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:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

Are you cold spring? I feel like cold spring is the furthest from crown though also far from Wootton. I would think Cold Spring closing and moving the CES to a different Wootton cluster elementary school and then move the local Cold Spring kids to Beverly Farms and the pocket of Beverly Farms near Cold Spring on the north side of Falls Rd to Wayside. Then all would go to Churchill with some plan for how to handle the middle school splits. Problem is Churchill is only going to get close to 100% utilized with no changes. I’d think a small addition at Churchill to bring its capacity up to 2100-2200 would be wise and further prevent Crown under an option H from getting overcrowded down the road. Also down the road QO definitely needs to be renovated and when that’s done its capacity should increase to 2000-2200 which could allow some overflow absorption. Both of these small additional costs would be a fraction of the Wootton replacement which isn’t needed now.

Of course Crown being built was a mistake but that’s with hindsight being 20-20. At the time it was clearly more justifiable, though I’d have argued at the time that money would be better spent renovating and making larger QO and Wootton, and then doing an addition at Churchill and RM.

This points out the MCPS folly in separating the Crown and Woodward studies. There's no need for Churchill to be overcrowded if there could be cascading shifts towards Whitman and WJ, and the same cascades from those areas & Woodward north.

From the beginning, it should have been all schools at all levels, and that should be done with some regularity. The shifts would not be nearly as dramatic, overcrowding would be a rare outlier, more easily countered with one-off operational considerations, and the system could more effectively and cheaply address CIP needs, from renovation/rebuild to expansion/contraction.

So, you are going to ignore the dcc schools being overcrowded?

Not at all. They are part of "all schools at all levels." "Could be" in the first paragraph indicates that the cascading shifts mentioned were an example, and, given the subject of this thread, the apropos one.

There could be cascading shifts in a number of directions, but constraining the studies has left many such options off the table, leaving the system much worse off than it otherwise could be.

If Wootton does not want Crown they should stay and get to the end of the line for repairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

Are you cold spring? I feel like cold spring is the furthest from crown though also far from Wootton. I would think Cold Spring closing and moving the CES to a different Wootton cluster elementary school and then move the local Cold Spring kids to Beverly Farms and the pocket of Beverly Farms near Cold Spring on the north side of Falls Rd to Wayside. Then all would go to Churchill with some plan for how to handle the middle school splits. Problem is Churchill is only going to get close to 100% utilized with no changes. I’d think a small addition at Churchill to bring its capacity up to 2100-2200 would be wise and further prevent Crown under an option H from getting overcrowded down the road. Also down the road QO definitely needs to be renovated and when that’s done its capacity should increase to 2000-2200 which could allow some overflow absorption. Both of these small additional costs would be a fraction of the Wootton replacement which isn’t needed now.

Of course Crown being built was a mistake but that’s with hindsight being 20-20. At the time it was clearly more justifiable, though I’d have argued at the time that money would be better spent renovating and making larger QO and Wootton, and then doing an addition at Churchill and RM.

This points out the MCPS folly in separating the Crown and Woodward studies. There's no need for Churchill to be overcrowded if there could be cascading shifts towards Whitman and WJ, and the same cascades from those areas & Woodward north.

From the beginning, it should have been all schools at all levels, and that should be done with some regularity. The shifts would not be nearly as dramatic, overcrowding would be a rare outlier, more easily countered with one-off operational considerations, and the system could more effectively and cheaply address CIP needs, from renovation/rebuild to expansion/contraction.

So, you are going to ignore the dcc schools being overcrowded?

Not at all. They are part of "all schools at all levels." "Could be" in the first paragraph indicates that the cascading shifts mentioned were an example, and, given the subject of this thread, the apropos one.

There could be cascading shifts in a number of directions, but constraining the studies has left many such options off the table, leaving the system much worse off than it otherwise could be.

If Wootton does not want Crown they should stay and get to the end of the line for repairs.

Remediate the current Wootton building and keep it on the CIP for 2035. MCPS can find the money to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

They don’t have to make sense geographically. If Wootton had a major issue that makes it unsafe to send kids there - it will be unplanned and chaotic The priority will be space to accommodate new kids, not geography, and Kids will be split up and sent to whatever school has space. It’ll likely happen in the middle of the school year and kids will be separated from teachers and assignments that they’re working on and need to learn new ones. In high school this will impact their ability to apply to colleges, take SATs, etc

The idea of not taking a brand new school right now and avoiding the inevitable future chaos seems insane to me.

