Crown boundary study Option H

[Anonymous]

If i am wootton teachers, j would be happy to get a new building, better work environment to teach. 3 miles is nothing, and crown is at a convenient location for driver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Makes zero sense to fix up Wootton to be used as a regular HS AND have Crown when we have declining enrollment and a tight budget.

Exactly, and I get frustration, as Taylor said if the decision was made today to build Crown they would not have done so, that money could have gone towards Damascus Wootton and Magruder replacements. However the reason why Wootton has not been touched for 20-25 years (Churchill got a full renovation and major addition back in 2001 and was about 5 years older so Wootton theoretically should been due in 2006) is because its location and site do not allow for a new school to be built on the fields while students attend the current facility and thus needed a holding school. I don’t know what this was never explicitly stated vs constantly jerking the community along like Charlie Brown and the football. Wootton will never be renovated without a holding school period end of story. It’s also very different than Churchill which has a renovation while students were in side, in Churchills case a big addition was done first which allowed several huge sections of the school to be redone after the addition opened. This isn’t really practical at Wootton as there’s no suitable land to add a massive 600-800 seat addition. The site is too small and has problems.

Not only that but then you add the budget woes, how can you in good faith spend money to rebuild a high school when enrollment is declining and there is no need for Wootton and when one was constructed only a few miles away in Crown (I agree ill advised). There is no need for Woottons seats there will still be 3-4 thousand seats open at the high school level without it once Crown Woodward Northwood and Damascus are done (assuming Magruder gets redone too). Unfortunately with just three high schools over 40 years old the most logical one to close is the one pretty much next to Crown.

All the money could be better spent on renovating/replacing two middle schools or 5-6 elementary schools.

This county needs to rethink things in a big way and that’s inevitably going to mean closing more schools and reasoning students vs pooling money into a million schools that quite frankly are not needed.

Why would Wootton need addition? They have 2200 seats already. Not like other schools only have 1500 which need expansion

My comment on addition at Wootton was in regards to doing a renovation on site. The way the current school is sited and the rest of the land on which it sits, it doesn’t permit for a very large addition which would allow them to work on renovating the rest of the school a section at a time and eventually demolishing another area of the school to use as a field. I think when Churchill was renovated in like 1998-2001 they started with a very large addition which held a lot of students. This let them demolish another existing area of the school (became parking lot to replace the parking that existed where the addition was built) and then they worked on wings of the school renovating one section at a time while students used the new addition and other non-renovated areas of the school, then the newly renovated area opened and a non-renovated area closed to be renovated. What I’m saying is that process isn’t possible at Wootton which means a holding school is required in order to renovate the school. This is why it’s never been done.

Then the question becomes does it make sense to spend $400M on a high school nearby a brand new high school when the county wide excess seats will be more than 5000 at the HS level and there are so many other needs in the county. Closing Damascus isn’t an option given its location, Magruder would be a challenge too. So because of the poor decision to build Crown which was made at a time when it seemed it would be needed, unfortunately logically it makes the most sense to close Wootton and add some money to fix some key areas and use it as a holding school.

There are so many secondary schools that need renovations in the coming decade and having a holding school will be essential.

If we had unlimited money and were in a good economic situation sure rebuild Wootton but the reality is we are not.

[Anonymous]

I think that closing Wootton is a no brainer, how can we justify that cost and we get a new school much sooner than any other option.

My kids go to Lakewood and Frost, so we’re fairly close, it’s not a big deal if they keep us intact.

One other point to think about is that if Wootton is closed and moved to Crown, there are several ways to expand capacity in the future without rebuilding Wootton that will be far more cost effective. For example when QO is renovated/replaced, it should be expanded to a capacity closer to 2,000-2,200. Churchill and RM could get 200-250 seat additions. The QO project will need to happen in the next 15-20 years. So at that point there’s not a significant added cost to building it a bit larger. Two additions to Churchill and RM can likely be done for 25-35% of the cost of fully replacing Wootton. Then you have operating cost savings from having slightly larger schools (less admin salaries for example). Finally this could help with geography in the future by say moving Cold Spring resident students to Churchill (closer than Crown) or Travilah/Dufief to QO.

