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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton families has the loudest voice to the point of annoying. I hope that once you get your wish that option H is not chosen, please do not come back to complain that Wootton HS building is unsafe for kids and want to cut the line to get renovated first. Remember you are #3 in the line. IF Crown HS building becomes a permanent or holding school, don't be shocked and come back to complain. They have to pull neighboring HS kids to fill up seats, and that would also include to redraw the Gaithersburg, Quince Orchard and "Wootton" neighborhood boundaries in a certain way. All options A to H affect most neighborhood in a big or small extent. It is not only about wootton families.

Yeah, it’s interesting that H is so opposed when it’s one of the options that keeps all Wootton students together in the same school. Other options could split them up. But many people seem to just want the school by their house to stay open, but don’t think too much about who else attends it or whether it’s safe.

I don't want my kid being bused to Crown when we are in walking distance of Wootton.

Sure, but it may end up that way because it makes financial sense. I don't want to pay taxes to pay for fixing up a school when the enrollment is falling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton families has the loudest voice to the point of annoying. I hope that once you get your wish that option H is not chosen, please do not come back to complain that Wootton HS building is unsafe for kids and want to cut the line to get renovated first. Remember you are #3 in the line. IF Crown HS building becomes a permanent or holding school, don't be shocked and come back to complain. They have to pull neighboring HS kids to fill up seats, and that would also include to redraw the Gaithersburg, Quince Orchard and "Wootton" neighborhood boundaries in a certain way. All options A to H affect most neighborhood in a big or small extent. It is not only about wootton families.

Yeah, it’s interesting that H is so opposed when it’s one of the options that keeps all Wootton students together in the same school. Other options could split them up. But many people seem to just want the school by their house to stay open, but don’t think too much about who else attends it or whether it’s safe.

During the actual meetings the language that has been used for H is “most Wootton students would stay together” There is uncertainty about every option but I think with H it’s even more so because it came out of nowhere and they are not being transparent with what the actual plan is IF Wootton families accept the move. Literally mcps could change things however they want. At least if H is not chosen we still have our school-even if other things are still up in the air.

Oh good for you then, but too bad for some of your feeder schools who will be moving to Crown WITH the Gaithersburg HS kids.

Option H or not, some Wootton kids will be with the Gaithersburg HS kids.

OH THE HORROR!!, as I clutch my pearls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again - the Mt.Prospect area in particular should go to QO. QO has thirty percent Hispanic and thirty percent white and very few Asians. The Mt Prospect area is filled with Asians/South Asians. Mcps should zone that area to QO. Brown Station should go to Crown, parts of Rachel Carson (Lakelands) should go to Crown, Dufief to Crown and Fields Road obviously to Crown.

I'm the PP from 15:39

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton families has the loudest voice to the point of annoying. I hope that once you get your wish that option H is not chosen, please do not come back to complain that Wootton HS building is unsafe for kids and want to cut the line to get renovated first. Remember you are #3 in the line. IF Crown HS building becomes a permanent or holding school, don't be shocked and come back to complain. They have to pull neighboring HS kids to fill up seats, and that would also include to redraw the Gaithersburg, Quince Orchard and "Wootton" neighborhood boundaries in a certain way. All options A to H affect most neighborhood in a big or small extent. It is not only about wootton families.

Yeah, it’s interesting that H is so opposed when it’s one of the options that keeps all Wootton students together in the same school. Other options could split them up. But many people seem to just want the school by their house to stay open, but don’t think too much about who else attends it or whether it’s safe.

During the actual meetings the language that has been used for H is “most Wootton students would stay together” There is uncertainty about every option but I think with H it’s even more so because it came out of nowhere and they are not being transparent with what the actual plan is IF Wootton families accept the move. Literally mcps could change things however they want. At least if H is not chosen we still have our school-even if other things are still up in the air.

Oh good for you then, but too bad for some of your feeder schools who will be moving to Crown WITH the Gaithersburg HS kids.

Option H or not, some Wootton kids will be with the Gaithersburg HS kids.

OH THE HORROR!!, as I clutch my pearls.

