Crown boundary study Option H

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some Frost kids walk to Wootton for classes. How are they going to do it if Wootton is now 3 miles away?

They figure something else out to get the kids the teaching they need. The frost/wootton distance is unique. Other schools don’t have that privilege and they make it work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some Frost kids walk to Wootton for classes. How are they going to do it if Wootton is now 3 miles away?

The same way others do it. Either they don’t get the class, frost offers it or parents drive them.

[Anonymous]

This is the best option:

1. Wootton kids get a brand new school.
2. Best use of a new school as a permanent place and not holding school.
3. Add diversity to “Wootton” by adding crown area. It already has Rio. This is contiguous and good planning.
4. Horizon Hill can no longer talk about not walking to Wootton. RM is as close or closer than Crown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the best option:

1. Wootton kids get a brand new school.
2. Best use of a new school as a permanent place and not holding school.
3. Add diversity to “Wootton” by adding crown area. It already has Rio. This is contiguous and good planning.
4. Horizon Hill can no longer talk about not walking to Wootton. RM is as close or closer than Crown.

For the most part I don't think there's much to complain about option H.

EXCEPT the walking routes/zones have students walk along and across busy commuter routes and is about a 40 minute walk from some areas on the far edge of the walking zone.

So days like yesterday morning with the heavy rain kind of raises an issue for families who used to have a school bus for their neighborhood and public transit as an option, who would be faced with figuring out how to get their kids to schools with a change to the Crown location where there is no direct public bus route.

If they can resolve that issue, I don't really have any real complaints with option H. Well maybe making sure all the facilities are available for use too, ie athletic fields, auditorium, etc.

Also everyone is just focusing on the high schools. But Robert Frost is only one year newer then Wootton, built in 1971 with no major renovations since then. So likely has the same issues as the current Wootton building. When will the middle schools be slated for renovations then?

[Anonymous]

Also it looks like two of the feeder schools to Frost were built in the 70s with no major renovations since then:
Dufief 1975
Fallsmead 1974

Whereas you look at the feeder schools to Hoover, all three have been renovated/modernized in the last fifteen years or so:
Beverly Farms renovated/modernized 2013
Potomac ES renovated/modernized 2020
Wayside renovated/modernized 2017

So don't think the exclusion of the Wootton cluster from any improvements/renovations is due to (perceived having) wealth or academic performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the best option:

1. Wootton kids get a brand new school.
2. Best use of a new school as a permanent place and not holding school.
3. Add diversity to “Wootton” by adding crown area. It already has Rio. This is contiguous and good planning.
4. Horizon Hill can no longer talk about not walking to Wootton. RM is as close or closer than Crown.

For the most part I don't think there's much to complain about option H.

EXCEPT the walking routes/zones have students walk along and across busy commuter routes and is about a 40 minute walk from some areas on the far edge of the walking zone.

So days like yesterday morning with the heavy rain kind of raises an issue for families who used to have a school bus for their neighborhood and public transit as an option, who would be faced with figuring out how to get their kids to schools with a change to the Crown location where there is no direct public bus route.

If they can resolve that issue, I don't really have any real complaints with option H. Well maybe making sure all the facilities are available for use too, ie athletic fields, auditorium, etc.

Also everyone is just focusing on the high schools. But Robert Frost is only one year newer then Wootton, built in 1971 with no major renovations since then. So likely has the same issues as the current Wootton building. When will the middle schools be slated for renovations then?

This is normal including crossing dangerous roads and no sidewalks in some communities.

Most of the older schools have these problems. Wootton screamed about their facilities vs others just live with theirs so the best option is to move them to the new building at crown.

[Anonymous]

I'm from East county so only know bits and pieces of the dynamics here. Are the parents who were pissed off by the holding school idea mollified by this proposal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the best option:

1. Wootton kids get a brand new school.
2. Best use of a new school as a permanent place and not holding school.
3. Add diversity to “Wootton” by adding crown area. It already has Rio. This is contiguous and good planning.
4. Horizon Hill can no longer talk about not walking to Wootton. RM is as close or closer than Crown.

For the most part I don't think there's much to complain about option H.

EXCEPT the walking routes/zones have students walk along and across busy commuter routes and is about a 40 minute walk from some areas on the far edge of the walking zone.

So days like yesterday morning with the heavy rain kind of raises an issue for families who used to have a school bus for their neighborhood and public transit as an option, who would be faced with figuring out how to get their kids to schools with a change to the Crown location where there is no direct public bus route.

If they can resolve that issue, I don't really have any real complaints with option H. Well maybe making sure all the facilities are available for use too, ie athletic fields, auditorium, etc.

Also everyone is just focusing on the high schools. But Robert Frost is only one year newer then Wootton, built in 1971 with no major renovations since then. So likely has the same issues as the current Wootton building. When will the middle schools be slated for renovations then?

This is normal including crossing dangerous roads and no sidewalks in some communities.

Most of the older schools have these problems. Wootton screamed about their facilities vs others just live with theirs so the best option is to move them to the new building at crown.

I hear you to a certain extent. Where it has crossed my mind that I'm not sure advocates for renovating Wootton really understood what they were asking for because it would at the very least likely involve students getting bussed to a holding school for a time being.