Crown has the option to expand in the future and that could accommodate the current Wootton plus fields road plus growth in the area.

Finally there are so many elementary schools that are way underutilized, just in Wootton and Churchill clusters alone nearly ever ES is way underutilized. Given most Wootton schools are pretty old, I’d expect closure of at least one vs replacing. The sites will be available in the future should it be warranted to be needed again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Makes zero sense to fix up Wootton to be used as a regular HS AND have Crown when we have declining enrollment and a tight budget.

Exactly, and I get frustration, as Taylor said if the decision was made today to build Crown they would not have done so, that money could have gone towards Damascus Wootton and Magruder replacements. However the reason why Wootton has not been touched for 20-25 years (Churchill got a full renovation and major addition back in 2001 and was about 5 years older so Wootton theoretically should been due in 2006) is because its location and site do not allow for a new school to be built on the fields while students attend the current facility and thus needed a holding school. I don’t know what this was never explicitly stated vs constantly jerking the community along like Charlie Brown and the football. Wootton will never be renovated without a holding school period end of story. It’s also very different than Churchill which has a renovation while students were in side, in Churchills case a big addition was done first which allowed several huge sections of the school to be redone after the addition opened. This isn’t really practical at Wootton as there’s no suitable land to add a massive 600-800 seat addition. The site is too small and has problems.

Not only that but then you add the budget woes, how can you in good faith spend money to rebuild a high school when enrollment is declining and there is no need for Wootton and when one was constructed only a few miles away in Crown (I agree ill advised). There is no need for Woottons seats there will still be 3-4 thousand seats open at the high school level without it once Crown Woodward Northwood and Damascus are done (assuming Magruder gets redone too). Unfortunately with just three high schools over 40 years old the most logical one to close is the one pretty much next to Crown.

All the money could be better spent on renovating/replacing two middle schools or 5-6 elementary schools.

This county needs to rethink things in a big way and that’s inevitably going to mean closing more schools and reasoning students vs pooling money into a million schools that quite frankly are not needed.

Why would Wootton need addition? They have 2200 seats already. Not like other schools only have 1500 which need expansion

My comment on addition at Wootton was in regards to doing a renovation on site. The way the current school is sited and the rest of the land on which it sits, it doesn’t permit for a very large addition which would allow them to work on renovating the rest of the school a section at a time and eventually demolishing another area of the school to use as a field. I think when Churchill was renovated in like 1998-2001 they started with a very large addition which held a lot of students. This let them demolish another existing area of the school (became parking lot to replace the parking that existed where the addition was built) and then they worked on wings of the school renovating one section at a time while students used the new addition and other non-renovated areas of the school, then the newly renovated area opened and a non-renovated area closed to be renovated. What I’m saying is that process isn’t possible at Wootton which means a holding school is required in order to renovate the school. This is why it’s never been done.

Then the question becomes does it make sense to spend $400M on a high school nearby a brand new high school when the county wide excess seats will be more than 5000 at the HS level and there are so many other needs in the county. Closing Damascus isn’t an option given its location, Magruder would be a challenge too. So because of the poor decision to build Crown which was made at a time when it seemed it would be needed, unfortunately logically it makes the most sense to close Wootton and add some money to fix some key areas and use it as a holding school.

There are so many secondary schools that need renovations in the coming decade and having a holding school will be essential.

If we had unlimited money and were in a good economic situation sure rebuild Wootton but the reality is we are not.

Wootton had a large addition back in 2000 too. It’s just the original building part which never got any renovation.
You can’t treat Wootton differently from other schools. Damascus Magruder can have a rebuild but Wootton cannot because of economic situation. Why not moving the other two?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that closing Wootton is a no brainer, how can we justify that cost and we get a new school much sooner than any other option.

My kids go to Lakewood and Frost, so we’re fairly close, it’s not a big deal if they keep us intact.

