Thurs Feb 5: Board Work Session

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anything controversial in the Woodward recommendations? I personally like it for our neighborhood, but curious if there's any hot-button changes included.

I think split articulating Garrett Park and Kensington-Parkwood is going to generate a lot of opposition. There is also a ton of split articulation for Wheaton and Kennedy feeder schools. What I find weird is they do all this split articulation, and Woodward's FARMS rate ends up more than double that of Walter Johnson. That's insane to me for high schools that are so close to each other. Viers Mill ES should be zoned to WJ, not Woodward.

+1

Woodward and WJ should be getting one high FARMS ES each. Putting 2 in one and zero ion another makes no sense then both HS are less than mile apart. Ceoncentrating poverty should be avoided whenver it's possible.

Taylor is MAGA so he is against diversity, equity and inclusion. He uses the word equity a lot, but it is performative and it is clear in the way he uses it that he doesn't know what that word means and/or doesn't care.

I don't know him, but this makes no sense to me. it was a low hanging fruit to put one high FARMS ES each in Woodward and WJ. Not very complicated unless WJ PTA lobbied to make WJ Whitman 2.0 and got this result.

I am neither in Woodward nor in WJ but this jumps out. Putting 35% FARMS in new school is poor start specially given special program is also not much to do with academics. Worst possible combination of FARMS and program out of all choices.

But just picture this. Now, a BOE member gets to bravely stand up for equity by proposing moving Veirs Mill to Walter Johnson. The rest of the BOE gets to bravely vote in favor of this. All without impacting property values in the Town of Kensington. Yang and Silvestre will campaign on their bravery in their runs for Council.

It may not work as you are imagining and recommended option is liklely to be approved. There is no Woodward PTA to advocate for Woodward.

Does Viers Mill ES want to go to WJ?

The WJ PTA has not taken a position on any particular option.

I am in VM and love to be assinged to WJ. I don't see why one any one will object. It;s not like WJ and Woodward are far apar. They are next to each opther on same road less than mile.

Same! And same! I think it would solve some of the remaining problems with this option

Viers Mill to WJ and who to Woodward? All of KP?

All of GP to Woodward

It would be helpful to see data impact of swapping Viers Mill for all KP or all GP

Based on rough approximation, it will fit nicely and it will balance poverty between Woodward and WJ instead of concentrating it in one school without any negative for anyone. Except some families would have to shift from WJ to Woodward and they will throw a hissy fit.They shold be ignored and decision should be made for greater good.

I doubt it. All current WJ expect to be WJ or Woodward. That is obvious effect of opening Woodward to offset WJ overcrowding.

???

No one is suggesting putting current WJ out side of future WJ/Woodward. Posters are discussing it;s better to put one high FARMS ES each in WJ and Woodward instead of adding them both in Woodward.

no kidding. so why did someone mention a hissy fit?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think this might be a stunt. I predict they're gonna have Taylor be the bad guy and recommend Option H, but then will have the BOE reject his recommendation so that people think the board is actually responsive to public engagement and feedback and not just a doormat for Taylor.

wishful thinking.

spending hundreds of millions to build a new high school and turning it into a "holding" school would not go over well.

Correct. That’s why Dr. Taylor already decided last fall to go with Option H. EF&G would have made Crown a holding school, a thought he couldn’t stomach after spending the money to build Crown.

Actually, it wasn't Taylor's idea. An MCCPTA volunteer suggested the move this winter. Taylor really doesn't have good ideas, generally.

BS
PTA reps have been plants for years. MCPS feeds them the talking points.

Think what you want, but no BS. MCPS gets plenty of pushback from MCCPTA, which you would know if you were actually involved.

Which is how it is known about MCPS using PTA as plants.

LOL. PTA is a garden of cacti to MCPS.

And they don't get $25k/member

[Anonymous]

Current VM family and we are pleased. We would rather be in Woodward than WJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current VM family and we are pleased. We would rather be in Woodward than WJ

I am curious why. With this new map, I struggle to see a single advantage of being in Woodward than being in WJ. Maybe I am missing something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current VM family and we are pleased. We would rather be in Woodward than WJ

I am curious why. With this new map, I struggle to see a single advantage of being in Woodward than being in WJ. Maybe I am missing something.