I'm this poster. Forgot to add the /s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again - the Mt.Prospect area in particular should go to QO. QO has thirty percent Hispanic and thirty percent white and very few Asians. The Mt Prospect area is filled with Asians/South Asians. Mcps should zone that area to QO. Brown Station should go to Crown, parts of Rachel Carson (Lakelands) should go to Crown, Dufief to Crown and Fields Road obviously to Crown.

Where is Mt. Prospect area?

[Anonymous]

QO is going to be close to a W school after crown opens. QO is probably the main beneficiary of Crown opening.

[Anonymous]

The chance that crown HS opens as a permanent HS is slim with so many factors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The chance that crown HS opens as a permanent HS is slim with so many factors.

MCPS appears very irresponsible for building Crown without a sustainable long-term plan for its operation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP again - the Mt.Prospect area in particular should go to QO. QO has thirty percent Hispanic and thirty percent white and very few Asians. The Mt Prospect area is filled with Asians/South Asians. Mcps should zone that area to QO. Brown Station should go to Crown, parts of Rachel Carson (Lakelands) should go to Crown, Dufief to Crown and Fields Road obviously to Crown.

Where is Mt. Prospect area?

Why Dufief to crown and not QO?

[Anonymous]

To those in the immediate vicinity of Wootton who are expressing concerns about community use:

Why, aside from walkability to events from your property, would using Crown prevent the same kind of use when the activity would be oriented towards Wootton students? Must you always be able to be the ones walking where others must drive?

Why, when the activity was not Wootton-student-oriented, would continuing to use the old Wootton facility to achieve walkability be any different? Do you think the administration of whichever school occupies that as a holding facility would not afford you the same community use that the county requires each school to provide?

Is it not good enough that you have Frost MS, which would continue operation, right next door?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those in the immediate vicinity of Wootton who are expressing concerns about community use:

Why, aside from walkability to events from your property, would using Crown prevent the same kind of use when the activity would be oriented towards Wootton students? Must you always be able to be the ones walking where others must drive?

Why, when the activity was not Wootton-student-oriented, would continuing to use the old Wootton facility to achieve walkability be any different? Do you think the administration of whichever school occupies that as a holding facility would not afford you the same community use that the county requires each school to provide?

Is it not good enough that you have Frost MS, which would continue operation, right next door?

Well there is a collaboration between Wootton and Frost that would absolutely be lost by changing Wootton’s location. But as a parent who lives very close to Wootton-Having an unused school just right in the center of Wootton parkway is my bigger concern. I’m fine having the kids moved temporarily to Crown while Wootton is at least somewhat remediated-But to just have an empty school indefinitely is not ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To those in the immediate vicinity of Wootton who are expressing concerns about community use:

Why, aside from walkability to events from your property, would using Crown prevent the same kind of use when the activity would be oriented towards Wootton students? Must you always be able to be the ones walking where others must drive?

Why, when the activity was not Wootton-student-oriented, would continuing to use the old Wootton facility to achieve walkability be any different? Do you think the administration of whichever school occupies that as a holding facility would not afford you the same community use that the county requires each school to provide?

Is it not good enough that you have Frost MS, which would continue operation, right next door?

Well there is a collaboration between Wootton and Frost that would absolutely be lost by changing Wootton’s location. But as a parent who lives very close to Wootton-Having an unused school just right in the center of Wootton parkway is my bigger concern. I’m fine having the kids moved temporarily to Crown while Wootton is at least somewhat remediated-But to just have an empty school indefinitely is not ok.

DP. It's intended to be a holding school, not an empty school indefinitely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To those in the immediate vicinity of Wootton who are expressing concerns about community use:

Why, aside from walkability to events from your property, would using Crown prevent the same kind of use when the activity would be oriented towards Wootton students? Must you always be able to be the ones walking where others must drive?

Why, when the activity was not Wootton-student-oriented, would continuing to use the old Wootton facility to achieve walkability be any different? Do you think the administration of whichever school occupies that as a holding facility would not afford you the same community use that the county requires each school to provide?

Is it not good enough that you have Frost MS, which would continue operation, right next door?

Well there is a collaboration between Wootton and Frost that would absolutely be lost by changing Wootton’s location. But as a parent who lives very close to Wootton-Having an unused school just right in the center of Wootton parkway is my bigger concern. I’m fine having the kids moved temporarily to Crown while Wootton is at least somewhat remediated-But to just have an empty school indefinitely is not ok.