One other point to think about is that if Wootton is closed and moved to Crown, there are several ways to expand capacity in the future without rebuilding Wootton that will be far more cost effective. For example when QO is renovated/replaced, it should be expanded to a capacity closer to 2,000-2,200. Churchill and RM could get 200-250 seat additions. The QO project will need to happen in the next 15-20 years. So at that point there’s not a significant added cost to building it a bit larger. Two additions to Churchill and RM can likely be done for 25-35% of the cost of fully replacing Wootton. Then you have operating cost savings from having slightly larger schools (less admin salaries for example). Finally this could help with geography in the future by say moving Cold Spring resident students to Churchill (closer than Crown) or Travilah/Dufief to QO.

Crown has the option to expand in the future and that could accommodate the current Wootton plus fields road plus growth in the area.

Finally there are so many elementary schools that are way underutilized, just in Wootton and Churchill clusters alone nearly ever ES is way underutilized. Given most Wootton schools are pretty old, I’d expect closure of at least one vs replacing. The sites will be available in the future should it be warranted to be needed again.

There was talk of closing Cold Spring ES because of how underenrolled it was. I heard the PTA asked MCPS if they could have the Horizon Hill neighborhood go to to CS, and of course, the answer was No. Quite honestly, they should just close that school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Makes zero sense to fix up Wootton to be used as a regular HS AND have Crown when we have declining enrollment and a tight budget.

Exactly, and I get frustration, as Taylor said if the decision was made today to build Crown they would not have done so, that money could have gone towards Damascus Wootton and Magruder replacements. However the reason why Wootton has not been touched for 20-25 years (Churchill got a full renovation and major addition back in 2001 and was about 5 years older so Wootton theoretically should been due in 2006) is because its location and site do not allow for a new school to be built on the fields while students attend the current facility and thus needed a holding school. I don’t know what this was never explicitly stated vs constantly jerking the community along like Charlie Brown and the football. Wootton will never be renovated without a holding school period end of story. It’s also very different than Churchill which has a renovation while students were in side, in Churchills case a big addition was done first which allowed several huge sections of the school to be redone after the addition opened. This isn’t really practical at Wootton as there’s no suitable land to add a massive 600-800 seat addition. The site is too small and has problems.

Not only that but then you add the budget woes, how can you in good faith spend money to rebuild a high school when enrollment is declining and there is no need for Wootton and when one was constructed only a few miles away in Crown (I agree ill advised). There is no need for Woottons seats there will still be 3-4 thousand seats open at the high school level without it once Crown Woodward Northwood and Damascus are done (assuming Magruder gets redone too). Unfortunately with just three high schools over 40 years old the most logical one to close is the one pretty much next to Crown.

All the money could be better spent on renovating/replacing two middle schools or 5-6 elementary schools.

This county needs to rethink things in a big way and that’s inevitably going to mean closing more schools and reasoning students vs pooling money into a million schools that quite frankly are not needed.

Why would Wootton need addition? They have 2200 seats already. Not like other schools only have 1500 which need expansion

My comment on addition at Wootton was in regards to doing a renovation on site. The way the current school is sited and the rest of the land on which it sits, it doesn’t permit for a very large addition which would allow them to work on renovating the rest of the school a section at a time and eventually demolishing another area of the school to use as a field. I think when Churchill was renovated in like 1998-2001 they started with a very large addition which held a lot of students. This let them demolish another existing area of the school (became parking lot to replace the parking that existed where the addition was built) and then they worked on wings of the school renovating one section at a time while students used the new addition and other non-renovated areas of the school, then the newly renovated area opened and a non-renovated area closed to be renovated. What I’m saying is that process isn’t possible at Wootton which means a holding school is required in order to renovate the school. This is why it’s never been done.

