Option B Alternate - Adding extra ES to WJ?

[Anonymous]

Don't really care about academic "reputation," but what makes you so certain Woodward will have inferior teachers and course offerings?

Because WJ already have established advanced classes and will have humanities magnet. Good teachers will prefer to stay with what they know vs going to a new school to face challenges. Yes, Taylor and co are saying that all schools will have almost the same advanced classes but it never works like that in practice. I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid that Woodward will struggle to attract enough interest among students to offer advanced classes as many students will run to WJ for humanities or Wheaton for STEM. Art magnet will hurt everyone except true art prodigies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP (who happens to be white, not Hispanic, and not from the WJ/Woodward area, FWIW.)

Do you really not understand that not everyone has the same priorities as you do? Not everyone chases the top academic schools, for a wide variety of reasons. Not everyone wants to go to a W school, as hard as that might be for you to believe.

I clearly stated that I am surprised by strong consensus, not that there are differing opinions. You, on the other hand, seem to be saying that no member of Hispanic community aims for academic excellence.

If you honestly think that anyone who wouldn't pick WJ or another W school over other perfectly good options must not "aim for academic excellence," I'm not sure there's any point in further conversation with you on this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP (who happens to be white, not Hispanic, and not from the WJ/Woodward area, FWIW.)

Do you really not understand that not everyone has the same priorities as you do? Not everyone chases the top academic schools, for a wide variety of reasons. Not everyone wants to go to a W school, as hard as that might be for you to believe.

I clearly stated that I am surprised by strong consensus, not that there are differing opinions. You, on the other hand, seem to be saying that no member of Hispanic community aims for academic excellence.

If you honestly think that anyone who wouldn't pick WJ or another W school over other perfectly good options must not "aim for academic excellence," I'm not sure there's any point in further conversation with you on this issue.

And if you think that all Hispanics think in unison and are here to indulge your white guilt sensitivities, there is even less reason to continue conversation.

[Anonymous]

Balanced schools are better for everyone. End of conversation. Personal preferences are not in play. Stop thinking your opinion or voice matters more than anyone else’s.

Google how many times MCPS has shifted boundaries in the last 40 years.

Spoiler alert - it’s 131 times since 1984. Public schools belong to everyone. No one gets to pick and choose who does or doesn’t go to a school. That’s lunacy.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has changed school boundaries 131 times since 1984, as part of 92 separate boundary studies. Roughly two‑thirds of the changes were tied to opening new schools or adding capacity (additions/expansions), rather than standalone redistricting for other reasons.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. The proposed disparity between adjacent zone schools of Woodward and Wheaton are too high. It makes the gap between Woodward and WJ look like peanuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VM parents strongly support Taylor's plan. We want Woodward, not WJ.

No, you support Taylor's plan. And that is fine. But stop pretending that you speak for the entire VM community.

The opinions in the VM parent Whatsapp group are largely unanimous. Are you a current VM parent?

DP

I don't question that what you are saying about sentiment on WhatsApp is true. But I find it mind-boggling that there would be such a strong consensus not to select a school that will almost certainly have better class offering, better teacher and overall better academic reputation. Not to mention that Woodward will be stuck with the art magnet, additionally diverting resources from things that matter.

We don't want a pressure-cooker W school. Our cluster doesn't want our mostly first-gen Hispanic children to have to compete with hordes of wealthy privileged white kids who have private tutors and SAT prep. We purchased our home in Randolph Hills anticipating that our kids could go to school in a diverse, welcoming environment with many people like them, not shipped off to Bethesda to be the token diversity population.

How is keeping your kids with “many people like them” diversity? Sounds like you want to hold your kids back instead of sending them to an objectively better school- crab in a bucket mentality.

+1 🦀 🦀 🦀 🪣 🪣 🪣

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VM parents strongly support Taylor's plan. We want Woodward, not WJ.

No, you support Taylor's plan. And that is fine. But stop pretending that you speak for the entire VM community.

The opinions in the VM parent Whatsapp group are largely unanimous. Are you a current VM parent?

DP

I don't question that what you are saying about sentiment on WhatsApp is true. But I find it mind-boggling that there would be such a strong consensus not to select a school that will almost certainly have better class offering, better teacher and overall better academic reputation. Not to mention that Woodward will be stuck with the art magnet, additionally diverting resources from things that matter.

We don't want a pressure-cooker W school. Our cluster doesn't want our mostly first-gen Hispanic children to have to compete with hordes of wealthy privileged white kids who have private tutors and SAT prep. We purchased our home in Randolph Hills anticipating that our kids could go to school in a diverse, welcoming environment with many people like them, not shipped off to Bethesda to be the token diversity population.

You’d be surprised at how diverse WJ is now. I consider WJ to be the stepchild W school- ina good way. Lots of down to earth people!

But new WJ will have a strikingly less diverse demographic profile.

[Anonymous]

The Farmland folks who keep hollering about equalizing FARMs rates just want to dump the VM kids on WJ so that they can get the whiter and wealthier GP kids back in their cluster. Maybe it's time to revisit Option 3 from the initial boundary study--Farmland to Kennedy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't really care about academic "reputation," but what makes you so certain Woodward will have inferior teachers and course offerings?

