Option H is permanent and the old Wootton HS campus will be closed for good?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - the Wootton cluster is finally getting worked up. Hopefully it is not too late.

With regard to your almighty Churchill comments: You are exactly right. Churchill is unified and they take pride in their school. They are defending Wayside and Potomac. Perhaps Wootton can stick together in the same way?

The only approach that will work is to fight to keep Wootton, fully as Wootton (that is what the almighty Churchill would do). You start compromising on the name, and jettisoning elementary schools and we are headed for closure.

Part of the issue was that Churchill had only one maybe two schools in question and it was all mostly the same goal.

Wootton is dealing with an entire cluster, with the feeder schools at different locations relative to the new Crown site and the current Wootton site. Since the area is broader, the range of what people are supporting or opposing is broader too. When the question used to be just one or two schools, the Wootton cluster did circle the wagons and insist on keeping all of it's schools. It's one of the things that some posters are saying the Wootton cluster whined about.

Exactly. No other school or cluster has been threatened with closure. What makes Wootton different? It’s the one mcps school with the most amount of Asians kids. As this thread shows, Asians kids aren’t diverse. Guess they are white? Asian kids according to this thread can also be used as tools to increase test scores.

O wait that’s why this is a civil rights issue.

Do you even understand what diverse means? Diverse doesn't equal minority - it means a variety.

So yes, Wootton is not diverse since majority are White and Asian.

Same with QO - the majority is White and Hispanic.

Same with Gaithersburg - majority Hispanic and Black.

All these schools need other races.

Wootton needs to have more Black and Hispanic QO needs more Asians and Black
Gaithersburg needs more White and Asians

That will make these schools diverse.

It’s unfortunate that people rarely point their fingers at the truly wealthy schools that lack diversity, like Whitman and Churchill. Instead, Wootton becomes the easy target

The reality is that the locations of those schools make it very hard to do anything about it without dramatic changes to housing policy. The same isn't true of Wootton.

BCC is in the same type of location as Wootton (closer to high farm schools) but not touched. It’s only because Taylor graduated there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully, in communications with the BOE, the Wootton community has a clear, consolidated message. If I were a BOE member reading this forum, while it is clear that most In the Wootton community don't want H as written, it is very unclear what they do want? New building in place? Partial remodel in place? Move to Crown? Is the name important? Existing cluster or modified? And with the rebuild what happens in the interim? With the remodel while open, is this even possible and would the community put up with the existing building's shortcomings? It is obvious that there are differing opinions.

However, If: 1) The school moves and the existing building is never again used for the existing cluster. 2) The school changes its name. And. 3) There are significantly changes its cluster. Then that is a closure of Wootton. If people don't want Wootton closed then at least a couple if not all of those three items need to change.

The BOE should not rely on anonymous posts found here and there. Some trolls are pretending to be Wootton families and making inflammatory statements to create conflict and divide the cluster

[Anonymous]

No doubt that the trolls are out in force, but the need for consolidated message still exists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No doubt that the trolls are out in force, but the need for consolidated message still exists.

The BOE isn’t listening to Wootton at all. That’s the problem. They have all these town halls and ask for feedback and we have shown them we don’t want H and chosen another option and they simply don’t listen or care. It’s extremely frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Can you articulate briefly what option was "wanted" by Wootton? I am part of that community and I seriously don't know exactly what that is. I know what I want but not what the community as a whole communicated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - the Wootton cluster is finally getting worked up. Hopefully it is not too late.

With regard to your almighty Churchill comments: You are exactly right. Churchill is unified and they take pride in their school. They are defending Wayside and Potomac. Perhaps Wootton can stick together in the same way?

The only approach that will work is to fight to keep Wootton, fully as Wootton (that is what the almighty Churchill would do). You start compromising on the name, and jettisoning elementary schools and we are headed for closure.

Part of the issue was that Churchill had only one maybe two schools in question and it was all mostly the same goal.

Wootton is dealing with an entire cluster, with the feeder schools at different locations relative to the new Crown site and the current Wootton site. Since the area is broader, the range of what people are supporting or opposing is broader too. When the question used to be just one or two schools, the Wootton cluster did circle the wagons and insist on keeping all of it's schools. It's one of the things that some posters are saying the Wootton cluster whined about.

