Two new MCPS HSs with no auditoriums

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for Northwood students.
They will have a rough commute, no sports fields, and now no auditorium. The school will not be fully finished either as some classrooms and labs, etc. will still be under construction in the fall.

When phase 3 occurs, is unclear. There is no timeline. Why is the construction happening at a snail’s pace?

100% this. It’s a total crap deal for Northwood students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for Northwood students.
They will have a rough commute, no sports fields, and now no auditorium. The school will not be fully finished either as some classrooms and labs, etc. will still be under construction in the fall.

When phase 3 occurs, is unclear. There is no timeline. Why is the construction happening at a snail’s pace?

Where did you hear this? Do you mean from the phase 2 part of the building (expected) or phase 1 (supposed to be done this summer)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to accept that Montgomery County has had a huge influx in population. Developers are building more and more housing units, there is a push to urbanize a large part of the County and the county will just get more and more overcrowded as the years go by.

There is no end in sight. This is just one side effect of the rampant, uncontrolled growth in MoCo. Developers are profiting and our kids are losing out.

Not an influx of enrolled students. Every grade has lower enrollment again next year except 10th and 11th. Maybe some is due to flight to private schools but peopl are having less kids. We know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately all the money is being sucked up by legal issues. This board has done a poor oversight job and the students will have to bear the brunt of all the incompetence

No, they never got the money they needed in the first place because the county council put developers’ profits ahead of schools.

[Anonymous]

Seth Adams is the only person in the central office that I actually trust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to accept that Montgomery County has had a huge influx in population. Developers are building more and more housing units, there is a push to urbanize a large part of the County and the county will just get more and more overcrowded as the years go by.

There is no end in sight. This is just one side effect of the rampant, uncontrolled growth in MoCo. Developers are profiting and our kids are losing out.

Not an influx of enrolled students. Every grade has lower enrollment again next year except 10th and 11th. Maybe some is due to flight to private schools but peopl are having less kids. We know this.

WJ’s incoming 9th grade class will be almost 900, probably the largest ever. The graduating class is the current smallest at 629. Where are they going to put these kids? The auditorium in large lectures? Portables on the field?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately all the money is being sucked up by legal issues. This board has done a poor oversight job and the students will have to bear the brunt of all the incompetence

Those are a drop in the bucket. If cutting costs were a priority, they could half the CO and save big with few consequences. It might even improve things since most of what they do has negative consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to accept that Montgomery County has had a huge influx in population. Developers are building more and more housing units, there is a push to urbanize a large part of the County and the county will just get more and more overcrowded as the years go by.

There is no end in sight. This is just one side effect of the rampant, uncontrolled growth in MoCo. Developers are profiting and our kids are losing out.

Not an influx of enrolled students. Every grade has lower enrollment again next year except 10th and 11th. Maybe some is due to flight to private schools but peopl are having less kids. We know this.

WJ’s incoming 9th grade class will be almost 900, probably the largest ever. The graduating class is the current smallest at 629. Where are they going to put these kids? The auditorium in large lectures? Portables on the field?

Wow, that's comparable to Blair!

[Anonymous]

Op, I totally agree with you that it sucks that MCPS is not building an auditorium as phase 1 of these school builds. The people who are arguing with you are naive and probably have young children who are still in ES. They haven't been around long enough to know that MCPS priorities frequently get changed and building plans get delayed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the people who are upset about this, which projects that have been approved in the CIP pipeline do you want to see postponed so that the $40 million necessary to fund the auditoriums for Crown and Woodward can be put back into the budget?

There's no more money coming in. So some projects or elements of projects are going to have to be postponed or deferred. And someone, somewhere who's hoping and paying for whatever project gets deferred is going to be pissed off. There's no pleasing everyone here.

Predictably, no one who's complaining about the auditoriums being cut from the budget could muster up an answer to these questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to accept that Montgomery County has had a huge influx in population. Developers are building more and more housing units, there is a push to urbanize a large part of the County and the county will just get more and more overcrowded as the years go by.

There is no end in sight. This is just one side effect of the rampant, uncontrolled growth in MoCo. Developers are profiting and our kids are losing out.

