comments I am told directly and see with my own eyes. There are so many issues with this boundary process, and it's unfortunate as a community that all too often when discussing the merits of particular ways to address boundaries, those conversations are hijacked by some individuals to throw in race into the debate. The silence and complicity of not calling out these individuals when they make racist comments is destructive to the community and it undermines the very valid reasons and objections people may have. Let's do better folks.

Yes, please let’s do better. The crowd did not single you out. They interrupted you because you start telling everyone their opposition was racist.

I was standing right by the woman you “approached.”’ And by I approach, I mean you rushed over to yell at her.

This was not an “heated exchange.” This was you yelling at her face non stop. I heard her telling you multiple times that she would love to have a civil conversation with you but you kept screaming at her. She never once yelled in your face. It took one of the CANDIDATES to step in and physically remove this woman from you for you to stop yelling at her.

As Dr. Taylor said, just relax. Do better.

Got it, so civility > calling out racism. Not the PP, but if you're so grievously offended by being called racist, you really need to look inward on which lady you're telling to do better.

So the lady she screamed at was being racist? The video is out. The lady she screamed at after the event btw literally said this is not about us vs. you. Forward to 1:36 on video.

She acknowledged that Dufief is an equal part of the cluster and says this is about Dr. Taylor who has created a divide. And then the woman goes and chooses her of all people to scream at.

I wish the video kept going. Because this wasn’t a heated exchange. This was one person screaming at another.

O and yes the lady she’s screaming at just so happens to be Asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the woman who went to the candidate forum last night and who was the only person when asking a question that was repeatedly shouted at and interrupted throughout my attempt to ask the candidates my question. For every person who spoke, we all quietly and respectfully listened. Once it was my turn to speak, as I tried to explain why many of us parents support the rec and don't want to stay in the building with no money for renovations until the next cycle, multiple people in the audience started screaming and shouting at me, interrupting and telling me to ask my question. I refuse to be silenced and so I kept on talking over the shouting. I asked the candidates about Policy FAA's factor that *requires* that a boundary change strive to *increase* diversity and whether if elected they would follow that requirement even if they had constituents telling them that they don't want to move because of increased diversity. And important preface to that question was me informing them of the fact that I have personally been told to my face on Tuesday night (with witnesses!) and I have seen numerous comments in writing that some people are against the Rec because they don't want to go to school with Crown kids. This is a verifiable fact that has been said to me directly, in person, with witnesses, and in writing with hundreds of witnesses. I never once said any racial group was racist, obviously, and to say otherwise is defamatory and I will not tolerate it. There's a video. Also, one of the candidates previously expressed support and encouragement for the planned lawsuit against the BOE she is running for, which I took the opportunity to call out as disqualifying. After the forum was over, I approached the woman who told the crowd at Tuesday's forum to ask her why she said what she said about MCPS getting approval for options A-G but not H, in light of the facts and the law. We got into a heated exchange and decided to agree to disagree. I was then approached by several people, at different times, who came up to me yelling about Dufief, yelling at me "why did Dufief drag us into this" "just go to Crown" "you're hypocrites." There were a couple of nice people who actually engaged respectfully with me in productive conversations about getting renovations at Wootton and how to improve this process. One woman in particular who is against the Rec was so sweet to me in particular, and asked me about what I had heard. I told her exactly the racist comments I was told on Tuesday, and she told me to ignore those voices. We even talked with one of the candidates who approached me after to thank me for bravely speaking out and calling out racism, and who admonished those who rudely screamed and interrupted me. Many of the candidates thanked me in their answers for bravely calling this to their attention. I have dozens of messages from parents over the past few months decrying the racism they've witnessed, sending me the screenshots of vile comments made about certain demographics and whose stated reason for not wanting to go to Crown is because of the demographics of the Crown kids. I can't begin to explain how hurtful this is to Crown families I've talked with. No one including me is saying ALL people who are against the rec are racist, of course. There are many different reasons people have to be against the rec. I am being an ally and calling out the racist comments I am told directly and see with my own eyes. There are so many issues with this boundary process, and it's unfortunate as a community that all too often when discussing the merits of particular ways to address boundaries, those conversations are hijacked by some individuals to throw in race into the debate. The silence and complicity of not calling out these individuals when they make racist comments is destructive to the community and it undermines the very valid reasons and objections people may have. Let's do better folks.

