Taylor Meeting at Wootton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is with the hyperbole? 250 new buses on Wootton Parkway? 37 stops for one bus?! Making up BS just further undermines your argument. Clearly you're unfamiliar with how public school busing works here, because they don't go from house to house picking up each kid. LOL. There are things called "bus stops" where they pick up dozens of kids at one place, for efficiency. The Wootton bus schedule is a public document, and you can see for yourself that every bus makes just a handful of stops - with one outlier at 16 stops. Oh, and it's 22 buses for Wootton. Moving Wootton to Crown will not make that number jump to 250. Even if none of these groups turn to walkers at Crown (which some of them will), it still will not require another 228 buses to transport the Wootton walkers to Crown. And since MCPS already said that Wootton wouldn't be used as a holding school for several years, you don't have to worry about another 22-30 (not 228) buses from another high school coming. IF and when it is used as a holding school, there will be plenty of time to stagger the holding school start time from Wootton. https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/Transportation/busroutes/04234bus.pdf

If Wootton isn’t going to be used as a holding school for several years, what is the plan for Magruder and why is this plan equitable?

It isn’t. Moving Wootton to Crown kills 2 birds with one stone for Taylor (really 3 birds). First, he fills Crown with high achieving kids, instant academic reputation that would otherwise take 20 years (if ever) to develop (and speaking of developers, they will be very happy). Second, it avoids MCPS having to spend money remediating Wootton, so it can spend that money on more sole source contracts that violate procurement regulations. Third, it means there isn’t a holding school for Magruder, so MCPS can delay that $300M+ renovation for years (if Crown was a holding school for Magruder, MCPS would have to find the money to begin renovations).

Nobody is talking about the staffing elephant in the room. What happens when Wootton's teachers leave?

And they will. I would know since I am one. Teachers with 15-20 years in a community don't just pick up and relocate because a superintendent drew a new line on a map. Many of them chose Wootton specifically for the culture, the community, the commute from where they actually live. When this "relocation" happens and half the faculty walks out the door, suddenly you don't have Wootton at Crown. You have Crown with a Wootton nameplate.

My kids had some of those teachers (my colleagues) over a decade ago. The institutional knowledge, the relationships, the culture we've all built... it's not a building. That's years of investment that evaporates the moment this vote passes and the resignation letters start.

MCPS keeps saying this is a move, not a closure. Fine. But a school is its people, not its address. When you force a relocation without meaningful faculty buy-in and lose half your experienced staff in the process, you've effectively closed the school everyone knew and opened a new one with a familiar logo. We've had very little engagement from the county other than with each other as peers. There are mixed feelings of course, but nobody took our pulse at the county level.

That's not a relocation. That's a rebranding. And the kids who show up at Crown in 2027 expecting Wootton deserve to know the difference.

Are you just pretending to be a teacher? This doesn't make any sense. Why would teachers care so much about the school moving a couple miles away (to a much nicer building) that they'd quit in droves? I guess it might be a little further drive from home for some, closer for others, but that hardly seems like the kind of thing that would cause a teacher who's happy with their position, colleagues, and students to throw that at all out the window and look for a new job.

Me thinks that person is cosplaying teacher on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t want Wooton to move to Crown go private. It’s that simple. This is a PUBLIC school so get over yourself.

It really is that simple. Stop complaining. If you don't like it, spend your money and go to whatever school you please!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is with the hyperbole? 250 new buses on Wootton Parkway? 37 stops for one bus?! Making up BS just further undermines your argument. Clearly you're unfamiliar with how public school busing works here, because they don't go from house to house picking up each kid. LOL. There are things called "bus stops" where they pick up dozens of kids at one place, for efficiency. The Wootton bus schedule is a public document, and you can see for yourself that every bus makes just a handful of stops - with one outlier at 16 stops. Oh, and it's 22 buses for Wootton. Moving Wootton to Crown will not make that number jump to 250. Even if none of these groups turn to walkers at Crown (which some of them will), it still will not require another 228 buses to transport the Wootton walkers to Crown. And since MCPS already said that Wootton wouldn't be used as a holding school for several years, you don't have to worry about another 22-30 (not 228) buses from another high school coming. IF and when it is used as a holding school, there will be plenty of time to stagger the holding school start time from Wootton. https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/Transportation/busroutes/04234bus.pdf

If Wootton isn’t going to be used as a holding school for several years, what is the plan for Magruder and why is this plan equitable?

It isn’t. Moving Wootton to Crown kills 2 birds with one stone for Taylor (really 3 birds). First, he fills Crown with high achieving kids, instant academic reputation that would otherwise take 20 years (if ever) to develop (and speaking of developers, they will be very happy). Second, it avoids MCPS having to spend money remediating Wootton, so it can spend that money on more sole source contracts that violate procurement regulations. Third, it means there isn’t a holding school for Magruder, so MCPS can delay that $300M+ renovation for years (if Crown was a holding school for Magruder, MCPS would have to find the money to begin renovations).

Nobody is talking about the staffing elephant in the room. What happens when Wootton's teachers leave?

And they will. I would know since I am one. Teachers with 15-20 years in a community don't just pick up and relocate because a superintendent drew a new line on a map. Many of them chose Wootton specifically for the culture, the community, the commute from where they actually live. When this "relocation" happens and half the faculty walks out the door, suddenly you don't have Wootton at Crown. You have Crown with a Wootton nameplate.