Then the question becomes does it make sense to spend $400M on a high school nearby a brand new high school when the county wide excess seats will be more than 5000 at the HS level and there are so many other needs in the county. Closing Damascus isn’t an option given its location, Magruder would be a challenge too. So because of the poor decision to build Crown which was made at a time when it seemed it would be needed, unfortunately logically it makes the most sense to close Wootton and add some money to fix some key areas and use it as a holding school.

There are so many secondary schools that need renovations in the coming decade and having a holding school will be essential.

If we had unlimited money and were in a good economic situation sure rebuild Wootton but the reality is we are not.

Wootton had a large addition back in 2000 too. It’s just the original building part which never got any renovation.
You can’t treat Wootton differently from other schools. Damascus Magruder can have a rebuild but Wootton cannot because of economic situation. Why not moving the other two?

Magruder has some far more serious issues as do other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Makes zero sense to fix up Wootton to be used as a regular HS AND have Crown when we have declining enrollment and a tight budget.

Exactly, and I get frustration, as Taylor said if the decision was made today to build Crown they would not have done so, that money could have gone towards Damascus Wootton and Magruder replacements. However the reason why Wootton has not been touched for 20-25 years (Churchill got a full renovation and major addition back in 2001 and was about 5 years older so Wootton theoretically should been due in 2006) is because its location and site do not allow for a new school to be built on the fields while students attend the current facility and thus needed a holding school. I don’t know what this was never explicitly stated vs constantly jerking the community along like Charlie Brown and the football. Wootton will never be renovated without a holding school period end of story. It’s also very different than Churchill which has a renovation while students were in side, in Churchills case a big addition was done first which allowed several huge sections of the school to be redone after the addition opened. This isn’t really practical at Wootton as there’s no suitable land to add a massive 600-800 seat addition. The site is too small and has problems.

Not only that but then you add the budget woes, how can you in good faith spend money to rebuild a high school when enrollment is declining and there is no need for Wootton and when one was constructed only a few miles away in Crown (I agree ill advised). There is no need for Woottons seats there will still be 3-4 thousand seats open at the high school level without it once Crown Woodward Northwood and Damascus are done (assuming Magruder gets redone too). Unfortunately with just three high schools over 40 years old the most logical one to close is the one pretty much next to Crown.

All the money could be better spent on renovating/replacing two middle schools or 5-6 elementary schools.

This county needs to rethink things in a big way and that’s inevitably going to mean closing more schools and reasoning students vs pooling money into a million schools that quite frankly are not needed.

Why would Wootton need addition? They have 2200 seats already. Not like other schools only have 1500 which need expansion

My comment on addition at Wootton was in regards to doing a renovation on site. The way the current school is sited and the rest of the land on which it sits, it doesn’t permit for a very large addition which would allow them to work on renovating the rest of the school a section at a time and eventually demolishing another area of the school to use as a field. I think when Churchill was renovated in like 1998-2001 they started with a very large addition which held a lot of students. This let them demolish another existing area of the school (became parking lot to replace the parking that existed where the addition was built) and then they worked on wings of the school renovating one section at a time while students used the new addition and other non-renovated areas of the school, then the newly renovated area opened and a non-renovated area closed to be renovated. What I’m saying is that process isn’t possible at Wootton which means a holding school is required in order to renovate the school. This is why it’s never been done.

Then the question becomes does it make sense to spend $400M on a high school nearby a brand new high school when the county wide excess seats will be more than 5000 at the HS level and there are so many other needs in the county. Closing Damascus isn’t an option given its location, Magruder would be a challenge too. So because of the poor decision to build Crown which was made at a time when it seemed it would be needed, unfortunately logically it makes the most sense to close Wootton and add some money to fix some key areas and use it as a holding school.

There are so many secondary schools that need renovations in the coming decade and having a holding school will be essential.

If we had unlimited money and were in a good economic situation sure rebuild Wootton but the reality is we are not.

Wootton had a large addition back in 2000 too. It’s just the original building part which never got any renovation.
You can’t treat Wootton differently from other schools. Damascus Magruder can have a rebuild but Wootton cannot because of economic situation. Why not moving the other two?

