Option B Alternate - Adding extra ES to WJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today at the BOE meeting, the central office stood behind the Superintendent’s recommendation.

However…to respond to some comments, they propose an alternative to the BOE that would cut Viers Mill Elementary in two for split articulation. The half in the walk zone to Wheaton would go to Wheaton. The other half would go to WJ. This is instead of all of VMES going to Woodward.

Thoughts?

This compromise is certainly more balanced then Taylor's recommendation.

I’m Woodward regardless. Is it? I guess I’m in favor of my school being less crowded but it looks like musical chairs.

WJ 77 to 84
Wheaton 86 to 93
Woodward 91 to 76

I don’t think balance is the right word here because it’s similar utilization rates just houses differently.

Which area is getting added in this proposal to increase WJ from 77 to 84?

The western half of Viers Mill ES.

I wonder how splitting VMES like that would play into the elementary school study. Could they be sent to an under capacity Kensington Parkwood?

I doubt it. VM is already way under capacity. I suspect they will rezone a section of Ashburton to KP (maybe the Grosvenor Park area). Ashburton is busting at the seams and the attendance zone borders KP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board must recognize that the superintendent's proposal is deeply flawed and will have to modify it in some shape of form. This is not just because of FARMS divide but because WJ being less utilized than Woodward makes no sense. They just presented a slide that shows that there is more upcoming development in Woodward than WJ, significantly more.

So the only rationale to underutilize WJ is belief that everybody will be applying to magnets in WJ and very few to other magnets in that region. But that is the same as saying - hey, we know that most of our magnets will be terrible. Not to mention that it will further concentrate advanced students in just one school.

You ignore currently existing housing in both zones. It isn’t like the only kids come from possible new housing…. And the 100 new unit disparity accounts for about 14 high school kids at a given time according to those slides and multipliers.

You also ignore wear and tear on the older facility that has been above capacity for a decade+ where as we spent hundreds of millions on a brand new facility with a lower depreciation factor

Yea WJ could be the next Wootton with the way MCPS maintains buildings…only no new school will be built.

You realize that WJ had a huge new addition and was renovated not so long ago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today at the BOE meeting, the central office stood behind the Superintendent’s recommendation.

However…to respond to some comments, they propose an alternative to the BOE that would cut Viers Mill Elementary in two for split articulation. The half in the walk zone to Wheaton would go to Wheaton. The other half would go to WJ. This is instead of all of VMES going to Woodward.

Thoughts?

This compromise is certainly more balanced then Taylor's recommendation.

I’m Woodward regardless. Is it? I guess I’m in favor of my school being less crowded but it looks like musical chairs.

WJ 77 to 84
Wheaton 86 to 93
Woodward 91 to 76

I don’t think balance is the right word here because it’s similar utilization rates just houses differently.

FARMS balance

WJ from 15.3 to 17.7
Wheaton from 59.2 to 58.7
Woodward from 35.2 to 32.2

Did it move the needle that much?

I agree it basically just moves around utilization rates without much change to farms. I guess a smidge but nothing meaningful worth breaking up communities over.

It's not a meaningful farms difference.

What is happening is that they inflated the capacity of Wheaton HS by 500 seats over what is in the CIP for that school. So the Superintendent's recommendation actually leaves Wheaton HS over capacity. Adding half of Viers Mill would make this worse. In two years they will cry about how overcrowded Wheaton is and how the Council MUST fund an expansion of Edison HS (next door) for overflow. They will say this was promised to them, but it should never have been promised with the current fiscal situation. There is plenty of capacity in existing buildings, and the walk from Viers Mill to Wheaton is not safe. Everyone is better off with them getting a bus to another school with actual capacity.

What happens right now? Do kids walk? If yes, then why can't they continue walking? If no then this is certainly an issue.

They currently get driven or walk along unsafe roads to an overcrowded school.

But it is close to home; much closer than WJ or Woodward and that will make a difference for some families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board must recognize that the superintendent's proposal is deeply flawed and will have to modify it in some shape of form. This is not just because of FARMS divide but because WJ being less utilized than Woodward makes no sense. They just presented a slide that shows that there is more upcoming development in Woodward than WJ, significantly more.

So the only rationale to underutilize WJ is belief that everybody will be applying to magnets in WJ and very few to other magnets in that region. But that is the same as saying - hey, we know that most of our magnets will be terrible. Not to mention that it will further concentrate advanced students in just one school.