Exactly. No other school or cluster has been threatened with closure. What makes Wootton different? It’s the one mcps school with the most amount of Asians kids. As this thread shows, Asians kids aren’t diverse. Guess they are white? Asian kids according to this thread can also be used as tools to increase test scores.

O wait that’s why this is a civil rights issue.

Do you even understand what diverse means? Diverse doesn't equal minority - it means a variety.

So yes, Wootton is not diverse since majority are White and Asian.

Same with QO - the majority is White and Hispanic.

Same with Gaithersburg - majority Hispanic and Black.

All these schools need other races.

Wootton needs to have more Black and Hispanic QO needs more Asians and Black
Gaithersburg needs more White and Asians

That will make these schools diverse.

It’s unfortunate that people rarely point their fingers at the truly wealthy schools that lack diversity, like Whitman and Churchill. Instead, Wootton becomes the easy target

The reality is that the locations of those schools make it very hard to do anything about it without dramatic changes to housing policy. The same isn't true of Wootton.

BCC is in the same type of location as Wootton (closer to high farm schools) but not touched. It’s only because Taylor graduated there?

She did??!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No doubt that the trolls are out in force, but the need for consolidated message still exists.

The BOE isn’t listening to Wootton at all. That’s the problem. They have all these town halls and ask for feedback and we have shown them we don’t want H and chosen another option and they simply don’t listen or care. It’s extremely frustrating.

They listened you just refuse the options and want other schools not to get needed repairs so your school can be redone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - the Wootton cluster is finally getting worked up. Hopefully it is not too late.

With regard to your almighty Churchill comments: You are exactly right. Churchill is unified and they take pride in their school. They are defending Wayside and Potomac. Perhaps Wootton can stick together in the same way?

The only approach that will work is to fight to keep Wootton, fully as Wootton (that is what the almighty Churchill would do). You start compromising on the name, and jettisoning elementary schools and we are headed for closure.

Part of the issue was that Churchill had only one maybe two schools in question and it was all mostly the same goal.

Wootton is dealing with an entire cluster, with the feeder schools at different locations relative to the new Crown site and the current Wootton site. Since the area is broader, the range of what people are supporting or opposing is broader too. When the question used to be just one or two schools, the Wootton cluster did circle the wagons and insist on keeping all of it's schools. It's one of the things that some posters are saying the Wootton cluster whined about.

Exactly. No other school or cluster has been threatened with closure. What makes Wootton different? It’s the one mcps school with the most amount of Asians kids. As this thread shows, Asians kids aren’t diverse. Guess they are white? Asian kids according to this thread can also be used as tools to increase test scores.

O wait that’s why this is a civil rights issue.

Do you even understand what diverse means? Diverse doesn't equal minority - it means a variety.

So yes, Wootton is not diverse since majority are White and Asian.

Same with QO - the majority is White and Hispanic.

Same with Gaithersburg - majority Hispanic and Black.

All these schools need other races.

Wootton needs to have more Black and Hispanic QO needs more Asians and Black
Gaithersburg needs more White and Asians

That will make these schools diverse.

It’s unfortunate that people rarely point their fingers at the truly wealthy schools that lack diversity, like Whitman and Churchill. Instead, Wootton becomes the easy target

The discussion is about Wooton. They are the school having a fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - the Wootton cluster is finally getting worked up. Hopefully it is not too late.

With regard to your almighty Churchill comments: You are exactly right. Churchill is unified and they take pride in their school. They are defending Wayside and Potomac. Perhaps Wootton can stick together in the same way?

The only approach that will work is to fight to keep Wootton, fully as Wootton (that is what the almighty Churchill would do). You start compromising on the name, and jettisoning elementary schools and we are headed for closure.

Part of the issue was that Churchill had only one maybe two schools in question and it was all mostly the same goal.

Wootton is dealing with an entire cluster, with the feeder schools at different locations relative to the new Crown site and the current Wootton site. Since the area is broader, the range of what people are supporting or opposing is broader too. When the question used to be just one or two schools, the Wootton cluster did circle the wagons and insist on keeping all of it's schools. It's one of the things that some posters are saying the Wootton cluster whined about.

Exactly. No other school or cluster has been threatened with closure. What makes Wootton different? It’s the one mcps school with the most amount of Asians kids. As this thread shows, Asians kids aren’t diverse. Guess they are white? Asian kids according to this thread can also be used as tools to increase test scores.

O wait that’s why this is a civil rights issue.

Do you even understand what diverse means? Diverse doesn't equal minority - it means a variety.