Magruder has some far more serious issues as do other schools.

Either way, I don’t think option H is viable for the such strong opposition from Wootton cluster. MCPS will most likely not push against the whole community and force them to relocate with a boundary process which doesn’t have even sound legal.
Let’s focus on other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Makes zero sense to fix up Wootton to be used as a regular HS AND have Crown when we have declining enrollment and a tight budget.

Exactly, and I get frustration, as Taylor said if the decision was made today to build Crown they would not have done so, that money could have gone towards Damascus Wootton and Magruder replacements. However the reason why Wootton has not been touched for 20-25 years (Churchill got a full renovation and major addition back in 2001 and was about 5 years older so Wootton theoretically should been due in 2006) is because its location and site do not allow for a new school to be built on the fields while students attend the current facility and thus needed a holding school. I don’t know what this was never explicitly stated vs constantly jerking the community along like Charlie Brown and the football. Wootton will never be renovated without a holding school period end of story. It’s also very different than Churchill which has a renovation while students were in side, in Churchills case a big addition was done first which allowed several huge sections of the school to be redone after the addition opened. This isn’t really practical at Wootton as there’s no suitable land to add a massive 600-800 seat addition. The site is too small and has problems.

Not only that but then you add the budget woes, how can you in good faith spend money to rebuild a high school when enrollment is declining and there is no need for Wootton and when one was constructed only a few miles away in Crown (I agree ill advised). There is no need for Woottons seats there will still be 3-4 thousand seats open at the high school level without it once Crown Woodward Northwood and Damascus are done (assuming Magruder gets redone too). Unfortunately with just three high schools over 40 years old the most logical one to close is the one pretty much next to Crown.

All the money could be better spent on renovating/replacing two middle schools or 5-6 elementary schools.

This county needs to rethink things in a big way and that’s inevitably going to mean closing more schools and reasoning students vs pooling money into a million schools that quite frankly are not needed.

Why would Wootton need addition? They have 2200 seats already. Not like other schools only have 1500 which need expansion

My comment on addition at Wootton was in regards to doing a renovation on site. The way the current school is sited and the rest of the land on which it sits, it doesn’t permit for a very large addition which would allow them to work on renovating the rest of the school a section at a time and eventually demolishing another area of the school to use as a field. I think when Churchill was renovated in like 1998-2001 they started with a very large addition which held a lot of students. This let them demolish another existing area of the school (became parking lot to replace the parking that existed where the addition was built) and then they worked on wings of the school renovating one section at a time while students used the new addition and other non-renovated areas of the school, then the newly renovated area opened and a non-renovated area closed to be renovated. What I’m saying is that process isn’t possible at Wootton which means a holding school is required in order to renovate the school. This is why it’s never been done.

Then the question becomes does it make sense to spend $400M on a high school nearby a brand new high school when the county wide excess seats will be more than 5000 at the HS level and there are so many other needs in the county. Closing Damascus isn’t an option given its location, Magruder would be a challenge too. So because of the poor decision to build Crown which was made at a time when it seemed it would be needed, unfortunately logically it makes the most sense to close Wootton and add some money to fix some key areas and use it as a holding school.

There are so many secondary schools that need renovations in the coming decade and having a holding school will be essential.

If we had unlimited money and were in a good economic situation sure rebuild Wootton but the reality is we are not.

Wootton had a large addition back in 2000 too. It’s just the original building part which never got any renovation.
You can’t treat Wootton differently from other schools. Damascus Magruder can have a rebuild but Wootton cannot because of economic situation. Why not moving the other two?

Do the other two have an already-built, brand new building in reasonably close proximity presenting reasonable facility utilization across the system as an option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Makes zero sense to fix up Wootton to be used as a regular HS AND have Crown when we have declining enrollment and a tight budget.