I think it's either that:
- loyalty from WJ families for Taylor, maybe WJ breaks the top 10 HSs in MD due to lower FARMslS rate increasing test scores, helping Taylor get his next job; or
- he made a deal with one or more BOE members to give them an option they can tweak to build up their cred as anti racists and counter the perception the BOE is a weak, useless body

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Why did Dr Taylor play the victim at the outset of his presentation?

Sadly, Dr Taylor suffers from a horrible condition called Main Character Syndrome

Poor Dr. Taylor, living in his multimillion house in Chevy Chase and making over $300,000 per year. If the kitchen is too hot for him, I invite him to leave.

Do his kids go to BCC? Is that why they basically had no boundary changes?

Isn't that the cluster (or maybe it was Einstein) that had a boundary study not too long ago for a new middle school?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anything controversial in the Woodward recommendations? I personally like it for our neighborhood, but curious if there's any hot-button changes included.

I think split articulating Garrett Park and Kensington-Parkwood is going to generate a lot of opposition. There is also a ton of split articulation for Wheaton and Kennedy feeder schools. What I find weird is they do all this split articulation, and Woodward's FARMS rate ends up more than double that of Walter Johnson. That's insane to me for high schools that are so close to each other. Viers Mill ES should be zoned to WJ, not Woodward.

+1

Woodward and WJ should be getting one high FARMS ES each. Putting 2 in one and zero ion another makes no sense then both HS are less than mile apart. Ceoncentrating poverty should be avoided whenver it's possible.

Taylor is MAGA so he is against diversity, equity and inclusion. He uses the word equity a lot, but it is performative and it is clear in the way he uses it that he doesn't know what that word means and/or doesn't care.

I don't know him, but this makes no sense to me. it was a low hanging fruit to put one high FARMS ES each in Woodward and WJ. Not very complicated unless WJ PTA lobbied to make WJ Whitman 2.0 and got this result.

I am neither in Woodward nor in WJ but this jumps out. Putting 35% FARMS in new school is poor start specially given special program is also not much to do with academics. Worst possible combination of FARMS and program out of all choices.

But just picture this. Now, a BOE member gets to bravely stand up for equity by proposing moving Veirs Mill to Walter Johnson. The rest of the BOE gets to bravely vote in favor of this. All without impacting property values in the Town of Kensington. Yang and Silvestre will campaign on their bravery in their runs for Council.

It may not work as you are imagining and recommended option is liklely to be approved. There is no Woodward PTA to advocate for Woodward.

Does Viers Mill ES want to go to WJ?

The WJ PTA has not taken a position on any particular option.

I am in VM and love to be assinged to WJ. I don't see why one any one will object. It;s not like WJ and Woodward are far apar. They are next to each opther on same road less than mile.

Same! And same! I think it would solve some of the remaining problems with this option

Viers Mill to WJ and who to Woodward? All of KP?

All KP to Woodward to avoid split articulation in KP. It should satisfy "don't split our kids and keep community together crowd" satisfied.

Where do you see Viers Mill at WJ? I see Viers Mill assigned to Woodward:
https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DQZPBR63DB92/$file/Supt%20Rec%20Woodward%20Northwood%20HS%20Map%20260205.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current VM family and we are pleased. We would rather be in Woodward than WJ

I am curious why. With this new map, I struggle to see a single advantage of being in Woodward than being in WJ. Maybe I am missing something.

I think it's either that:
- loyalty from WJ families for Taylor, maybe WJ breaks the top 10 HSs in MD due to lower FARMslS rate increasing test scores, helping Taylor get his next job; or
- he made a deal with one or more BOE members to give them an option they can tweak to build up their cred as anti racists and counter the perception the BOE is a weak, useless body

Dr. Taylor cut all kinds of deals for this outcome. When he said that he can’t please everyone, he meant he can only please the BOE members. All of the public testimonies were kabuki theater. That said, the BOE members are all getting an earful right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Dr Taylor play the victim at the outset of his presentation?