Yes, please let’s do better. The crowd did not single you out. They interrupted you because you start telling everyone their opposition was racist.

I was standing right by the woman you “approached.”’ And by I approach, I mean you rushed over to yell at her.

This was not an “heated exchange.” This was you yelling at her face non stop. I heard her telling you multiple times that she would love to have a civil conversation with you but you kept screaming at her. She never once yelled in your face. It took one of the CANDIDATES to step in and physically remove this woman from you for you to stop yelling at her.

As Dr. Taylor said, just relax. Do better.

A lot of people move to the W school's to self-segregate. Race, income, iq....all factors.

If she was screaming at that poster, that screamer had no intention of having a civil conversation, and there was no need for them to have a conversation, as that conversation is not a conversation; it's the screamer bullying the person with a different opinion. How many people are really upset over Wootton moving to Crown? That auditorium was not even 1/3 full, and some of those people were politicians and others, not families.

People with families don't have time to go to these meetings. That doesn't mean that they aren't upset or have strong feelings in either direction.

If parents felt that strongly, they'd find the time to go. Most don't care. Or, some want Crown as they'd prefer their kids in a safer school. That auditorium should have been full/overflowing. Where is the lawsuit? Why can't you understand that there is more than your one viewpoint? Why would you want to keep your and other kids in a building full of mold? Do you know what that does to kids with asthma and other breathing issues? Do you know what kind of breathing and other issues that can be caused in "healthy" people long term?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the woman who went to the candidate forum last night and who was the only person when asking a question that was repeatedly shouted at and interrupted throughout my attempt to ask the candidates my question. For every person who spoke, we all quietly and respectfully listened. Once it was my turn to speak, as I tried to explain why many of us parents support the rec and don't want to stay in the building with no money for renovations until the next cycle, multiple people in the audience started screaming and shouting at me, interrupting and telling me to ask my question. I refuse to be silenced and so I kept on talking over the shouting. I asked the candidates about Policy FAA's factor that *requires* that a boundary change strive to *increase* diversity and whether if elected they would follow that requirement even if they had constituents telling them that they don't want to move because of increased diversity. And important preface to that question was me informing them of the fact that I have personally been told to my face on Tuesday night (with witnesses!) and I have seen numerous comments in writing that some people are against the Rec because they don't want to go to school with Crown kids. This is a verifiable fact that has been said to me directly, in person, with witnesses, and in writing with hundreds of witnesses. I never once said any racial group was racist, obviously, and to say otherwise is defamatory and I will not tolerate it. There's a video. Also, one of the candidates previously expressed support and encouragement for the planned lawsuit against the BOE she is running for, which I took the opportunity to call out as disqualifying. After the forum was over, I approached the woman who told the crowd at Tuesday's forum to ask her why she said what she said about MCPS getting approval for options A-G but not H, in light of the facts and the law. We got into a heated exchange and decided to agree to disagree. I was then approached by several people, at different times, who came up to me yelling about Dufief, yelling at me "why did Dufief drag us into this" "just go to Crown" "you're hypocrites." There were a couple of nice people who actually engaged respectfully with me in productive conversations about getting renovations at Wootton and how to improve this process. One woman in particular who is against the Rec was so sweet to me in particular, and asked me about what I had heard. I told her exactly the racist comments I was told on Tuesday, and she told me to ignore those voices. We even talked with one of the candidates who approached me after to thank me for bravely speaking out and calling out racism, and who admonished those who rudely screamed and interrupted me. Many of the candidates thanked me in their answers for bravely calling this to their attention. I have dozens of messages from parents over the past few months decrying the racism they've witnessed, sending me the screenshots of vile comments made about certain demographics and whose stated reason for not wanting to go to Crown is because of the demographics of the Crown kids. I can't begin to explain how hurtful this is to Crown families I've talked with. No one including me is saying ALL people who are against the rec are racist, of course. There are many different reasons people have to be against the rec. I am being an ally and calling out the racist comments I am told directly and see with my own eyes. There are so many issues with this boundary process, and it's unfortunate as a community that all too often when discussing the merits of particular ways to address boundaries, those conversations are hijacked by some individuals to throw in race into the debate. The silence and complicity of not calling out these individuals when they make racist comments is destructive to the community and it undermines the very valid reasons and objections people may have. Let's do better folks.