Chaos is by no means inevitable. As a PP mentioned, MCPS can find the money to remediate Wootton (not renovate) without much trouble. There are various buckets of money from which it could draw the funds, and it could even push out certain improvements on the CIP by a year or two. What MCPS is trying to do is fix its mistake in building Crown, and it's getting significant push back from Wootton parents who don't want a new school at the expense of moving locations to a more congested, high-traffic, non-walkable building. It doesn't help that MCPS has tried to screw over Wootton parents numerous times through questionable boundary studies that made no sense - but cost MCPS $10+ million over the years - money that could have been spent remediating Wootton.

Just to clarify, Crown is non-walkable to most, if not all, of the current Wootton walk zone. It is walkable from some of the current Wootton catchment, and would be walkable to an equivalently large number, if not a greater number, of students, overall, though many of those would not be in the current Wootton catchment.

So move Wootton to Crown, but in the process strip walkability from the current Wootton neighborhoods and give it to neighborhoods who aren't in Wootton today? Sounds like an indirect way of achieving the goal(s) of the failed boundary studies over the past several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

They don’t have to make sense geographically. If Wootton had a major issue that makes it unsafe to send kids there - it will be unplanned and chaotic The priority will be space to accommodate new kids, not geography, and Kids will be split up and sent to whatever school has space. It’ll likely happen in the middle of the school year and kids will be separated from teachers and assignments that they’re working on and need to learn new ones. In high school this will impact their ability to apply to colleges, take SATs, etc

The idea of not taking a brand new school right now and avoiding the inevitable future chaos seems insane to me.

Chaos is by no means inevitable. As a PP mentioned, MCPS can find the money to remediate Wootton (not renovate) without much trouble. There are various buckets of money from which it could draw the funds, and it could even push out certain improvements on the CIP by a year or two. What MCPS is trying to do is fix its mistake in building Crown, and it's getting significant push back from Wootton parents who don't want a new school at the expense of moving locations to a more congested, high-traffic, non-walkable building. It doesn't help that MCPS has tried to screw over Wootton parents numerous times through questionable boundary studies that made no sense - but cost MCPS $10+ million over the years - money that could have been spent remediating Wootton.

Just to clarify, Crown is non-walkable to most, if not all, of the current Wootton walk zone. It is walkable from some of the current Wootton catchment, and would be walkable to an equivalently large number, if not a greater number, of students, overall, though many of those would not be in the current Wootton catchment.

So move Wootton to Crown, but in the process strip walkability from the current Wootton neighborhoods and give it to neighborhoods who aren't in Wootton today? Sounds like an indirect way of achieving the goal(s) of the failed boundary studies over the past several years.

Just to clarify-at least some of that area (not sure if all) is currently actually zoned for Wootton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

They don’t have to make sense geographically. If Wootton had a major issue that makes it unsafe to send kids there - it will be unplanned and chaotic The priority will be space to accommodate new kids, not geography, and Kids will be split up and sent to whatever school has space. It’ll likely happen in the middle of the school year and kids will be separated from teachers and assignments that they’re working on and need to learn new ones. In high school this will impact their ability to apply to colleges, take SATs, etc

The idea of not taking a brand new school right now and avoiding the inevitable future chaos seems insane to me.

Chaos is by no means inevitable. As a PP mentioned, MCPS can find the money to remediate Wootton (not renovate) without much trouble. There are various buckets of money from which it could draw the funds, and it could even push out certain improvements on the CIP by a year or two. What MCPS is trying to do is fix its mistake in building Crown, and it's getting significant push back from Wootton parents who don't want a new school at the expense of moving locations to a more congested, high-traffic, non-walkable building. It doesn't help that MCPS has tried to screw over Wootton parents numerous times through questionable boundary studies that made no sense - but cost MCPS $10+ million over the years - money that could have been spent remediating Wootton.

Just to clarify, Crown is non-walkable to most, if not all, of the current Wootton walk zone. It is walkable from some of the current Wootton catchment, and would be walkable to an equivalently large number, if not a greater number, of students, overall, though many of those would not be in the current Wootton catchment.