Sadly, Dr Taylor suffers from a horrible condition called Main Character Syndrome

Poor Dr. Taylor, living in his multimillion house in Chevy Chase and making over $300,000 per year. If the kitchen is too hot for him, I invite him to leave.

Do his kids go to BCC? Is that why they basically had no boundary changes?

Isn't that the cluster (or maybe it was Einstein) that had a boundary study not too long ago for a new middle school?

BCC cluster, Einstein never gets anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Dr Taylor play the victim at the outset of his presentation?

Sadly, Dr Taylor suffers from a horrible condition called Main Character Syndrome

Poor Dr. Taylor, living in his multimillion house in Chevy Chase and making over $300,000 per year. If the kitchen is too hot for him, I invite him to leave.

Do his kids go to BCC? Is that why they basically had no boundary changes?

Isn't that the cluster (or maybe it was Einstein) that had a boundary study not too long ago for a new middle school?

BCC cluster, Einstein never gets anything.

CT Ave north of Beltway got plowed. But not south so there, they/you got something

[Anonymous]

Also interested in seeing the data charts swapping VM with either KP or GP. Why would they concentrate poverty in one school when they could easily make an adjustment to align more closely with their equity goal? It makes no sense given their stated priorities. Unless they actually want to create another Whitman as a way of keeping wealthier families in MCPS.

But will the current WJ families that are being rezoned to Woodward stay if it ends up being a high need school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also interested in seeing the data charts swapping VM with either KP or GP. Why would they concentrate poverty in one school when they could easily make an adjustment to align more closely with their equity goal? It makes no sense given their stated priorities. Unless they actually want to create another Whitman as a way of keeping wealthier families in MCPS.

But will the current WJ families that are being rezoned to Woodward stay if it ends up being a high need school?

Why does this sound implausible to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also interested in seeing the data charts swapping VM with either KP or GP. Why would they concentrate poverty in one school when they could easily make an adjustment to align more closely with their equity goal? It makes no sense given their stated priorities. Unless they actually want to create another Whitman as a way of keeping wealthier families in MCPS.

But will the current WJ families that are being rezoned to Woodward stay if it ends up being a high need school?

What is this “high need” at Woodward?! MCPS has about a 50% farms rate overall. Let’s live in the real world here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also interested in seeing the data charts swapping VM with either KP or GP. Why would they concentrate poverty in one school when they could easily make an adjustment to align more closely with their equity goal? It makes no sense given their stated priorities. Unless they actually want to create another Whitman as a way of keeping wealthier families in MCPS.

But will the current WJ families that are being rezoned to Woodward stay if it ends up being a high need school?

Do the WJ families staying at WJ have more political connections and influence then the WJ families going to Woodward? I don't know much about that part of the county but could be a possibility.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:How is presenting at a public meeting a lack of transparency? There will not be a final vote today. The BOE will do hearings etc

Obviously, folks can prepare better questions if they can see the recommendation ahead of time and digest it. This way they can quietly address questions privately.

blame taylor, blame the board, blame the meeting format, blame the snow. blame gaithersburg, blame developers. victim, victim, victim mentality over and over again. what a way to go through life.

Sorry what drugs are you on? A public school system is funded with parent’s dollars.
Parents have oversight.

Parents SHOULD have oversight, but we don't, because we have a BOE that refuses to check Taylor, Essie and their goons.

They violate state laws and their own policies with impunity and no consequence.

Show up outside his office and demand, parents. Isn't he a parent himself??

I've never met a more pathologically overconfident man as Thomas Taylor. He DOES NOT CARE what other people think. He listens only to people who give him money, like the county council. The only way he will listen to the BOE is when he perceives that he is opposed by a majority of the members and they are going to fire him.

He has 5 children. I think the youngest may be at BCC HS, or perhaps is at a private school.