DP. It's intended to be a holding school, not an empty school indefinitely.

Then as it’s been stated numerous times on this thread-if they can fix it to be a holding school-they can fix it for the current Wootton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

I don't think it's Wootton's responsibility to put up with MCPS mistakes. They knew MoCo was losing population and revenue.

That wasn't Wootton's fault, why should Wootton be punished?

There is not infinite money and not every high school will be rebuilt with declining enrollment. There is no fairytale ending where everyone gets what they want.

You and the Wootton community need to wake up to that reality.

That is what Wootton wants. They don't want or need a whole other "holding school" just to make rebuilding more convenient.

MCPS needs own up to their mistakes and stop construction.

Stopping construction at this point would be an even worse financial mistake. They would lose the land and the amount that they put into the 40% that is complete.

At this point, the financially prudent move is to move Wootton to Crown.

It's not prudent a prudent move when you consider the overall impact on the community. Since when has MCPS been financially prudent? If it is a paragon of financial prudence, why did it build Crown in the first place?

You make it sound like moving Wootton to Crown is the ONLY option. It isn't and never has been. Stop privately salivating about how your house value in Gaithersburg will increase.

The financially prudent move is to open Crown for Gaithersburg, use its excess capacity as a holding school for schools on the CIP in the next 5 years, remediate Wootton's immediate problems over the summer of 2026 or 2027, then fully renovate Wootton in 2035.

I’m not sure this is financially prudent, given that so many schools are already in poor condition and that construction would be nonstop regardless of whether Wootton is renovated. Taxes will be raised anyway. Since there would be significant financial gains for certain areas if Wootton moves to Crown, some people on this board are coercing the community to give up the heart of their neighborhood.

That's the point. When faced with ripping out the heart of a community that has been in its current location for 55+ years (3 generations of graduates), why would the community ever agree to this move in exchange for a new school building in a location they never asked for?

The parents who don't live in Wootton (who may not even have kids in school at all) will never understand this. The decision must be made by Wootton parents, not bureaucrats or other people with a personal financial agenda that is NOT aligned with what is in the best interests of the community.

Sorry, it doesn't work that way. Never has. And never should it. The funds used to fix Wootton and build Crown are MoCo taxpayer funds, not Wootton parents funds. The community absolutely does have a say in how taxpayer monies should be spent.

But you're wrong. It generally DOES work that way. Otherwise, why would MCPS ask for input from the Wootton community?

Your bias against and hatred for Wootton is showing.

P.S. Wootton parents vote like everyone else. A few thousand votes can make a difference in elections.

You can provide community input, but, and I quote, " [b] The decision must be made by Wootton parents.." is not the way it works.

Additionally, "community" input includes those living in the surrounding area, and also people who don't have children.

People who have kids at Wootton or will have them there in the future will have the loudest voices and greatest impact.

In the meantime, keep saying "get off my lawn" and shaking your fist at the clouds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To those in the immediate vicinity of Wootton who are expressing concerns about community use:

Why, aside from walkability to events from your property, would using Crown prevent the same kind of use when the activity would be oriented towards Wootton students? Must you always be able to be the ones walking where others must drive?

Why, when the activity was not Wootton-student-oriented, would continuing to use the old Wootton facility to achieve walkability be any different? Do you think the administration of whichever school occupies that as a holding facility would not afford you the same community use that the county requires each school to provide?

Is it not good enough that you have Frost MS, which would continue operation, right next door?

Well there is a collaboration between Wootton and Frost that would absolutely be lost by changing Wootton’s location. But as a parent who lives very close to Wootton-Having an unused school just right in the center of Wootton parkway is my bigger concern. I’m fine having the kids moved temporarily to Crown while Wootton is at least somewhat remediated-But to just have an empty school indefinitely is not ok.

DP. It's intended to be a holding school, not an empty school indefinitely.

Then as it’s been stated numerous times on this thread-if they can fix it to be a holding school-they can fix it for the current Wootton.

+1 That's all Wootton parents are asking for - they are willing to wait their turn for a full renovation until 2035.

Why are the posters on this thread opposed to that? They keep saying that there are other schools worse off than Wootton. Fine, then bus those kids to Crown to fill it up. But I bet their parents don't want them bussed to Crown any more than Wootton parents want their kids bussed to Crown.