But at the same time, seeing how old the building is compared to other high schools, don't think that they were wrong saying they want/need a newer school.

I looked into it a little while back and in an old document, MCPS defines a walking shed and walking zone. A walking shed is the distance in the specified radius of a school that they consider for a walking zone. But the walking shed is the actual walk zone after they account for potential hazards to see if a route is realistically walkable:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/publicinfo/boundary_analysis/interim-report/02d_proximity.pdf

This kind of explains things because we do see neighborhoods that get bus service for schools even though they are within the specified distance amount. Those neighborhoods also have no sidewalks, which is why I think they were able to get bus service. So think similar considerations should be put in place for establishing the walk zone for the Crown HS location.

The list below is from an old document I have with the schools with a last built or renovated/modernized date from the 70s or earlier. I think there have been some changes since then. For example Poolesville HS is listed below but sounds like has since been renovated.

Also to note Silver Spring International had a most recent date of 1999. I haven't been following what is going with that school as much but am not sure why that school was identified to be closed.

Elementary Schools:
Whetstone ES 1968
Greenwood 1970
Strathmore 1970
Watkins Mill ES 1970
Stonegate 1971
Summit Hall 1971
Cold Spring 1972
South Lake 1972
Fields Road 1973
Piney Branch 1973
Belmont 1974
Fallsmead 1974
Fox Chapel 1974
JoAnn LeLeck ES 1974
Stedwick 1974
Woodlin ES 1974
Dufief 1975
Diamond ES 1975
East Silver Spring ES 1975
Sherwood ES 1977
Germantown ES 1978
Poolesvill ES 1978
Takoma Park ES 1979

Middle Schools:
Odessa Shannon MS 1966
Baker MS 1971
Frost MS 1971
Redland MS 1971
Banneker 1974
Ridgeview MS 1975
Eastern MS 1976

High Schools:
Magruder 1970
Wootton 1970
Damascus 1978
Poolesville 1978-as of old document, sounds like it has been renovated/has a new building since then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the official announcement that crown HS become holding school for Wootton HS?

There is no official announcement, because there has been no decision. But it is a possible scenario being added to the options.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FlFkN1iSGBikRuYzg7Q36XpHb4p2qc9P/view

Wasn't Damascus HS going to use Crown as its holding school? Are they back to building on site at Damascus, continuing to hold classes at the old Damascus HS?

Is the plan not for Damascus HS to use Crown as a holding school and then Wootton move to Crown once that's completed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the official announcement that crown HS become holding school for Wootton HS?

There is no official announcement, because there has been no decision. But it is a possible scenario being added to the options.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FlFkN1iSGBikRuYzg7Q36XpHb4p2qc9P/view

Wasn't Damascus HS going to use Crown as its holding school? Are they back to building on site at Damascus, continuing to hold classes at the old Damascus HS?

Is the plan not for Damascus HS to use Crown as a holding school and then Wootton move to Crown once that's completed?

They’re going to use Wootton as a holding school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I missed something and the rollout of these four new options.

Last time I looked it was just A through D.

When did they release these newer options and what does each one reflect? ie H is moving Wootton to Crown and closing Wootton. What are E through G?

Additional boundary study options came out yesterday, options E-H. For Crown, this was to include the possibility that Crown turns into a holding school. So H is pretty radical.

What concerns me is that if the "Wootton to Crown" becomes the leading option, then this is it. There aren't other possibilities.

And we don't know how the proposed regional model will change. They already arbitrarily swapped Damascus and QO with no input. I could see them sneak in a swap for Wootton to Crown, from Region 4 to 5, even after the BOE votes, and call it their continuing "iterative process." AKA MCPS has no clue what they are doing and making it up as they go along without regard to the implications to real students/families/staffing/logistics-bussing/cost.

I guess if Option H is the final selected one, MCPS won't move Wootton (the new Crown) to Region 5, as Region 4 would only have 3 HSs if that happens, while Region 5 currently has 4 HSs excluding Crown. Crown people must be quite supportive of Option H as this can isolate them away from the Gaithersburg. That's just my wild guess.

It looks like it's only half of Crown that gets included in this option. Only part of Rosemont Elem would go to Crown with the Wootton clusters.

Why is Cold Spring suddenly wanting to go to Churchill?? There isn't room at Churchill and they have never gone to Churchill...really, five extra minutes on a bus is not a big deal.

Well until now their high school was 2.6 miles away and no need to go into the highway. With Crown, most likely buses will use I-270 and longer commute time. Churchill is right around the corner it will reduce commute time and the need to use 270 twice a day.

Check a map... If you are that worried, there is no need to use 270. Drive right past Wootton.

[Anonymous]

I feel like at a higher level. The disparity in education quality in the county. Is driving these issues.

I was explaining to a parent from the Wooton cluster that I likely pay more taxes, but my school Rockville High School is poo pooed. Why should I pay those taxes just to have my school poo pooed?

Maybe if they didn't play these elitist exclusive games at MCPS, then maybe it wouldn't be an issue.

Food for thought.

Having said that nah nah na nah na I'm at RHS and Wootton sucks.

[Anonymous]

Can someone summarize all the new E-H options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone summarize all the new E-H options?

E F crown as a holding school
G Distractor
H Wootton moves to crown

[Anonymous]

Where are the links for all boundary options in a graphic map ?