WJ students taking over Wildwood shopping center at lunch

[Anonymous]

I ride metro with DC high school kids everyday. They are loud, physical anf use language I don't prefer...but I know they are not going anything actually wrong. I try to just I think of them as entertaining.

Oh they do often sit sideways taking up two seats each which is rude when people have to stand...that they should be told to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do the high school students need to leave if they aren't committing any crimes?

DC area school systems like DCPS, MCPS, APS, etc., have had open campus since the 1970s. That privilege is not about to go away because there are too many kids eating out. MCPS has designed undersized cafeterias at renovated schools like B-CC, factoring the percentage of students who leave campus for lunch.

The majority of MCPS high schools don’t have open campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to get lunch at Wildwood during the week, sitting at FlowerChild or Piccolo Piatti, but it's become impossible with the high school students. They buy bagels/starbucks/pizza at the cafeteria and sit at the tables outside of these restaurants. They go inside the restaurants, don't order there, but bring outside food in. The lunch is 11-12 it seems, so nearly peak lunch time. They aren't rude, just annoying and messy. WJ has a security guard and maybe a VP stand outside of Chipotle on the other side of Old Georgetown, but not in Wildwood.

Is it up to the restaurants to tell them to leave? WJ to tell them to stop? I think all four grades have one lunch period when any students are allowed to leave campus, but they have to buy their food and bring it back to the school.

No, they're allowed to eat wherever they like. There is no room inside the school cafeteria for even a fifth of the students. WJ has been overcrowded for YEARS, hence why they built Woodward HS nearby. These are kids who need to breathe fresh air at lunch!

Well, no... if they are not purchasing food there, they should not be sitting there.

That’s for the business to manage.

Yes, but you said "they're allowed to eat wherever they like." No, they're not.

They effectively are if the businesses don’t enforce it.

[Anonymous]

The other day I had just pulled into Wildwood at the light and before I could turn left I had to wait for a mob of kids to cross the road in front of me. A boy leaned over and said (my window was open), "You know, you're not allowed to park here." Flippant teenager-ness, but also pretty funny.

[Anonymous]

So what? They're members of your community and they're enjoying their lunch. Be glad they're not fighting in the parking lots and knifing or shooting each other like students at nearby schools. I'm not saying this to be rude or snarky AT ALL but maybe you can practise having a good attitude about the young people in your community. Our society is really struggling and they need all the help they can get. I've been at Wildwood during WJ lunch and they all seem like happy good kids -- not harrassing anyone or blocking cars in the parking lot. They use the crosswalk to go back to school, waiting for the light. Give them a break and try to enjoy them. Again, I mean that sincerely with no snark whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other day I had just pulled into Wildwood at the light and before I could turn left I had to wait for a mob of kids to cross the road in front of me. A boy leaned over and said (my window was open), "You know, you're not allowed to park here." Flippant teenager-ness, but also pretty funny.

I had a kid on Bradley tell me I wasn't supposed to turn right on red. It was a new sign hidden by bushes. I said thank you and meant it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When will Woodward open? I meant when WJ won't be over crowded?

Excellent question. The current prediction is two years from now, but that depends on the construction for the other school staying on schedule. It's already slipped back 2 years from the initial schedule. And even then they will probably only move sophomore and freshman, so it will be 4 years before the full transition to whatever the new normal is.
Even after Woodward opens, WJ is still going to be pretty crowded, and they won't be able to fit all the kids in the cafeteria even then, I think. They will go from insane, unsafe overcrowding to ordinary MCPS incredibly large and crowded HS.
We bought in this neighborhood 15 years ago and they were already talking about a plan to fix the HS problem. I never imagined that my kids would actually be done with school before it was even slightly fixed.

WJ will not be over crowded or even pretty crowded once Woodward opens

Woodward slipped back 2 years before construction started (delayed funding, because, there's never enough), then slipped one more once under construction - it will open in in Fall of 27 and won't be delayed further. It's already open and working for Northwood, they are just working on phase 2 now (additional parking, fields, auxiliary gym and auditorium)

I know that but what is the northwood building is not done on time? I just don’t think you can say anything is 100% especially with labor shortages and tariffs and the county in a budgetary crisis with furloughs and rifs.
And it will still be a massive school that will send lots of kids to wildwood for lunch. It will not be technically overcrowded but I think it’s going from llle 3000 kids to 2200 kids or something like that, and the cafeteria doesn’t fit anything near that. So for the purposes of this thread…..do not expect the Woodward reopening to eliminate the issue of WJ kids at G Squate and Wildwood for lunch.