So move Wootton to Crown, but in the process strip walkability from the current Wootton neighborhoods and give it to neighborhoods who aren't in Wootton today? Sounds like an indirect way of achieving the goal(s) of the failed boundary studies over the past several years.

Just to clarify-at least some of that area (not sure if all) is currently actually zoned for Wootton.

Yes, some of the Crown area still is part of Wootton - but by moving Wootton it is essentially rezoning it to include areas that Wootton parents opposed in previous boundary studies. Essentially, MCPS is saying that the only way Wootton is getting a new building is by agreeing to change its boundary - move the school, and thus the boundary moves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

They don’t have to make sense geographically. If Wootton had a major issue that makes it unsafe to send kids there - it will be unplanned and chaotic The priority will be space to accommodate new kids, not geography, and Kids will be split up and sent to whatever school has space. It’ll likely happen in the middle of the school year and kids will be separated from teachers and assignments that they’re working on and need to learn new ones. In high school this will impact their ability to apply to colleges, take SATs, etc

The idea of not taking a brand new school right now and avoiding the inevitable future chaos seems insane to me.

Chaos is by no means inevitable. As a PP mentioned, MCPS can find the money to remediate Wootton (not renovate) without much trouble. There are various buckets of money from which it could draw the funds, and it could even push out certain improvements on the CIP by a year or two. What MCPS is trying to do is fix its mistake in building Crown, and it's getting significant push back from Wootton parents who don't want a new school at the expense of moving locations to a more congested, high-traffic, non-walkable building. It doesn't help that MCPS has tried to screw over Wootton parents numerous times through questionable boundary studies that made no sense - but cost MCPS $10+ million over the years - money that could have been spent remediating Wootton.

Just to clarify, Crown is non-walkable to most, if not all, of the current Wootton walk zone. It is walkable from some of the current Wootton catchment, and would be walkable to an equivalently large number, if not a greater number, of students, overall, though many of those would not be in the current Wootton catchment.

So move Wootton to Crown, but in the process strip walkability from the current Wootton neighborhoods and give it to neighborhoods who aren't in Wootton today? Sounds like an indirect way of achieving the goal(s) of the failed boundary studies over the past several years.

Just to clarify-at least some of that area (not sure if all) is currently actually zoned for Wootton.

Yes, some of the Crown area still is part of Wootton - but by moving Wootton it is essentially rezoning it to include areas that Wootton parents opposed in previous boundary studies. Essentially, MCPS is saying that the only way Wootton is getting a new building is by agreeing to change its boundary - move the school, and thus the boundary moves.

It’s definitely not the only way, but many people are pressuring Wootton to accept it and presenting it as the only path to renovation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

They don’t have to make sense geographically. If Wootton had a major issue that makes it unsafe to send kids there - it will be unplanned and chaotic The priority will be space to accommodate new kids, not geography, and Kids will be split up and sent to whatever school has space. It’ll likely happen in the middle of the school year and kids will be separated from teachers and assignments that they’re working on and need to learn new ones. In high school this will impact their ability to apply to colleges, take SATs, etc

The idea of not taking a brand new school right now and avoiding the inevitable future chaos seems insane to me.

Chaos is by no means inevitable. As a PP mentioned, MCPS can find the money to remediate Wootton (not renovate) without much trouble. There are various buckets of money from which it could draw the funds, and it could even push out certain improvements on the CIP by a year or two. What MCPS is trying to do is fix its mistake in building Crown, and it's getting significant push back from Wootton parents who don't want a new school at the expense of moving locations to a more congested, high-traffic, non-walkable building. It doesn't help that MCPS has tried to screw over Wootton parents numerous times through questionable boundary studies that made no sense - but cost MCPS $10+ million over the years - money that could have been spent remediating Wootton.

Just to clarify, Crown is non-walkable to most, if not all, of the current Wootton walk zone. It is walkable from some of the current Wootton catchment, and would be walkable to an equivalently large number, if not a greater number, of students, overall, though many of those would not be in the current Wootton catchment.

So move Wootton to Crown, but in the process strip walkability from the current Wootton neighborhoods and give it to neighborhoods who aren't in Wootton today? Sounds like an indirect way of achieving the goal(s) of the failed boundary studies over the past several years.