You ignore currently existing housing in both zones. It isn’t like the only kids come from possible new housing…. And the 100 new unit disparity accounts for about 14 high school kids at a given time according to those slides and multipliers.

You also ignore wear and tear on the older facility that has been above capacity for a decade+ where as we spent hundreds of millions on a brand new facility with a lower depreciation factor

Yea WJ could be the next Wootton with the way MCPS maintains buildings…only no new school will be built.

You realize that WJ had a huge new addition and was renovated not so long ago?

Yes about 20 years ago…you realize MCPS does not maintain buildings? I went to that WJ for an event recently… those bathrooms were gross and had plumbing issues. So glad my kids are zoned Woodward.

[Anonymous]

Seems like VMES don’t want split articulation and want Woodward. I don’t view MCPS alternate as serious. There’s been zero outreach to us at VMES about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today at the BOE meeting, the central office stood behind the Superintendent’s recommendation.

However…to respond to some comments, they propose an alternative to the BOE that would cut Viers Mill Elementary in two for split articulation. The half in the walk zone to Wheaton would go to Wheaton. The other half would go to WJ. This is instead of all of VMES going to Woodward.

Thoughts?

This compromise is certainly more balanced then Taylor's recommendation.

I’m Woodward regardless. Is it? I guess I’m in favor of my school being less crowded but it looks like musical chairs.

WJ 77 to 84
Wheaton 86 to 93
Woodward 91 to 76

I don’t think balance is the right word here because it’s similar utilization rates just houses differently.

FARMS balance

WJ from 15.3 to 17.7
Wheaton from 59.2 to 58.7
Woodward from 35.2 to 32.2

Did it move the needle that much?

I agree it basically just moves around utilization rates without much change to farms. I guess a smidge but nothing meaningful worth breaking up communities over.

It's not a meaningful farms difference.

What is happening is that they inflated the capacity of Wheaton HS by 500 seats over what is in the CIP for that school. So the Superintendent's recommendation actually leaves Wheaton HS over capacity. Adding half of Viers Mill would make this worse. In two years they will cry about how overcrowded Wheaton is and how the Council MUST fund an expansion of Edison HS (next door) for overflow. They will say this was promised to them, but it should never have been promised with the current fiscal situation. There is plenty of capacity in existing buildings, and the walk from Viers Mill to Wheaton is not safe. Everyone is better off with them getting a bus to another school with actual capacity.

What happens right now? Do kids walk? If yes, then why can't they continue walking? If no then this is certainly an issue.

They currently get driven or walk along unsafe roads to an overcrowded school.

But it is close to home; much closer than WJ or Woodward and that will make a difference for some families.

Not everyone can go to the closest school. That is impossible and setting a hard line like that is fiscally irresponsible in a time of severe budget pressure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board must recognize that the superintendent's proposal is deeply flawed and will have to modify it in some shape of form. This is not just because of FARMS divide but because WJ being less utilized than Woodward makes no sense. They just presented a slide that shows that there is more upcoming development in Woodward than WJ, significantly more.

So the only rationale to underutilize WJ is belief that everybody will be applying to magnets in WJ and very few to other magnets in that region. But that is the same as saying - hey, we know that most of our magnets will be terrible. Not to mention that it will further concentrate advanced students in just one school.

You ignore currently existing housing in both zones. It isn’t like the only kids come from possible new housing…. And the 100 new unit disparity accounts for about 14 high school kids at a given time according to those slides and multipliers.

You also ignore wear and tear on the older facility that has been above capacity for a decade+ where as we spent hundreds of millions on a brand new facility with a lower depreciation factor

Yea WJ could be the next Wootton with the way MCPS maintains buildings…only no new school will be built.

The new school is already here. Woodward was opened specifically to address overcrowding at WJ. But you are saying that is not enough and they should also go easy on old WJ building because of wear and tear and keep it significantly under capacity. You are pushing it. Even CO sees it and that is why they spent some time in the presentation talking about building number projections. WJ is not the only old school in the county.

Exactly. No reason for Woodward to be under capacity at 76.5%. The heat map of students didn’t illustrate Woodward would be over crowded. In fact the kids are at Wheaton so why make them crowded? Build a new school and don’t use it? The Superintendent stood by his original recommendation.

He also said that he will support the alternative if BOA selects it and mentioned its several positive features. It is all in the video (around 2:55).

“We still standby the recommendation that is in front of you….”-MCPS staff

“Just want to elevate one feature here, we absolutely standby the recommendation that has been made…”-Taylor

Selective editing. Again, if one wants to get a feel for where this is going they should watch the video and make their own judgment. The slide about the Alternative is titled "We ARE Listening". They wouldn't call it that if CO doesn't believe in it. It will be on BOE to endorse one of the two options or come up with the third one.

