Crown is way closer to Wootton than it is to Magruder. As a long term plan it makes a lot more sense to move Wootton there than to move Magruder there. We aren't talking about a two year holding school timeline. This is for at least ten years I bet. There isn't money for remediation at this point (at least not on the CIP- we can debate if the money exists elsewhere). |
| What is the point of the lawsuit? What’s the end game here? |
This is what I'd like to know as well. Is there an avenue by which the plaintiffs could actually have Wootton stay at its current building - ie, the county is forced to use one of the other boundary options or redo the study? Or is a delay the most that they would be able to achieve (ie, it's agreed that this is a closure rather than a relocation and MCPS has to go through that process)? |
A delay or redo is much more likely than a court forcing a different outcome. Courts aren’t going to pick between options. Even if plaintiffs win, the usual result is “go back and do the process correctly,” which could mean redoing the study, running a proper closure process, or reopening public input. Wootton could end up staying, but only indirectly—because a reset puts other options back on the table, creates time and political pressure, and changes the dynamics. So the real upside isn’t a guaranteed outcome, it’s getting another shot at the decision. |
Taylor actually proposed using Crown as a holding school (arguably for Magruder). It needs remediation far more immediately than Wootton. Even if there isnt any money today, its kids would be safe for a few years until it is. Under Option H, Magruder got screwed. |
Magruder IS screwed, no doubt, but this is not because of Option H. None of the options accelerated the long overdue Magruder renovation. The only thing option H did was not let these students use Crown until then. Unless you are a Magruder family who would have had to put your children on a bus for 30 mins each way* FOR THE BETTER PART OF A DECADE if you have multiple kids I think you should keep Magruder’s name out ya mouth. *For the love of Wootton and all her feeders please do not reply that your commute to Crown from the Lakewood or Fallsmead area will also be that length. Please and thank you. |
+1. This lawsuit makes no sense. |
No one is dismissing the impact on Magruder families—long bus rides for years is a real concern—but if the justification for moving Wootton is truly student health and safety, then Magruder is arguably worse off, since its underlying issues remain unaddressed. Option H doesn’t fix that—it just shifts who absorbs the disruption. And in a countywide decision like this, it’s not realistic to say “keep Magruder out of it”—these tradeoffs are interconnected, and people are going to question whether the approach is consistent. |
Sure. But ultimately this goes back to geographic proximity. Wootton students are much closer to Crown than Magruder is. In fact, about half the current Wootton students are actually CLOSER to the CROWN building than they are to the current Wootton building. It's less disruptive and kills two birds with one stone. Fills the Crown building by the deadline and eliminates the need to renovate the Wootton building. It DOES make sense. I understand why people are upset- of course it would have been better for Wootton to receive renovation across the last several decades but it didn't, and now we need to deal with situation at hand. |
Just to be clear, the MCPS justification is fiscal; moving Wootton to Crown saves money by not opening an unneeded high school and on future improvements needed to keep Wootton open as a fulltime high school. MCPS' position has always been that Wootton is fine as-is as a holding school and they'll put money into needed renovations when money becomes available (which is not currently budgeted in the CIP). It's the parent groups who have been arguing about how bad the conditions at Wootton are and whether they can be remediated. |
No, it’s the trolls here that are saying it. |
Sure… all those previous testimonies on the subject was trolling. Year after year worth of trolling on the condition of the building. Students giving a tour of the school with BOE and news reporters present. Just trolling |
So student safety being the reason means Magruder - which is way worse off - should go to Crown for 5 years until there is money to renovate its building. This is bolstered by Taylor claiming Wootton’s building is fine as a holding school, which undercuts the hyperbole that Wootton is uninhabitable. |
Sighhhhhh. This isn’t how Holding schools work. Communities don’t go to holding schools until construction is underway for their current facility. There was never any world where Magruder went to Crown for 5-10 years while waiting to get put on the CIP. The benefit of ANY holding school option for Magruder is that schools currently on the CIP (e.g., for shorter term projects like HVAC replacement) can use that holding school to accelerate the timeline of their repairs which then saves significant money. Saving that money on other investments may (hopefully) accelerate the timeline for Magruder getting on the CIP. This benefit is the same whether the holding school is at Crown or Wootton. |
The discussion is not about Magruder. You are really stretching. That makes no sense. Do you even have kids? |