Exactly, and I get frustration, as Taylor said if the decision was made today to build Crown they would not have done so, that money could have gone towards Damascus Wootton and Magruder replacements. However the reason why Wootton has not been touched for 20-25 years (Churchill got a full renovation and major addition back in 2001 and was about 5 years older so Wootton theoretically should been due in 2006) is because its location and site do not allow for a new school to be built on the fields while students attend the current facility and thus needed a holding school. I don’t know what this was never explicitly stated vs constantly jerking the community along like Charlie Brown and the football. Wootton will never be renovated without a holding school period end of story. It’s also very different than Churchill which has a renovation while students were in side, in Churchills case a big addition was done first which allowed several huge sections of the school to be redone after the addition opened. This isn’t really practical at Wootton as there’s no suitable land to add a massive 600-800 seat addition. The site is too small and has problems.

Not only that but then you add the budget woes, how can you in good faith spend money to rebuild a high school when enrollment is declining and there is no need for Wootton and when one was constructed only a few miles away in Crown (I agree ill advised). There is no need for Woottons seats there will still be 3-4 thousand seats open at the high school level without it once Crown Woodward Northwood and Damascus are done (assuming Magruder gets redone too). Unfortunately with just three high schools over 40 years old the most logical one to close is the one pretty much next to Crown.

All the money could be better spent on renovating/replacing two middle schools or 5-6 elementary schools.

This county needs to rethink things in a big way and that’s inevitably going to mean closing more schools and reasoning students vs pooling money into a million schools that quite frankly are not needed.

Why would Wootton need addition? They have 2200 seats already. Not like other schools only have 1500 which need expansion

My comment on addition at Wootton was in regards to doing a renovation on site. The way the current school is sited and the rest of the land on which it sits, it doesn’t permit for a very large addition which would allow them to work on renovating the rest of the school a section at a time and eventually demolishing another area of the school to use as a field. I think when Churchill was renovated in like 1998-2001 they started with a very large addition which held a lot of students. This let them demolish another existing area of the school (became parking lot to replace the parking that existed where the addition was built) and then they worked on wings of the school renovating one section at a time while students used the new addition and other non-renovated areas of the school, then the newly renovated area opened and a non-renovated area closed to be renovated. What I’m saying is that process isn’t possible at Wootton which means a holding school is required in order to renovate the school. This is why it’s never been done.

Then the question becomes does it make sense to spend $400M on a high school nearby a brand new high school when the county wide excess seats will be more than 5000 at the HS level and there are so many other needs in the county. Closing Damascus isn’t an option given its location, Magruder would be a challenge too. So because of the poor decision to build Crown which was made at a time when it seemed it would be needed, unfortunately logically it makes the most sense to close Wootton and add some money to fix some key areas and use it as a holding school.

There are so many secondary schools that need renovations in the coming decade and having a holding school will be essential.

If we had unlimited money and were in a good economic situation sure rebuild Wootton but the reality is we are not.

Wootton had a large addition back in 2000 too. It’s just the original building part which never got any renovation.
You can’t treat Wootton differently from other schools. Damascus Magruder can have a rebuild but Wootton cannot because of economic situation. Why not moving the other two?

Magruder has some far more serious issues as do other schools.

Either way, I don’t think option H is viable for the such strong opposition from Wootton cluster. MCPS will most likely not push against the whole community and force them to relocate with a boundary process which doesn’t have even sound legal.
Let’s focus on other options.

Of course it is. They demanded a new building and are getting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Makes zero sense to fix up Wootton to be used as a regular HS AND have Crown when we have declining enrollment and a tight budget.

Exactly, and I get frustration, as Taylor said if the decision was made today to build Crown they would not have done so, that money could have gone towards Damascus Wootton and Magruder replacements. However the reason why Wootton has not been touched for 20-25 years (Churchill got a full renovation and major addition back in 2001 and was about 5 years older so Wootton theoretically should been due in 2006) is because its location and site do not allow for a new school to be built on the fields while students attend the current facility and thus needed a holding school. I don’t know what this was never explicitly stated vs constantly jerking the community along like Charlie Brown and the football. Wootton will never be renovated without a holding school period end of story. It’s also very different than Churchill which has a renovation while students were in side, in Churchills case a big addition was done first which allowed several huge sections of the school to be redone after the addition opened. This isn’t really practical at Wootton as there’s no suitable land to add a massive 600-800 seat addition. The site is too small and has problems.