So yes, Wootton is not diverse since majority are White and Asian.

Same with QO - the majority is White and Hispanic.

Same with Gaithersburg - majority Hispanic and Black.

All these schools need other races.

Wootton needs to have more Black and Hispanic QO needs more Asians and Black
Gaithersburg needs more White and Asians

That will make these schools diverse.

It’s unfortunate that people rarely point their fingers at the truly wealthy schools that lack diversity, like Whitman and Churchill. Instead, Wootton becomes the easy target

Because this person probably lives in one of those clusters.

A lot of posters don’t seem to understand that this is literally how it is all over the country. This isn’t an MCPS or a MD thing. People go to a school that represents their neighborhoods. People move to neighborhoods typically-considering what school their kids will go to. You can’t say “you buy a neighborhood not a school” because that’s simply not reality-anywhere. Home prices and locations are very very influenced by schools. Again-not just here-everywhere. And just because it may make a school less diverse in whatever direction-you can’t go and take those kids from their neighborhood school to bus them to a school that’s no longer representative of where they bought and not expect to get push back.

You were never guaranteed a school when you bought your house. That’s on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not trolling but trying to understand whether there is any valid basis to the “illegality” argument other than just posturing: these boundary study options are merely just options - Taylor may ultimately decide to propose to the council a modified version of one of the options or something entirely different. Survey responses aren’t votes and aren’t binding on them. If they do decide to close Wootton, they have plenty of time to notice public hearings and conduct impact studies. What is the basis for folks believing that all this work must be done prematurely?

Because you are genuinely asking: any lawyer worth their salt would know there is no legal standing yet because you are right there is no harm done. That’s why the argument isn’t mcps is violating the law—the argument is Option H is violating the law. Hence, if Option H is chosen, MCPS is in violation of the law.

Lawyers use notices all the time to warn institutions. If you do this, we will be forced to sue you.

Response got cut off.
To your second part—can’t they start all this process after going with H. The answer is no. MCPS can’t decide to do something without first doing all the things required. The point of the law isn’t so that MCPS can perform a checklist for the sake of doing so. The point of the law is to have good-faith engagement and impact studies. Thats why procedure matters. If Mcps decides first to close, then there is no point in doing all the things the state requires—their minds are made up. That’s why the law requires these protections before a decision is made.

That doesn't make any sense. You need to make a decision to begin the process at all. Proposing something is not the same thing as making the final decision.

The whole thing is silly, though. Option H isn't closing a school. Keep the name and the boundary the same for a year if it is important to emphasize that.

So that’s precisely why option H is dangerous. It’s mixing school closure and boundary at the same time (and even CIP). All of these are separate administrative and procedural decisions. They aren’t supposed to influence or be decided based on each other. That’s why the water surrounding H is already dirty.

To consider whether or not to close a school isn’t really a fair decision when it comes at the tail end and as a result of millions of dollars spent on a farce of a boundary study spanning across years. It would mean MCPS gave the illusion of choice and are only looking for facts to support its conclusion.

I’m not going to feed the trolls and explain why this is a school closure. There’s pages and pages on this thread about this. There’s also that modified H being floated.

Plus the person above made is super clear. What is staying the same? Name, kids, teachers, location.

It’s not a closure if they are moving the entire school to a new location per parents demands of the facility issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - the Wootton cluster is finally getting worked up. Hopefully it is not too late.

With regard to your almighty Churchill comments: You are exactly right. Churchill is unified and they take pride in their school. They are defending Wayside and Potomac. Perhaps Wootton can stick together in the same way?

The only approach that will work is to fight to keep Wootton, fully as Wootton (that is what the almighty Churchill would do). You start compromising on the name, and jettisoning elementary schools and we are headed for closure.

Part of the issue was that Churchill had only one maybe two schools in question and it was all mostly the same goal.

Wootton is dealing with an entire cluster, with the feeder schools at different locations relative to the new Crown site and the current Wootton site. Since the area is broader, the range of what people are supporting or opposing is broader too. When the question used to be just one or two schools, the Wootton cluster did circle the wagons and insist on keeping all of it's schools. It's one of the things that some posters are saying the Wootton cluster whined about.

Exactly. No other school or cluster has been threatened with closure. What makes Wootton different? It’s the one mcps school with the most amount of Asians kids. As this thread shows, Asians kids aren’t diverse. Guess they are white? Asian kids according to this thread can also be used as tools to increase test scores.