How can they come up with a third one at this point? No one proposed one at the work session, and the last two public hearings are next Monday and Tuesday. They can't introduce another option at next Thursday's work session without scheduling more public hearings to discuss them, can they? And wouldn't they gave introduced it yesterday if someone was going to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The board must recognize that the superintendent's proposal is deeply flawed and will have to modify it in some shape of form. This is not just because of FARMS divide but because WJ being less utilized than Woodward makes no sense. They just presented a slide that shows that there is more upcoming development in Woodward than WJ, significantly more.

So the only rationale to underutilize WJ is belief that everybody will be applying to magnets in WJ and very few to other magnets in that region. But that is the same as saying - hey, we know that most of our magnets will be terrible. Not to mention that it will further concentrate advanced students in just one school.

You ignore currently existing housing in both zones. It isn’t like the only kids come from possible new housing…. And the 100 new unit disparity accounts for about 14 high school kids at a given time according to those slides and multipliers.

You also ignore wear and tear on the older facility that has been above capacity for a decade+ where as we spent hundreds of millions on a brand new facility with a lower depreciation factor

Yea WJ could be the next Wootton with the way MCPS maintains buildings…only no new school will be built.

The new school is already here. Woodward was opened specifically to address overcrowding at WJ. But you are saying that is not enough and they should also go easy on old WJ building because of wear and tear and keep it significantly under capacity. You are pushing it. Even CO sees it and that is why they spent some time in the presentation talking about building number projections. WJ is not the only old school in the county.

Exactly. No reason for Woodward to be under capacity at 76.5%. The heat map of students didn’t illustrate Woodward would be over crowded. In fact the kids are at Wheaton so why make them crowded? Build a new school and don’t use it? The Superintendent stood by his original recommendation.

He also said that he will support the alternative if BOA selects it and mentioned its several positive features. It is all in the video (around 2:55).

“We still standby the recommendation that is in front of you….”-MCPS staff

“Just want to elevate one feature here, we absolutely standby the recommendation that has been made…”-Taylor

Selective editing. Again, if one wants to get a feel for where this is going they should watch the video and make their own judgment. The slide about the Alternative is titled "We ARE Listening". They wouldn't call it that if CO doesn't believe in it. It will be on BOE to endorse one of the two options or come up with the third one.

How can they come up with a third one at this point? No one proposed one at the work session, and the last two public hearings are next Monday and Tuesday. They can't introduce another option at next Thursday's work session without scheduling more public hearings to discuss them, can they? And wouldn't they gave introduced it yesterday if someone was going to?

Can they do so at the March 9 or 10 CIP hearings?

March 12 is just a work session.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today at the BOE meeting, the central office stood behind the Superintendent’s recommendation.

However…to respond to some comments, they propose an alternative to the BOE that would cut Viers Mill Elementary in two for split articulation. The half in the walk zone to Wheaton would go to Wheaton. The other half would go to WJ. This is instead of all of VMES going to Woodward.

Thoughts?

This compromise is certainly more balanced then Taylor's recommendation.

I’m Woodward regardless. Is it? I guess I’m in favor of my school being less crowded but it looks like musical chairs.

WJ 77 to 84
Wheaton 86 to 93
Woodward 91 to 76

I don’t think balance is the right word here because it’s similar utilization rates just houses differently.

FARMS balance

WJ from 15.3 to 17.7
Wheaton from 59.2 to 58.7
Woodward from 35.2 to 32.2

Did it move the needle that much?

I agree it basically just moves around utilization rates without much change to farms. I guess a smidge but nothing meaningful worth breaking up communities over.

It's not a meaningful farms difference.

What is happening is that they inflated the capacity of Wheaton HS by 500 seats over what is in the CIP for that school. So the Superintendent's recommendation actually leaves Wheaton HS over capacity. Adding half of Viers Mill would make this worse. In two years they will cry about how overcrowded Wheaton is and how the Council MUST fund an expansion of Edison HS (next door) for overflow. They will say this was promised to them, but it should never have been promised with the current fiscal situation. There is plenty of capacity in existing buildings, and the walk from Viers Mill to Wheaton is not safe. Everyone is better off with them getting a bus to another school with actual capacity.

What happens right now? Do kids walk? If yes, then why can't they continue walking? If no then this is certainly an issue.