Not only that but then you add the budget woes, how can you in good faith spend money to rebuild a high school when enrollment is declining and there is no need for Wootton and when one was constructed only a few miles away in Crown (I agree ill advised). There is no need for Woottons seats there will still be 3-4 thousand seats open at the high school level without it once Crown Woodward Northwood and Damascus are done (assuming Magruder gets redone too). Unfortunately with just three high schools over 40 years old the most logical one to close is the one pretty much next to Crown.

All the money could be better spent on renovating/replacing two middle schools or 5-6 elementary schools.

This county needs to rethink things in a big way and that’s inevitably going to mean closing more schools and reasoning students vs pooling money into a million schools that quite frankly are not needed.

Why would Wootton need addition? They have 2200 seats already. Not like other schools only have 1500 which need expansion

My comment on addition at Wootton was in regards to doing a renovation on site. The way the current school is sited and the rest of the land on which it sits, it doesn’t permit for a very large addition which would allow them to work on renovating the rest of the school a section at a time and eventually demolishing another area of the school to use as a field. I think when Churchill was renovated in like 1998-2001 they started with a very large addition which held a lot of students. This let them demolish another existing area of the school (became parking lot to replace the parking that existed where the addition was built) and then they worked on wings of the school renovating one section at a time while students used the new addition and other non-renovated areas of the school, then the newly renovated area opened and a non-renovated area closed to be renovated. What I’m saying is that process isn’t possible at Wootton which means a holding school is required in order to renovate the school. This is why it’s never been done.

Then the question becomes does it make sense to spend $400M on a high school nearby a brand new high school when the county wide excess seats will be more than 5000 at the HS level and there are so many other needs in the county. Closing Damascus isn’t an option given its location, Magruder would be a challenge too. So because of the poor decision to build Crown which was made at a time when it seemed it would be needed, unfortunately logically it makes the most sense to close Wootton and add some money to fix some key areas and use it as a holding school.

There are so many secondary schools that need renovations in the coming decade and having a holding school will be essential.

If we had unlimited money and were in a good economic situation sure rebuild Wootton but the reality is we are not.

Wootton had a large addition back in 2000 too. It’s just the original building part which never got any renovation.
You can’t treat Wootton differently from other schools. Damascus Magruder can have a rebuild but Wootton cannot because of economic situation. Why not moving the other two?

Magruder has some far more serious issues as do other schools.

Either way, I don’t think option H is viable for the such strong opposition from Wootton cluster. MCPS will most likely not push against the whole community and force them to relocate with a boundary process which doesn’t have even sound legal.
Let’s focus on other options.

So you feel that they should keep SSIMS open and rehabilitate it just like Wootton, right?

[Anonymous]

This is not going to happen. Wootton haters can shove their dreams where the sun doesn’t shine . Crown will become a holding school unto 2031 when the new CIP is approved. Wootton will get minor renovations here and there. In 2031, a new boundary study will
be done. Mark my words.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Makes zero sense to fix up Wootton to be used as a regular HS AND have Crown when we have declining enrollment and a tight budget.

Exactly, and I get frustration, as Taylor said if the decision was made today to build Crown they would not have done so, that money could have gone towards Damascus Wootton and Magruder replacements. However the reason why Wootton has not been touched for 20-25 years (Churchill got a full renovation and major addition back in 2001 and was about 5 years older so Wootton theoretically should been due in 2006) is because its location and site do not allow for a new school to be built on the fields while students attend the current facility and thus needed a holding school. I don’t know what this was never explicitly stated vs constantly jerking the community along like Charlie Brown and the football. Wootton will never be renovated without a holding school period end of story. It’s also very different than Churchill which has a renovation while students were in side, in Churchills case a big addition was done first which allowed several huge sections of the school to be redone after the addition opened. This isn’t really practical at Wootton as there’s no suitable land to add a massive 600-800 seat addition. The site is too small and has problems.