O wait that’s why this is a civil rights issue.

Diversity is more than skin color but it is in no way diverse in terms of demographics and skin color.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No doubt that the trolls are out in force, but the need for consolidated message still exists.

The BOE isn’t listening to Wootton at all. That’s the problem. They have all these town halls and ask for feedback and we have shown them we don’t want H and chosen another option and they simply don’t listen or care. It’s extremely frustrating.

They listened you just refuse the options and want other schools not to get needed repairs so your school can be redone.

The more vocal part of the cluster doesn’t want H. Pretty sure the rest of us are ok with it as that’s the only option that keeps the cluster together and in a safe environment. The Wootton PTSA really caused a mess with their messaging which set the tone for everyone else that followed. Creating an option that doesn’t exist as if they have the authority to do so turned the BOE off I’m sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No doubt that the trolls are out in force, but the need for consolidated message still exists.

The BOE isn’t listening to Wootton at all. That’s the problem. They have all these town halls and ask for feedback and we have shown them we don’t want H and chosen another option and they simply don’t listen or care. It’s extremely frustrating.

They listened you just refuse the options and want other schools not to get needed repairs so your school can be redone.

The more vocal part of the cluster doesn’t want H. Pretty sure the rest of us are ok with it as that’s the only option that keeps the cluster together and in a safe environment. The Wootton PTSA really caused a mess with their messaging which set the tone for everyone else that followed. Creating an option that doesn’t exist as if they have the authority to do so turned the BOE off I’m sure.

The BOE is terrible and doesn't care what anyone wants but other families need to be vocal against the PTSA as usually its a few people making the decisions with everyone else going along with it, right or wrong.

The problem is they do need a holding school, given how many schools need serious repairs and not all can be done with students in them. The BOE is partly to blame for why schools are in this condition. Personally, I'd take crown as I wouldn't want my kids to be in a moldy, bad building but we don't have that option and have a moldly old building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - the Wootton cluster is finally getting worked up. Hopefully it is not too late.

With regard to your almighty Churchill comments: You are exactly right. Churchill is unified and they take pride in their school. They are defending Wayside and Potomac. Perhaps Wootton can stick together in the same way?

The only approach that will work is to fight to keep Wootton, fully as Wootton (that is what the almighty Churchill would do). You start compromising on the name, and jettisoning elementary schools and we are headed for closure.

Part of the issue was that Churchill had only one maybe two schools in question and it was all mostly the same goal.

Wootton is dealing with an entire cluster, with the feeder schools at different locations relative to the new Crown site and the current Wootton site. Since the area is broader, the range of what people are supporting or opposing is broader too. When the question used to be just one or two schools, the Wootton cluster did circle the wagons and insist on keeping all of it's schools. It's one of the things that some posters are saying the Wootton cluster whined about.

Exactly. No other school or cluster has been threatened with closure. What makes Wootton different? It’s the one mcps school with the most amount of Asians kids. As this thread shows, Asians kids aren’t diverse. Guess they are white? Asian kids according to this thread can also be used as tools to increase test scores.

O wait that’s why this is a civil rights issue.

Do you even understand what diverse means? Diverse doesn't equal minority - it means a variety.

So yes, Wootton is not diverse since majority are White and Asian.

Same with QO - the majority is White and Hispanic.

Same with Gaithersburg - majority Hispanic and Black.

All these schools need other races.

Wootton needs to have more Black and Hispanic QO needs more Asians and Black
Gaithersburg needs more White and Asians

That will make these schools diverse.

It’s unfortunate that people rarely point their fingers at the truly wealthy schools that lack diversity, like Whitman and Churchill. Instead, Wootton becomes the easy target

The reality is that the locations of those schools make it very hard to do anything about it without dramatic changes to housing policy. The same isn't true of Wootton.

BCC is in the same type of location as Wootton (closer to high farm schools) but not touched. It’s only because Taylor graduated there?

I'm sure Taylor is biased to BCC, but how do you move BCC students? Blair and Einstein are severely overcrowded; there isn't another DCC school in lower Silver Spring, so the only option would be Woodward.

[Anonymous]

Who is this Adam Van Grack who keeps showing up on my Facebook? He says he’s sending “memos” to MCPS like he has some kind of official relationship with them but he just sounds like a typical parent who’s mad about the school moving.