They currently get driven or walk along unsafe roads to an overcrowded school.

But it is close to home; much closer than WJ or Woodward and that will make a difference for some families.

Not everyone can go to the closest school. That is impossible and setting a hard line like that is fiscally irresponsible in a time of severe budget pressure.

True, it would be irresponsible to make the change. Wheaton capacity out of control. Rich white schools want all the benefits. Montoya will check this.

[Anonymous]

I love how the rich white neighborhood clamoring for 'equity' and local press buys that storyline. I guess that's why Taylor paused the slides for the 'media' but they neglected to report on the updates from the work session.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2026/03/04/woodward-boundaries/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how the rich white neighborhood clamoring for 'equity' and local press buys that storyline. I guess that's why Taylor paused the slides for the 'media' but they neglected to report on the updates from the work session.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2026/03/04/woodward-boundaries/

"Sussman noted that Woodward was built to address overcrowding at Bethesda’s Walter Johnson High School and other schools, but would be above 90% of its capacity upon opening under the district’s recommended option B.

“That is not relief — that is recreating the same problem,” she said. "

LOL I'm sure she doesn't care about Wheaton being above 90%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how the rich white neighborhood clamoring for 'equity' and local press buys that storyline. I guess that's why Taylor paused the slides for the 'media' but they neglected to report on the updates from the work session.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2026/03/04/woodward-boundaries/

"Roughly 2,150 people in the Woodward community also signed a petition advocating for more “parity and equity” between the new school and Walter Johnson."


62% of supporters come from: 20852, 20850, 20814. See https://www.change.org/p/parity-and-equity-between-wj-and-woodward-hs. Who are the 38%? Just spambots?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today at the BOE meeting, the central office stood behind the Superintendent’s recommendation.

However…to respond to some comments, they propose an alternative to the BOE that would cut Viers Mill Elementary in two for split articulation. The half in the walk zone to Wheaton would go to Wheaton. The other half would go to WJ. This is instead of all of VMES going to Woodward.

Thoughts?

This compromise is certainly more balanced then Taylor's recommendation.

I’m Woodward regardless. Is it? I guess I’m in favor of my school being less crowded but it looks like musical chairs.

WJ 77 to 84
Wheaton 86 to 93
Woodward 91 to 76

I don’t think balance is the right word here because it’s similar utilization rates just houses differently.

FARMS balance

WJ from 15.3 to 17.7
Wheaton from 59.2 to 58.7
Woodward from 35.2 to 32.2

Did it move the needle that much?

I agree it basically just moves around utilization rates without much change to farms. I guess a smidge but nothing meaningful worth breaking up communities over.

It's not a meaningful farms difference.

What is happening is that they inflated the capacity of Wheaton HS by 500 seats over what is in the CIP for that school. So the Superintendent's recommendation actually leaves Wheaton HS over capacity. Adding half of Viers Mill would make this worse. In two years they will cry about how overcrowded Wheaton is and how the Council MUST fund an expansion of Edison HS (next door) for overflow. They will say this was promised to them, but it should never have been promised with the current fiscal situation. There is plenty of capacity in existing buildings, and the walk from Viers Mill to Wheaton is not safe. Everyone is better off with them getting a bus to another school with actual capacity.

What happens right now? Do kids walk? If yes, then why can't they continue walking? If no then this is certainly an issue.

They get driven or they take a Ride On bus. I know some Wheaton kids cross Connecticut but I don't know any from the VM neighborhoods that walk on a regular basis. I assume the ones I see crossing Connecticut in the morning are from the Shriver-zoned neighborhood

[Anonymous]

As a parent and a teacher, avoiding splitting elementary schools should be a huge priority. For that matter, this situation allows you to avoid splitting ES and MS. It seems obvious that GPES and KP should each go as an entire school to one of the HS. VM and WW should each go to one of HS.

Splitting elementary/middle school students has the potential for a negative social emotional impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how the rich white neighborhood clamoring for 'equity' and local press buys that storyline. I guess that's why Taylor paused the slides for the 'media' but they neglected to report on the updates from the work session.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2026/03/04/woodward-boundaries/

"Roughly 2,150 people in the Woodward community also signed a petition advocating for more “parity and equity” between the new school and Walter Johnson."


62% of supporters come from: 20852, 20850, 20814. See https://www.change.org/p/parity-and-equity-between-wj-and-woodward-hs. Who are the 38%? Just spambots?

They might be taken more seriously if they insisted that Kennedy, Blake, Magruder, Woodward...and every other school were given that parity and equity.