Reply to Taylor's Feb Rec for Crown Boundary Study

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Reply to "Taylor's Feb Rec for Crown Boundary Study"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]i really dont understand the "save wootton" people. the "school" will still exist with the teachers and the programs. why do you cling to a crumbling building?[/quote]

Because it isn't about the school or the education.  It is about the property values.

That and the relatively normal human instinct to reflexively reject change of any kind.  Which, while understandable, is not persuasive.[/quote]

Their property values will not change over school boundaries.  It may change because of what is going on in the country right now.[/quote]

Not only will the property values change, but a huge draw for the county will be gone. High income earners that are looking to put down roots are looking at the ratio of home price to academic cluster success. [b]Wootton clears that hurdle for many, and the resulting Crown will not.[/b] Taylor has no skin in the game and will not feel the effects, but the County will.[/quote]

1. There is no (research-backed) reason to believe that Wootton at Crown will be meaningfully less "successful" than the current location.
2. The county will not lose high income earners because of this move.  There are plenty of other locations within the county with the same "ratio" that you describe.[/quote]

Of course there isn’t any Crown specific research. It’s not open yet. But it’s common sense that there will be a dip (potentially significant, depending on the past performance of the non-Wootton kids who get to go to Crown). Wootton at Crown may recover in 5-10 years, but the damage will be done.

Yes, the county will lose high income earners, likely to Virginia, as there will be one less “W” school. [/quote]

I feel the need to address your concerns directly.  I grew up in the Fields Road system and lived in that district throughout my childhood.  However, for personal reasons, I was able to get a transfer to Frost from Ridgeview in 7th grade and then went on to Wootton for HS.  I was consistently at the top of my class, got into many highly ranked private and public colleges/universities (am attending one now), took enough AP classes I was able to bank an entire semester of college, came into college having already taken multivariable calculus, etc.

Both of the kids right next door to me in my neighborhood went to the Poolesville magnet program, and there were several more high achieving kids around me in the Fields Road district.  As for the ones who opted to go to the magnets at Poolesville, now that Wootton @ Crown is going to have the SMCS program, I'd assume most of these high achieving kids will stay at Wootton @ Crown Farm.

So, while you are correct that there are more disadvantaged families at Fields Road that have difficulty getting to the same place as children from the Wootton district, you are being far too categorical with your assumptions.  Plenty of families from FRES CAN accomplish much more than you seem to think.  I think you are also failing to consider the fact that the majority culture at Wootton @ Crown will still be made up of individuals who come from and represent the high-pressure environment of Wootton.  Had I gone to QO, I am sure I would have been a good student as well; however, I believe the peer pressure of the highly academic environment of Wootton did push me to exert myself more.  Given the students from SMES, DuFief, TES, Fallsmead and Lakewood will be setting the culture through their majority, it is highly likely that there will be MORE pressure created within those coming from Fields Road or Rosemont Island #8 than the latter scenario you seem to be worried about (where the inclusion of these groups will attenuate the competitiveness of Wootton).  [/quote]

Your personal experience does not change the current statistics of the school. Both Fields road and Rosemont are below 50% in math and reading proficiency. That’s the problem. Compare proficiency levels to any of the current Wootton feeders. So yeah you and your “neighbors” were not the norm-you were the outliers. Always have a couple of those at any low performing school-it’s the school statistics as a whole that matter. [/quote]

Thank you. But now the naysayers on this thread will throw various accusations at you for stating the obvious.  Wootton has been successful because its feeders are generally high performing, and this performance is associated with higher SES and/or significant parental involvement in their kids’ education. Perhaps the lower performing kids who end up at Crown will do well eventually, but the immediate effect will likely be negative compared to Wootton’s historical performance.  Wootton parents want to preserve this reputation, but the naysayers can only see money and DEI. [/quote]

Newsflash, many kids have high preforming kids with involved parents and higher SES.  No one cares about Wootton but you all made it an issue with the protesting.  Now you won and got a new school, and are still complaining.  If you care about abotu reputation, then you need to look at the bad things that have happened, as some of us would never send our kids there given some of the stuff that happened there.[/quote]

No school is perfect. They all have issues in one area or another. It’s a pick your poison type situation-a parent needs to decide what kind of environment they want their kids in as compared to another environment. None of them are 100% free of problems. All the schools have fights-the overwhelming majority don’t make the news.  And of course some schools have more issues with violence than others. All schools have drugs-some more than others. I wanted a school for my kids that has a reputation of stellar graduation rates and great offerings for high performing kids who want to do well in school. If you would like to tell us where you decided to send your kids i’m sure we would love to find the issues with that school as well. But just like you would “never send your kids to Wootton” I would “Never send me kids To GHS” fun fact-did you know that GHS has so much teenage pregnancy that they have a special closet for baby donations that they ask the community to give donations to regularly? Imagine having a problem so big that it needs its own closet space! So yeah-they all have problems. Just different problems. [/quote]

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