Not an influx of enrolled students. Every grade has lower enrollment again next year except 10th and 11th. Maybe some is due to flight to private schools but peopl are having less kids. We know this.

WJ’s incoming 9th grade class will be almost 900, probably the largest ever. The graduating class is the current smallest at 629. Where are they going to put these kids? The auditorium in large lectures? Portables on the field?

Wow, that's comparable to Blair!

WJ is far more overcapacity than Blair is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the people who are upset about this, which projects that have been approved in the CIP pipeline do you want to see postponed so that the $40 million necessary to fund the auditoriums for Crown and Woodward can be put back into the budget?

There's no more money coming in. So some projects or elements of projects are going to have to be postponed or deferred. And someone, somewhere who's hoping and paying for whatever project gets deferred is going to be pissed off. There's no pleasing everyone here.

Predictably, no one who's complaining about the auditoriums being cut from the budget could muster up an answer to these questions.

MCPS as a whole has been making poor financial choices leading to this crappy moment. My suggestion for drastic measures to save money that puts the least number of students in schools unable to meet their needs —ie no auditorium— is to look at elementary schools that are under capacity and not predicted to grow — there are many— and sort how closing very underutilized schools and sending students to other nearby under capacity schools might save money while still allowing all children to attend a fully build school. Also look at redistricting to allow students to attend schools when possible in walking distance and push MCPS to build sidewalks as needed so we can save on transportation. Both of these actions are sure to make lots of folk angry but would allow students to go to fully build schools and would allow the county to save money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the people who are upset about this, which projects that have been approved in the CIP pipeline do you want to see postponed so that the $40 million necessary to fund the auditoriums for Crown and Woodward can be put back into the budget?

There's no more money coming in. So some projects or elements of projects are going to have to be postponed or deferred. And someone, somewhere who's hoping and paying for whatever project gets deferred is going to be pissed off. There's no pleasing everyone here.

Predictably, no one who's complaining about the auditoriums being cut from the budget could muster up an answer to these questions.

MCPS as a whole has been making poor financial choices leading to this crappy moment. My suggestion for drastic measures to save money that puts the least number of students in schools unable to meet their needs —ie no auditorium— is to look at elementary schools that are under capacity and not predicted to grow — there are many— and sort how closing very underutilized schools and sending students to other nearby under capacity schools might save money while still allowing all children to attend a fully build school. Also look at redistricting to allow students to attend schools when possible in walking distance and push MCPS to build sidewalks as needed so we can save on transportation. Both of these actions are sure to make lots of folk angry but would allow students to go to fully build schools and would allow the county to save money.

Sorry meant push Montgomery county (not MCPS) to build sidewalks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the people who are upset about this, which projects that have been approved in the CIP pipeline do you want to see postponed so that the $40 million necessary to fund the auditoriums for Crown and Woodward can be put back into the budget?

There's no more money coming in. So some projects or elements of projects are going to have to be postponed or deferred. And someone, somewhere who's hoping and paying for whatever project gets deferred is going to be pissed off. There's no pleasing everyone here.

Predictably, no one who's complaining about the auditoriums being cut from the budget could muster up an answer to these questions.

MCPS as a whole has been making poor financial choices leading to this crappy moment. My suggestion for drastic measures to save money that puts the least number of students in schools unable to meet their needs —ie no auditorium— is to look at elementary schools that are under capacity and not predicted to grow — there are many— and sort how closing very underutilized schools and sending students to other nearby under capacity schools might save money while still allowing all children to attend a fully build school. Also look at redistricting to allow students to attend schools when possible in walking distance and push MCPS to build sidewalks as needed so we can save on transportation. Both of these actions are sure to make lots of folk angry but would allow students to go to fully build schools and would allow the county to save money.

That's a valid, long-term move that could free up money for future projects. It would also take a significant amount of time and resources to complete.

But you're not answering the question that was posed: What will you eliminate from the current approved CIP pipeline so that the auditorium projects can be reinserted to take their place?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They could always borrow auditoriums from nearby high schools. It stinks for the kids who would use it but it’s not the end of the world.

I would imagine Woodward could use WJ's auditorium. It's not ideal for play practices etc because I'm sure there would be conflicts but for parent events and concerts it seems doable.