Just to clarify-at least some of that area (not sure if all) is currently actually zoned for Wootton.

Yes, some of the Crown area still is part of Wootton - but by moving Wootton it is essentially rezoning it to include areas that Wootton parents opposed in previous boundary studies. Essentially, MCPS is saying that the only way Wootton is getting a new building is by agreeing to change its boundary - move the school, and thus the boundary moves.

Which previous boundary studies are you referencing? The current boundaries have been in place for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

They don’t have to make sense geographically. If Wootton had a major issue that makes it unsafe to send kids there - it will be unplanned and chaotic The priority will be space to accommodate new kids, not geography, and Kids will be split up and sent to whatever school has space. It’ll likely happen in the middle of the school year and kids will be separated from teachers and assignments that they’re working on and need to learn new ones. In high school this will impact their ability to apply to colleges, take SATs, etc

The idea of not taking a brand new school right now and avoiding the inevitable future chaos seems insane to me.

Chaos is by no means inevitable. As a PP mentioned, MCPS can find the money to remediate Wootton (not renovate) without much trouble. There are various buckets of money from which it could draw the funds, and it could even push out certain improvements on the CIP by a year or two. What MCPS is trying to do is fix its mistake in building Crown, and it's getting significant push back from Wootton parents who don't want a new school at the expense of moving locations to a more congested, high-traffic, non-walkable building. It doesn't help that MCPS has tried to screw over Wootton parents numerous times through questionable boundary studies that made no sense - but cost MCPS $10+ million over the years - money that could have been spent remediating Wootton.

Just to clarify, Crown is non-walkable to most, if not all, of the current Wootton walk zone. It is walkable from some of the current Wootton catchment, and would be walkable to an equivalently large number, if not a greater number, of students, overall, though many of those would not be in the current Wootton catchment.

So move Wootton to Crown, but in the process strip walkability from the current Wootton neighborhoods and give it to neighborhoods who aren't in Wootton today? Sounds like an indirect way of achieving the goal(s) of the failed boundary studies over the past several years.

Just to clarify-at least some of that area (not sure if all) is currently actually zoned for Wootton.

Yes, some of the Crown area still is part of Wootton - but by moving Wootton it is essentially rezoning it to include areas that Wootton parents opposed in previous boundary studies. Essentially, MCPS is saying that the only way Wootton is getting a new building is by agreeing to change its boundary - move the school, and thus the boundary moves.

Which previous boundary studies are you referencing? The current boundaries have been in place for decades.

The magic word is "studies". That is to say, MCPS conducted boundary studies to determine whether to move the existing boundaries. To your point, none were successful. Option H accomplishes the same goal as those unsuccessful boundary studies, presenting a Hobson's Choice to Wootton parents. MCPS knows this, as well as the shills on this board who are pushing Option H. Any Wootton parent who is in genuinely favor of Option H is free to file a COSA and request transfer of their kid to Crown when it's completed in 2027, or better yet, ask for one today and transfer to Gaithersburg High School right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

They don’t have to make sense geographically. If Wootton had a major issue that makes it unsafe to send kids there - it will be unplanned and chaotic The priority will be space to accommodate new kids, not geography, and Kids will be split up and sent to whatever school has space. It’ll likely happen in the middle of the school year and kids will be separated from teachers and assignments that they’re working on and need to learn new ones. In high school this will impact their ability to apply to colleges, take SATs, etc

The idea of not taking a brand new school right now and avoiding the inevitable future chaos seems insane to me.

Chaos is by no means inevitable. As a PP mentioned, MCPS can find the money to remediate Wootton (not renovate) without much trouble. There are various buckets of money from which it could draw the funds, and it could even push out certain improvements on the CIP by a year or two. What MCPS is trying to do is fix its mistake in building Crown, and it's getting significant push back from Wootton parents who don't want a new school at the expense of moving locations to a more congested, high-traffic, non-walkable building. It doesn't help that MCPS has tried to screw over Wootton parents numerous times through questionable boundary studies that made no sense - but cost MCPS $10+ million over the years - money that could have been spent remediating Wootton.

Just to clarify, Crown is non-walkable to most, if not all, of the current Wootton walk zone. It is walkable from some of the current Wootton catchment, and would be walkable to an equivalently large number, if not a greater number, of students, overall, though many of those would not be in the current Wootton catchment.