Yes, please let’s do better. The crowd did not single you out. They interrupted you because you start telling everyone their opposition was racist.

I was standing right by the woman you “approached.”’ And by I approach, I mean you rushed over to yell at her.

This was not an “heated exchange.” This was you yelling at her face non stop. I heard her telling you multiple times that she would love to have a civil conversation with you but you kept screaming at her. She never once yelled in your face. It took one of the CANDIDATES to step in and physically remove this woman from you for you to stop yelling at her.

As Dr. Taylor said, just relax. Do better.

Got it, so civility > calling out racism. Not the PP, but if you're so grievously offended by being called racist, you really need to look inward on which lady you're telling to do better.

So the lady she screamed at was being racist? The video is out. The lady she screamed at after the event btw literally said this is not about us vs. you. Forward to 1:36 on video.

She acknowledged that Dufief is an equal part of the cluster and says this is about Dr. Taylor who has created a divide. And then the woman goes and chooses her of all people to scream at.

I wish the video kept going. Because this wasn’t a heated exchange. This was one person screaming at another.

O and yes the lady she’s screaming at just so happens to be Asian.

Why was the woman getting in her face, interrupting her? Why can't people present differing opinions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t homes in Crown far more expensive?

Hence the Crown families are eager to bring the Wootton families to Crown.

The Churchill people don't want to go to Wootton because they see it as a downgrade.

Similar to how some Wootton families don't trust that the school will maintain it's same academic standing with the move.

Then the Crown/Rosemont island people don't want their kids to go to Gaithersburg HS.

So there is a bit of classism going on and it's going on at different levels.

With the Wootton families, remember it's not just academic performance but also stability. Where sure the enrollment numbers currently show there's a decline in enrollment. But what happens when enrollment goes back up? Richard Montgomery and Bayard were both opened at over capacity and have portables right? So that should show confidence in the projections from MCPS. So they have empty school building on Wootton Parkway and reopen and some of the previous areas that fed into Wootton would stay at Crown. Those families that have to stay at Crown probably won't be at a bad school. But it won't be the third top school in the state.

This is why a lot of Wootton families are questioning the data and input for question H and want more information on it before anything is finalized. But in a lot of ways it seems like MCPS revealed option H at the 11th hour with questionable data.

And this is why Wootton families are asking for MCPS to slowdown and show proof behind the data before making irreversible decisions.

hearing so much about wootton's current state, I am highly doubting this claim of 3rd top school in the state? How can it be that high when they don't have functioning science labs? Do they just bypass all the MCPS curriculum that's done at QO, RM, NW etc? No bunson burners? seems like they could be measuring things inaccurately. sus.

Rankings are typically mostly based on test scores, which are generally largely a result of the demographics of the student body. Doesn't tell you much about the teachers, classes, or facilities (other than that they didn't screw up the advantage of having a student body who came in largely primed to excel on tests already.)

Oh but they can impact your property values which is what many H opponents really care about. They are having a visceral reaction to having strategically chosen to buy a certain house at a certain price so it would be assigned to a certain high school and now it will be assigned to a different high school. They aren't sure if their property value will hold and that is upsetting.

A home purchase is the largest one people will make in their lives. Giving the community less than 2 months (really only 1 month with the holidays) to provide input, then essentially ignoring that input because a decision had been made a year earlier, is absolutely grounds to be upset about a decline in the value of one’s home.

Test scores and school rankings take decades to establish, stay stable for many years, and any decline takes decades.

MCPS is transplanting Wootton to Crown because it wants to give it an instant reputation- why else would it transfer the Wootton name if over 40% of the new student body isn’t from historical Wootton. Families would have far less of a problem if the boundary was changed only to allow Wootton a brand new building- not to add 40% more kids. This would be consistent with MCPS’ stated desire to provide a safe building and save money by not renovating Wootton. Likewise, Wootton would have room to grow and the new developments in Rockville would attract new families wanting to attend Wootton But this is about Gaithersburg grabbing a W school away from Rockville, along with the tax revenue from families wanting to live close to Wootton @ Crown.

And before anyone says that would mean Wootton would be an under enrolled school, Taylor’s Woodward recommendation leaves WJ at 77% utilization.

No, they are doing it because you parents said Wootton was unsafe and per your advocacy, they listened. You are creating issues and drama that aren't even relevant. Per your comments Wootton needs to be torn down and replaced.