Reply to Taylor Meeting at Wootton

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What is with the hyperbole? 250 new buses on Wootton Parkway? 37 stops for one bus?! Making up BS just further undermines your argument. Clearly you're unfamiliar with how public school busing works here, because they don't go from house to house picking up each kid. LOL. There are things called "bus stops" where they pick up dozens of kids at one place, for efficiency. The Wootton bus schedule is a public document, and you can see for yourself that every bus makes just a handful of stops - with one outlier at 16 stops. Oh, and it's 22 buses for Wootton. Moving Wootton to Crown will not make that number jump to 250. Even if none of these groups turn to walkers at Crown (which some of them will), it still will not require another 228 buses to transport the Wootton walkers to Crown. And since MCPS already said that Wootton wouldn't be used as a holding school for several years, you don't have to worry about another 22-30 (not 228) buses from another high school coming. IF and when it is used as a holding school, there will be plenty of time to stagger the holding school start time from Wootton. https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/Transportation/busroutes/04234bus.pdf
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If Wootton isn’t going to be used as a holding school for several years, what is the plan for Magruder and why is this plan equitable? [/quote]

It isn’t. Moving Wootton to Crown kills 2 birds with one stone for Taylor (really 3 birds). First, he fills Crown with high achieving kids, instant academic reputation that would otherwise take 20 years (if ever) to develop (and speaking of developers, they will be very happy). Second, it avoids MCPS having to spend money remediating Wootton, so it can spend that money on more sole source contracts that violate procurement regulations. Third, it means there isn’t a holding school for Magruder, so MCPS can delay that $300M+ renovation for years (if Crown was a holding school for Magruder, MCPS would have to find the money to begin renovations). 
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Nobody is talking about the staffing elephant in the room. What happens when Wootton's teachers leave?

And they will. I would know since I am one.  Teachers with 15-20 years in a community don't just pick up and relocate because a superintendent drew a new line on a map. Many of them chose Wootton specifically for the culture, the community, the commute from where they actually live. When this "relocation" happens and half the faculty walks out the door, suddenly you don't have Wootton at Crown. You have Crown with a Wootton nameplate.

My kids had some of those teachers (my colleagues) over a decade ago. The institutional knowledge, the relationships, the culture we've all built... it's not a building. That's years of investment that evaporates the moment this vote passes and the resignation letters start.

MCPS keeps saying this is a move, not a closure. Fine. But a school is its people, not its address. When you force a relocation without meaningful faculty buy-in and lose half your experienced staff in the process, you've effectively closed the school everyone knew and opened a new one with a familiar logo.  We've had very little engagement from the county other than with each other as peers.  There are mixed feelings of course, but nobody took our pulse at the county level.

That's not a relocation. That's a rebranding. And the kids who show up at Crown in 2027 expecting Wootton deserve to know the difference.[/quote]

I'm really sorry to hear this. I also think you should know that the Wootton families believe that teachers are replaceable. The responses to those staff members who feel unsafe in the building is, "then you should transfer schools". Disgusting lack of care for people who probably spend more time with their kids than they do, right? Sorry you aren't valued more. [/quote]

Thank you.  Transferring schools isn't a desire I have.  I'd rather retire than move - just a few more years left.  I simply care about these kids, even in this old building.  I do spend a lot of time with these kids because I genuinely care about them.  They value they provide to me is worth, what I feel is a small investment in them.  To watch them grow is my vitamin.  Many of these kids have become lifelong friends that come back to visit.  They talk about the fun walks and talks they had over the years.  The other staff members haven't been as vocal about the conditions, but some may feel a certain way about it.  [/quote]

This is.. too much.[/quote]

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