So move Wootton to Crown, but in the process strip walkability from the current Wootton neighborhoods and give it to neighborhoods who aren't in Wootton today? Sounds like an indirect way of achieving the goal(s) of the failed boundary studies over the past several years.

Just to clarify-at least some of that area (not sure if all) is currently actually zoned for Wootton.

Yes, some of the Crown area still is part of Wootton - but by moving Wootton it is essentially rezoning it to include areas that Wootton parents opposed in previous boundary studies. Essentially, MCPS is saying that the only way Wootton is getting a new building is by agreeing to change its boundary - move the school, and thus the boundary moves.

It’s definitely not the only way, but many people are pressuring Wootton to accept it and presenting it as the only path to renovation.

It's not up to the Wootton community, alone, such that they would need to approve it, though it would be foolish of MCPS to pursue something like this against a community's wishes without there being a strong combination of logistical and financial rationales for doing so.

MCPS has some pretty compelling rationales. There has been understandable opposition from some in the Wootton community at the same time that some have voiced support. The extent of both opposition and support is unclear, and it would behoove MCPS to have considerably better engagement, both to clarify sentiment to the extent possibe (even if they ultimately recommend against that community's wishes) and to lay out as much detail as it might of the broader possibilities (e.g., considerations beyond the direct effect of the boundary study) so that that sentiment might shift in favor, either from newly found support or softening opposition.

To one or other extent, the same should be performed with the other more affected communities -- around Crown, Damascus & Magruder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will happen is that Wootton parents will reject option H. The county does not have the money to renovate Wootton. Wootton will eventually become too unsafe. Wootton kids will then be split up, separated from their friends, and sent on long commutes to different high schools around the county.

Wootton parents are completely screwing their own kids with their lack of realism on limited money and their magical belief that Wootton HS will ever be renovated.

As a parent in the Wootton cluster-I actually would prefer this than the current choices. I imagine if what you are saying does happen-the schools the different neighborhoods would be sent to would have to make sense geographically. For us as a whole to go to Crown does not.

They don’t have to make sense geographically. If Wootton had a major issue that makes it unsafe to send kids there - it will be unplanned and chaotic The priority will be space to accommodate new kids, not geography, and Kids will be split up and sent to whatever school has space. It’ll likely happen in the middle of the school year and kids will be separated from teachers and assignments that they’re working on and need to learn new ones. In high school this will impact their ability to apply to colleges, take SATs, etc

The idea of not taking a brand new school right now and avoiding the inevitable future chaos seems insane to me.

Chaos is by no means inevitable. As a PP mentioned, MCPS can find the money to remediate Wootton (not renovate) without much trouble. There are various buckets of money from which it could draw the funds, and it could even push out certain improvements on the CIP by a year or two. What MCPS is trying to do is fix its mistake in building Crown, and it's getting significant push back from Wootton parents who don't want a new school at the expense of moving locations to a more congested, high-traffic, non-walkable building. It doesn't help that MCPS has tried to screw over Wootton parents numerous times through questionable boundary studies that made no sense - but cost MCPS $10+ million over the years - money that could have been spent remediating Wootton.

Just to clarify, Crown is non-walkable to most, if not all, of the current Wootton walk zone. It is walkable from some of the current Wootton catchment, and would be walkable to an equivalently large number, if not a greater number, of students, overall, though many of those would not be in the current Wootton catchment.

So move Wootton to Crown, but in the process strip walkability from the current Wootton neighborhoods and give it to neighborhoods who aren't in Wootton today? Sounds like an indirect way of achieving the goal(s) of the failed boundary studies over the past several years.

Just to clarify-at least some of that area (not sure if all) is currently actually zoned for Wootton.

Yes, some of the Crown area still is part of Wootton - but by moving Wootton it is essentially rezoning it to include areas that Wootton parents opposed in previous boundary studies. Essentially, MCPS is saying that the only way Wootton is getting a new building is by agreeing to change its boundary - move the school, and thus the boundary moves.

It’s definitely not the only way, but many people are pressuring Wootton to accept it and presenting it as the only path to renovation.

It's not up to the Wootton community, alone, such that they would need to approve it, though it would be foolish of MCPS to pursue something like this against a community's wishes without there being a strong combination of logistical and financial rationales for doing so.

