My gut feeling on 3/26 BOE vote

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the MCPS staff members who made early decisions about Woodward and Crown and the boundary studies are gone.

Enrollment numbers were on a completely different trajectory pre-COVID and MCPS reasonably thought the Covid dip was a blip and would recover. They didn’t plan on Trump II illegally decimating federal employment in our county, and I don’t blame them for not anticipating that.

So now a new Superintendent and new MCPS employees are living with construction approved 6+ years ago and enrollment projections that have changed substantially since the original boundary study plans and scope were approved. They are also dealing with a previous Superintendent’s decision not to include ES boundaries in the current scope.

There is no conspiracy. There are less than ideal conditions and a lack of continuity in decision making as well as questionable data practices. But there’s no conspiracy and anyone who could be said to be responsible has already left. They knew this was going to be a shit-show and they got out before this stage for a reason.

+1

I get they are in a rock and hard place, but why make it worse? Why not delay and take the time to speak w Wheaton Woods?

They knew in July 2024 that Crown wasn’t needed. As such, they didn’t have to break ground and could have released the land back to Gaithersburg or sought an extension. They suggested moving an existing school (Wootton) into Crown in November 2024 after construction was underway - so that it was too late to stop it. To do that, they had to commission a boundary study that would justify moving the Wootton boundary to encompass Crown.

The facts are that there is a nearly finished school that should be used. Conceded that how we got to this point is all messed up. But we ARE at this point, and the BOW should make the best decision possible given those facts.

Fine, use it as a holding school. Repair Wootton. Repair Magruder. There are funds for repairs (not full renovations). MCPS will have to do without its $168M on EV buses and spending millions to litigate stupid cases all the way to the Supreme Court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not including elementary school rezoning in the boundary study really was the worst mistake of all here. It makes the high school rezoning harder plus now we need another costly and contentious redistricting process for the elementary school study, which will also probably be harder since they'll try to maintain the high school assignments from this study, which were maybe not the most logical choices because they were required to maintain the current elementary school assignments.

Thanks to the selfish, elitist jerks on here and elsewhere who freaked out and complained so much about the idea of a countywide boundary study when it first got proposed a few years back. They scared MCPS out of redoing all the boundaries together like they should've, and instead we are stuck with this messed up process instead, with all the problems you note. Thanks, guys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not including elementary school rezoning in the boundary study really was the worst mistake of all here. It makes the high school rezoning harder plus now we need another costly and contentious redistricting process for the elementary school study, which will also probably be harder since they'll try to maintain the high school assignments from this study, which were maybe not the most logical choices because they were required to maintain the current elementary school assignments.

Thanks to the selfish, elitist jerks on here and elsewhere who freaked out and complained so much about the idea of a countywide boundary study when it first got proposed a few years back. They scared MCPS out of redoing all the boundaries together like they should've, and instead we are stuck with this messed up process instead, with all the problems you note. Thanks, guys.

That's on MCPS for cow towing to a small minority of racist squeaky wheels

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not including elementary school rezoning in the boundary study really was the worst mistake of all here. It makes the high school rezoning harder plus now we need another costly and contentious redistricting process for the elementary school study, which will also probably be harder since they'll try to maintain the high school assignments from this study, which were maybe not the most logical choices because they were required to maintain the current elementary school assignments.

Thanks to the selfish, elitist jerks on here and elsewhere who freaked out and complained so much about the idea of a countywide boundary study when it first got proposed a few years back. They scared MCPS out of redoing all the boundaries together like they should've, and instead we are stuck with this messed up process instead, with all the problems you note. Thanks, guys.

That's on MCPS for cow towing to a small minority of racist squeaky wheels

The Chinese word is “kowtow” or “kaotao” or “kou tou” and its use in this context is offensive. It was a sign of deep respect to the emperor of China and is part of some Buddhist ceremonies. It is not used in the way you describe.

If you’re going to engage in cultural appropriation, at least use it correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not including elementary school rezoning in the boundary study really was the worst mistake of all here. It makes the high school rezoning harder plus now we need another costly and contentious redistricting process for the elementary school study, which will also probably be harder since they'll try to maintain the high school assignments from this study, which were maybe not the most logical choices because they were required to maintain the current elementary school assignments.

Thanks to the selfish, elitist jerks on here and elsewhere who freaked out and complained so much about the idea of a countywide boundary study when it first got proposed a few years back. They scared MCPS out of redoing all the boundaries together like they should've, and instead we are stuck with this messed up process instead, with all the problems you note. Thanks, guys.

That's on MCPS for cow towing to a small minority of racist squeaky wheels

The Chinese word is “kowtow” or “kaotao” or “kou tou” and its use in this context is offensive. It was a sign of deep respect to the emperor of China and is part of some Buddhist ceremonies. It is not used in the way you describe.

If you’re going to engage in cultural appropriation, at least use it correctly.

Thank you for calling me out on this!

