Reply to Option H is permanent and the old Wootton HS campus will be closed for good?

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Reply to "Option H is permanent and the old Wootton HS campus will be closed for good?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wootton isn't the only school that has been neglected - agree it's at the top or very near the top, but Eastern MS is also a disaster for example.

With over 200 schools, there will always be those in great shape that were just renovated, those in the middle that could use some love but there's no money, and those near the top that have been begging for help for years before they are in dire enough shape to be at the top, and get the renovations needed.

See if anyone can dig up information from former Council Member Roger Berliner's "Keeping the Pace" forum, which was I think a decade ago, and showed billions were needed to catch-up/keep the pace of what our schools needed in terms of facilitites.  I'm sure that number has at least doubled by now, but the reality is, MCPS will never have the funds to keep up

Add the Tax Payer's League who always comes up for reasons not to fund MCPS, and the Parent Coalition who points out some miniscule point of waste as a reason for not giving what's needed, the current administration's disastrous cuts that will affect Montgomery County for decades, and we are compounding the problem/kicking the can down the road for generations to come[/quote]

Yet MCPS has found funding to lease a brand-new warehouse, install numerous synthetic turf fields, and implement costly bus-in bus-out regional programs. These choices reflect priorities, not an absence of funds.

Rather than simply attributing school condition to a lack of money, MCPS should be held accountable for how funds have been allocated. Mismanagement of resources deserves scrutiny, especially when essential building repairs have been deferred for years
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Again, I have to disagree.  Those things are part of operations for a school system.  If the original warehouse is useless due to leaks, mold, or the lease is up, it has to be replaced.  You can't ignore a leaky roof in your home just because you also have to pay the mortgage - you have to do both.  Same for turf fields.  The inequity because some schools have them and others don't is unacceptable.  Every kid needs to have access to play, and when there's no turf, the fields get closed, get divits that sprain ankles, and turn into a muddy mess, that then becomes hard as a rock. You can complain about turf, but it's a losing argument:
Environment - the chemicals it takes to maintain a grass field are just as bad
Cost - a grass field costs less up front, but maintenance is more over 10 years than turf
Injuries - we would all prefer well maintained grass, but we dont have the money for maintenance and the grass fields are in horrific shape (except Churchill, but their booster pays for that, not all the MoCo taxpayers), and those cause injuries too
Temperature - there are rules when it's too hot to play to take more breaks- follow them and it's not a problem

The proposed bus program is not my priority, I think it's a waste of time amd a complete disaster.  But the board of education, who we voted for, picked Taylor and this is his priority.  We will see what happens here.  But you are wrong about the warehouse and the turf[/quote]

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