Not only that but then you add the budget woes, how can you in good faith spend money to rebuild a high school when enrollment is declining and there is no need for Wootton and when one was constructed only a few miles away in Crown (I agree ill advised). There is no need for Woottons seats there will still be 3-4 thousand seats open at the high school level without it once Crown Woodward Northwood and Damascus are done (assuming Magruder gets redone too). Unfortunately with just three high schools over 40 years old the most logical one to close is the one pretty much next to Crown.

All the money could be better spent on renovating/replacing two middle schools or 5-6 elementary schools.

This county needs to rethink things in a big way and that’s inevitably going to mean closing more schools and reasoning students vs pooling money into a million schools that quite frankly are not needed.

Why would Wootton need addition? They have 2200 seats already. Not like other schools only have 1500 which need expansion

My comment on addition at Wootton was in regards to doing a renovation on site. The way the current school is sited and the rest of the land on which it sits, it doesn’t permit for a very large addition which would allow them to work on renovating the rest of the school a section at a time and eventually demolishing another area of the school to use as a field. I think when Churchill was renovated in like 1998-2001 they started with a very large addition which held a lot of students. This let them demolish another existing area of the school (became parking lot to replace the parking that existed where the addition was built) and then they worked on wings of the school renovating one section at a time while students used the new addition and other non-renovated areas of the school, then the newly renovated area opened and a non-renovated area closed to be renovated. What I’m saying is that process isn’t possible at Wootton which means a holding school is required in order to renovate the school. This is why it’s never been done.

Then the question becomes does it make sense to spend $400M on a high school nearby a brand new high school when the county wide excess seats will be more than 5000 at the HS level and there are so many other needs in the county. Closing Damascus isn’t an option given its location, Magruder would be a challenge too. So because of the poor decision to build Crown which was made at a time when it seemed it would be needed, unfortunately logically it makes the most sense to close Wootton and add some money to fix some key areas and use it as a holding school.

There are so many secondary schools that need renovations in the coming decade and having a holding school will be essential.

If we had unlimited money and were in a good economic situation sure rebuild Wootton but the reality is we are not.

Wootton had a large addition back in 2000 too. It’s just the original building part which never got any renovation.
You can’t treat Wootton differently from other schools. Damascus Magruder can have a rebuild but Wootton cannot because of economic situation. Why not moving the other two?

Magruder has some far more serious issues as do other schools.

Either way, I don’t think option H is viable for the such strong opposition from Wootton cluster. MCPS will most likely not push against the whole community and force them to relocate with a boundary process which doesn’t have even sound legal.
Let’s focus on other options.

So you feel that they should keep SSIMS open and rehabilitate it just like Wootton, right?

SSIMS deserves more community engagement time and they got it. So is Wootton. Closing a school and merging with others cannot be done in such short period of time. Period. Option H is neither legal or appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Here are questions I have for people opposing Option H:

1) If MCPS could guarantee (I know they can't/won't) that the current building wouldn't be neglected and would be upkept to the extent it current is so it wouldn't be an eyesore, would you feel as strongly?

2) If MCPS could guarantee (I know they can't/won't) that the entirety of the current cluster would go to the new school and only be joined by the 500 Gaithersburg residents the documents show rather than the rumored 1000, would you feel as strongly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not going to happen. Wootton haters can shove their dreams where the sun doesn’t shine . Crown will become a holding school unto 2031 when the new CIP is approved. Wootton will get minor renovations here and there. In 2031, a new boundary study will
be done. Mark my words.

So Wootton stays in it's current building that they say is unacceptable? Also, given that they are planning an elementary boundary study in 3 years, we are really going to be doing a boundary study of some sort every 2-3 years? That sounds terrible and expensive.

[Anonymous]

Mcps has no money for another boundary study, not in near future like 2031. They already have the high school boundary study and regional program study which cost a lot to chew.