[Anonymous]

So who’s really running the show?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the MCPS staff members who made early decisions about Woodward and Crown and the boundary studies are gone.

Enrollment numbers were on a completely different trajectory pre-COVID and MCPS reasonably thought the Covid dip was a blip and would recover. They didn’t plan on Trump II illegally decimating federal employment in our county, and I don’t blame them for not anticipating that.

So now a new Superintendent and new MCPS employees are living with construction approved 6+ years ago and enrollment projections that have changed substantially since the original boundary study plans and scope were approved. They are also dealing with a previous Superintendent’s decision not to include ES boundaries in the current scope.

There is no conspiracy. There are less than ideal conditions and a lack of continuity in decision making as well as questionable data practices. But there’s no conspiracy and anyone who could be said to be responsible has already left. They knew this was going to be a shit-show and they got out before this stage for a reason.

+1

I get they are in a rock and hard place, but why make it worse? Why not delay and take the time to speak w Wheaton Woods?

They knew in July 2024 that Crown wasn’t needed. As such, they didn’t have to break ground and could have released the land back to Gaithersburg or sought an extension. They suggested moving an existing school (Wootton) into Crown in November 2024 after construction was underway - so that it was too late to stop it. To do that, they had to commission a boundary study that would justify moving the Wootton boundary to encompass Crown.

The facts are that there is a nearly finished school that should be used. Conceded that how we got to this point is all messed up. But we ARE at this point, and the BOW should make the best decision possible given those facts.

Fine, use it as a holding school. Repair Wootton. Repair Magruder. There are funds for repairs (not full renovations). MCPS will have to do without its $168M on EV buses and spending millions to litigate stupid cases all the way to the Supreme Court.

Both schools need to be gutted or torn down, just like multiple other schools.

[Anonymous]

But wasn’t Crown built using state funds not the county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But wasn’t Crown built using state funds not the county?

If this is true, that’s a Mossi g piece of the puzzle. Taylor proposed using Crown as a holding school, then suddenly pivoted 2 days later to proposed closing Wootton and moving its kids to Crown. Perhaps someone in Annapolis told him a holding school was a non-starter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But wasn’t Crown built using state funds not the county?

Yes, the state has contributed almost $100 million in funds to date. That’s what makes this issue so dicey. While the state doesn’t get involved in a normal boundary study because normal boundary studies don’t involve state money…this is not a normal boundary study…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But wasn’t Crown built using state funds not the county?

If this is true, that’s a Mossi g piece of the puzzle. Taylor proposed using Crown as a holding school, then suddenly pivoted 2 days later to proposed closing Wootton and moving its kids to Crown. Perhaps someone in Annapolis told him a holding school was a non-starter?

State is on record saying Crown as a holding school is ok. Ironically, the only option not okayed by state is using Crown as a “relocation” of Wootton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But wasn’t Crown built using state funds not the county?

If this is true, that’s a Mossi g piece of the puzzle. Taylor proposed using Crown as a holding school, then suddenly pivoted 2 days later to proposed closing Wootton and moving its kids to Crown. Perhaps someone in Annapolis told him a holding school was a non-starter?

State is on record saying Crown as a holding school is ok. Ironically, the only option not okayed by state is using Crown as a “relocation” of Wootton

The state is also on record saying they don't get involved in boundary decisions, which is what H is. They would have needed to approve the holding school option because of funding but they do not need to approve H.

[Anonymous]

Are we going to find out when the school year ends??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But wasn’t Crown built using state funds not the county?

If this is true, that’s a Mossi g piece of the puzzle. Taylor proposed using Crown as a holding school, then suddenly pivoted 2 days later to proposed closing Wootton and moving its kids to Crown. Perhaps someone in Annapolis told him a holding school was a non-starter?

State is on record saying Crown as a holding school is ok. Ironically, the only option not okayed by state is using Crown as a “relocation” of Wootton

The state is also on record saying they don't get involved in boundary decisions, which is what H is. They would have needed to approve the holding school option because of funding but they do not need to approve H.

Agree to disagree. I guess it’s up to a judge to decide.

[Anonymous]

The mass deportation as well. How manh undocumented families and thier children have beem deported?

Anonymous wrote:Most of the MCPS staff members who made early decisions about Woodward and Crown and the boundary studies are gone.

Enrollment numbers were on a completely different trajectory pre-COVID and MCPS reasonably thought the Covid dip was a blip and would recover. They didn’t plan on Trump II illegally decimating federal employment in our county, and I don’t blame them for not anticipating that.

So now a new Superintendent and new MCPS employees are living with construction approved 6+ years ago and enrollment projections that have changed substantially since the original boundary study plans and scope were approved. They are also dealing with a previous Superintendent’s decision not to include ES boundaries in the current scope.

There is no conspiracy. There are less than ideal conditions and a lack of continuity in decision making as well as questionable data practices. But there’s no conspiracy and anyone who could be said to be responsible has already left. They knew this was going to be a shit-show and they got out before this stage for a reason.