MCPS has some pretty compelling rationales. There has been understandable opposition from some in the Wootton community at the same time that some have voiced support. The extent of both opposition and support is unclear, and it would behoove MCPS to have considerably better engagement, both to clarify sentiment to the extent possibe (even if they ultimately recommend against that community's wishes) and to lay out as much detail as it might of the broader possibilities (e.g., considerations beyond the direct effect of the boundary study) so that that sentiment might shift in favor, either from newly found support or softening opposition.

To one or other extent, the same should be performed with the other more affected communities -- around Crown, Damascus & Magruder.

If the Wootton community is mostly opposed to it, the move will not proceed - just like the boundary studies that were rejected in the past.

[Anonymous]

I am Asian. I still dont understand why Wootton can't take 500 kids from high FARM neighborhood. When your kids go to college or workforce, can you shelter them to expose to different types of people? I thought kids are required to do student social service hours to serve non profit or under-privileged communities to be able to graduate? I and DH earn decent money, but I always teach our kids that every one is called human regardless what color, body shape, disabilities, strength or weakness are. They cannot pick their parents, but we should keep an open mind to others. I have seen some brown/black families trying their best to promote their kids on learning with their limited resources, like free Saturday schools and free school tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am Asian. I still dont understand why Wootton can't take 500 kids from high FARM neighborhood. When your kids go to college or workforce, can you shelter them to expose to different types of people? I thought kids are required to do student social service hours to serve non profit or under-privileged communities to be able to graduate? I and DH earn decent money, but I always teach our kids that every one is called human regardless what color, body shape, disabilities, strength or weakness are. They cannot pick their parents, but we should keep an open mind to others. I have seen some brown/black families trying their best to promote their kids on learning with their limited resources, like free Saturday schools and free school tutoring.

You are naive to think it will only be 500 kids from one single school. Sure that’s what the option says-right now. But that’s not even close to what will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Asian. I still dont understand why Wootton can't take 500 kids from high FARM neighborhood. When your kids go to college or workforce, can you shelter them to expose to different types of people? I thought kids are required to do student social service hours to serve non profit or under-privileged communities to be able to graduate? I and DH earn decent money, but I always teach our kids that every one is called human regardless what color, body shape, disabilities, strength or weakness are. They cannot pick their parents, but we should keep an open mind to others. I have seen some brown/black families trying their best to promote their kids on learning with their limited resources, like free Saturday schools and free school tutoring.

You are naive to think it will only be 500 kids from one single school. Sure that’s what the option says-right now. But that’s not even close to what will happen.

MCPS seems to want to "spread the wealth" of Wootton's high performance. It will end up destroying that reputation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Asian. I still dont understand why Wootton can't take 500 kids from high FARM neighborhood. When your kids go to college or workforce, can you shelter them to expose to different types of people? I thought kids are required to do student social service hours to serve non profit or under-privileged communities to be able to graduate? I and DH earn decent money, but I always teach our kids that every one is called human regardless what color, body shape, disabilities, strength or weakness are. They cannot pick their parents, but we should keep an open mind to others. I have seen some brown/black families trying their best to promote their kids on learning with their limited resources, like free Saturday schools and free school tutoring.

You are naive to think it will only be 500 kids from one single school. Sure that’s what the option says-right now. But that’s not even close to what will happen.

+1 I'm waiting for the shoe to drop. If Wootton gets moved to Crown, I'm waiting for MCPS to reaffirm that Crown is Region 5. So Wootton will have no access to any established magnets.

With regional model, MCPS already cutting off Wootton's access to Blair/Poolesville/Einstein. Just need to add RMIB, and it's complete. They despise the high-performing (Asian) students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am Asian. I still dont understand why Wootton can't take 500 kids from high FARM neighborhood. When your kids go to college or workforce, can you shelter them to expose to different types of people? I thought kids are required to do student social service hours to serve non profit or under-privileged communities to be able to graduate? I and DH earn decent money, but I always teach our kids that every one is called human regardless what color, body shape, disabilities, strength or weakness are. They cannot pick their parents, but we should keep an open mind to others. I have seen some brown/black families trying their best to promote their kids on learning with their limited resources, like free Saturday schools and free school tutoring.

How would you know what other services parents are using?