My kids had some of those teachers (my colleagues) over a decade ago. The institutional knowledge, the relationships, the culture we've all built... it's not a building. That's years of investment that evaporates the moment this vote passes and the resignation letters start.

MCPS keeps saying this is a move, not a closure. Fine. But a school is its people, not its address. When you force a relocation without meaningful faculty buy-in and lose half your experienced staff in the process, you've effectively closed the school everyone knew and opened a new one with a familiar logo. We've had very little engagement from the county other than with each other as peers. There are mixed feelings of course, but nobody took our pulse at the county level.

That's not a relocation. That's a rebranding. And the kids who show up at Crown in 2027 expecting Wootton deserve to know the difference.

Are you just pretending to be a teacher? This doesn't make any sense. Why would teachers care so much about the school moving a couple miles away (to a much nicer building) that they'd quit in droves? I guess it might be a little further drive from home for some, closer for others, but that hardly seems like the kind of thing that would cause a teacher who's happy with their position, colleagues, and students to throw that at all out the window and look for a new job.

Teachers don't care. Everyone looks out for themselves these days. Just go drive to school and stop complaining. Boohoo you don't get to walk with the kids. Adapt and find a way to be effective at your new school or retire or transfer to a new school. The crying and complaining has to stop. This thread is littered with too many sob stories.

[Anonymous]

Bunch of racist, entitled crappy people. Wooton does not belong to you. Things change and you don’t have a right to act like you own the school and can decide what happens to it. You people are freaking pathetic. Your kids deserve to move so they get mixed in with other kids and don’t turn out like you!

[Anonymous]

Teachers are a dime a dozen. They know that and know that moving is part of the job. Someone else will come scoop up your job and you can retire early. Buh Bye..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bunch of racist, entitled crappy people. Wooton does not belong to you. Things change and you don’t have a right to act like you own the school and can decide what happens to it. You people are freaking pathetic. Your kids deserve to move so they get mixed in with other kids and don’t turn out like you!

Thomas what did Wootton do to you when you were at BCC?

[Anonymous]

Let’s circle back to the title of the thread: Taylor Meeting at Wootton.

Behavior was off the charts embarrassing.

One lady whose kids graduated in 2013 decided to lecture Dr. Taylor for 5 minutes on the history of sidewalks

People yelled at Taylor to move on when he was discussing safety post shooting incident (maybe they don’t actually care about the safety)

Save Wootton crew pleaded for donations

If only all the cameras were filming this like a mockumentary tv episode. 🍿 📺

Any other highlights!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s circle back to the title of the thread: Taylor Meeting at Wootton.

Behavior was off the charts embarrassing.

One lady whose kids graduated in 2013 decided to lecture Dr. Taylor for 5 minutes on the history of sidewalks

People yelled at Taylor to move on when he was discussing safety post shooting incident (maybe they don’t actually care about the safety)

Save Wootton crew pleaded for donations

If only all the cameras were filming this like a mockumentary tv episode. 🍿 📺

Any other highlights!?!

Ooh - I liked it when the crowd booed Taylor so aggressively that they completely missed his answer and then got freshly angry and started chanting at him to answer the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s circle back to the title of the thread: Taylor Meeting at Wootton.

Behavior was off the charts embarrassing.

One lady whose kids graduated in 2013 decided to lecture Dr. Taylor for 5 minutes on the history of sidewalks

People yelled at Taylor to move on when he was discussing safety post shooting incident (maybe they don’t actually care about the safety)

Save Wootton crew pleaded for donations

If only all the cameras were filming this like a mockumentary tv episode. 🍿 📺

Any other highlights!?!

Ooh - I liked it when the crowd booed Taylor so aggressively that they completely missed his answer and then got freshly angry and started chanting at him to answer the question.

A man asked Taylor how if he could guarantee that academic performance wouldn’t decrease given the “kids are changing,” Shocking no one except the two people on this forum who have apparently never heard a single Wootton family utter such a bs classist concern.

[Anonymous]

Full recording of the Q&A is up thanks to Save Wootton.

[Anonymous]

Maybe this would have ended up in a sh-- storm no matter what, but it would help if Taylor knew how to engage communities to bring them along with his vision. He sows division, because he doesn't give communities the time to process his plan, and then he wonders why people hate his plan and him.

[Anonymous]

I had a quick flashback to "Between Two Ferns" when I saw that cover pic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a quick flashback to "Between Two Ferns" when I saw that cover pic

I was chuckling at how the Wootton PTSA really treated this Q&A with Dr. Taylor like a full-on TV production. The woman interviewing Taylor is the 2nd Wootton PTSA VP, Noreen Quadir.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Full recording of the Q&A is up thanks to Save Wootton.

Perfect! The unhinged behavior is captured for historical record forever on YouTube. Thank you save Wootton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe this would have ended up in a sh-- storm no matter what, but it would help if Taylor knew how to engage communities to bring them along with his vision. He sows division, because he doesn't give communities the time to process his plan, and then he wonders why people hate his plan and him.

This was always going to be a shirtshow because Crown abuts the Wootton boundary and any boundary change was probably going to remove a community from Wootton's boundaries and the Wootton community is very vocal and engaged. They had the numbers of survey responses for options 1-4 and there was a disproportionately large response from the Wootton cluster.

The boundary ended up not changing much; outside of Cold Spring, everybody is staying at Wootton, but it's still a shirtshow.

P.S. Agreed that Taylor isn't good at this, but even the most charismatic leader is not going to get a good result with this much change.

And we get to do this all over again in a year when the ES/MS boundary study starts.