Because WJ already have established advanced classes and will have humanities magnet. Good teachers will prefer to stay with what they know vs going to a new school to face challenges. Yes, Taylor and co are saying that all schools will have almost the same advanced classes but it never works like that in practice. I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid that Woodward will struggle to attract enough interest among students to offer advanced classes as many students will run to WJ for humanities or Wheaton for STEM. Art magnet will hurt everyone except true art prodigies.

You're entitled to your opinion but I don't think as many students are seeking magnet-only options as you might think they are. Plenty of really bright college-bound students taking advanced classes choose to attend their home high school rather than choosing another just for one area of study. If every bright kid runs to WJ for humanities or Wheaton for STEM, those won't be very prestigious programs, will they? There will be advanced STEM and humanities classes at Woodward, like there is at every other high school in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't really care about academic "reputation," but what makes you so certain Woodward will have inferior teachers and course offerings?

Because WJ already have established advanced classes and will have humanities magnet. Good teachers will prefer to stay with what they know vs going to a new school to face challenges. Yes, Taylor and co are saying that all schools will have almost the same advanced classes but it never works like that in practice. I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid that Woodward will struggle to attract enough interest among students to offer advanced classes as many students will run to WJ for humanities or Wheaton for STEM. Art magnet will hurt everyone except true art prodigies.

You are naive to think teachers will have so much choice. Taylor has a list of every teacher and their certification areas. He will move teachers to fit his new programs and building enrollments.

Many of us bound for Woodward are more concerned with the rollout of the new boundaries from 2027-2030. Will the first year really just be a full grade 9 but only grade 10 students outside of the DCC? Taylor promised consortia students could finish their programs and that current grade 8 students in the DCC wouldn’t have to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VM parents strongly support Taylor's plan. We want Woodward, not WJ.

No, you support Taylor's plan. And that is fine. But stop pretending that you speak for the entire VM community.

The opinions in the VM parent Whatsapp group are largely unanimous. Are you a current VM parent?

DP

I don't question that what you are saying about sentiment on WhatsApp is true. But I find it mind-boggling that there would be such a strong consensus not to select a school that will almost certainly have better class offering, better teacher and overall better academic reputation. Not to mention that Woodward will be stuck with the art magnet, additionally diverting resources from things that matter.

We don't want a pressure-cooker W school. Our cluster doesn't want our mostly first-gen Hispanic children to have to compete with hordes of wealthy privileged white kids who have private tutors and SAT prep. We purchased our home in Randolph Hills anticipating that our kids could go to school in a diverse, welcoming environment with many people like them, not shipped off to Bethesda to be the token diversity population.

How is keeping your kids with “many people like them” diversity? Sounds like you want to hold your kids back instead of sending them to an objectively better school- crab in a bucket mentality.

+1 🦀 🦀 🦀 🪣 🪣 🪣

Only a white person would make this comment! I dare you to make this same statement to Wootton families. Somehow you think it’s okay to talk to black and brown families like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Balanced schools are better for everyone. End of conversation. Personal preferences are not in play. Stop thinking your opinion or voice matters more than anyone else’s.

Google how many times MCPS has shifted boundaries in the last 40 years.

Spoiler alert - it’s 131 times since 1984. Public schools belong to everyone. No one gets to pick and choose who does or doesn’t go to a school. That’s lunacy.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has changed school boundaries 131 times since 1984, as part of 92 separate boundary studies. Roughly two‑thirds of the changes were tied to opening new schools or adding capacity (additions/expansions), rather than standalone redistricting for other reasons.

Cite your data. Research shows this curated diversity is good for WHITE students but not so much for everyone else. Why do you think Wootton wants to stay together?

[Anonymous]

Why aren’t we coming together to talk about the real reasons these schools are so different? Let’s all demand that the BOE push Taylor to create the enforceable policies recommended in OLO Report 2026-2.why are we wasting time trying to perpetuate a broken system?

OLO Report 2026-2 Finding #2 states: "MCPS does not have a formal written policy for the selection of courses available at individual schools." The report documents that MCPS found "inconsistencies across catalogs and websites" in its own internal study, yet only 22 of 25 high schools had online catalogs, no approval process exists for school catalogs, and "the primary driver for course selection is student interest" with individual principals making final decisions. Schools vary from 154-291 courses with "no clear rationale."

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OLO/Resources/Files/2026_Reports/OLOReport%202026-2.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Farmland folks who keep hollering about equalizing FARMs rates just want to dump the VM kids on WJ so that they can get the whiter and wealthier GP kids back in their cluster. Maybe it's time to revisit Option 3 from the initial boundary study--Farmland to Kennedy!

Woodward will have far more FARMS than WJ even after VM joining WJ. Under no scenario, Woodward will be whiter and wealthier than WJ.

But current recommendation does make WJ whiter and wealthier. Making WJ whiter and wealthier shouldn't be the goal of BOE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't really care about academic "reputation," but what makes you so certain Woodward will have inferior teachers and course offerings?

Because WJ already have established advanced classes and will have humanities magnet. Good teachers will prefer to stay with what they know vs going to a new school to face challenges. Yes, Taylor and co are saying that all schools will have almost the same advanced classes but it never works like that in practice. I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid that Woodward will struggle to attract enough interest among students to offer advanced classes as many students will run to WJ for humanities or Wheaton for STEM. Art magnet will hurt everyone except true art prodigies.

WJ will have older teachers, because those with seniority will have their choice and those without will have to find another school once the population declines. Older is more experienced, but isn't necessarily better all around.