Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why was Northwood not renovated before the school re-opened 20 years ago?

Same reason SSIMS and Sligo Creek ES weren't renovated from the old Blair building around the same time to a level that would make them comparable facilities to others that were new or renovated atound that time. It was Silver Spring/Wheaton instead of Bethesda/Potomac. Not enough juice (political $), fewer squeaky wheels among parents and no BOE champion like Pat O'Neill was.

Wootton rebuild has been pushed back every single time for over a decade.

As has Eastern MS. And others.

The tiny slice of O'Neill's district that ended up being part of Wooton's catchment didn't matter to her the same way that the Whitman/BCC/Churchill/Johnson pyramids did. More west Rockville than north Potomac.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are Northwood students asking for? What is the alternative option?

Did you read the post on Montgomery Perspective? Based on their three priority areas, it sounds like:

1. They want the auditorium to be reprioritized and put back into an earlier phase of construction

2. They don't want to have a start of 7:25 am, which is earlier than every other school in MCPS

3. They want MCPS to be more transparent and communicate more effectively

Of the three requests, I think three is the tallest order. MCPS has proved to be completely incapable of communicating in a way that builds consensus, demonstrates transparency and makes community stakeholders feel heard and considered.

For #2, what do they think should happen instead? Obviously a bus trip from many DCC neighborhoods to Woodward is going to take longer than a trip to Northwood. If they kept the times the same as they are now, they wouldn't arrive to Woodward in time for them to drop off and then travel back to the DCC to pick up the middle school kids on the next run, and then the middle school and then the elementary school routes would all be running late. Is that what Northwood families would prefer? If not, what are the other proposals?

How about adding more buses??

The plan is to add 16 busses to accommodate the kids who are currently walkers. That's on top of the 19 bus routes that already service Northwood, many of which are overcrowded. My kid, and many others in the University/Colesville road area take Ride On or Metro Bus to Northwood because the school bus is too crowded and leaves earlier. Student carpools will not be an option for most due to parking limitations - temporary lot for teachers while parking deck is still under construction.

What the students want is the same access to sports, theater, etc. as their peers at other schools. Think about the families who rely on public transportation to support their students - attend back to school night, sports events or IEP/504 meetings in the middle of the day. Bus routes and start times is just one of many issues.

I think everyone agrees that is what would be best. But what are the potential means to achieve that goal?

Yeah, this is what I find flawed with those who have been petitioning the board and MCPS on this issue. Whose projects do you want to defund or deprioritize to fund Northwood? No one is willing to go there, but that's the reality of what would have to happen for Northwood to get the funding they're protesting for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why was Northwood not renovated before the school re-opened 20 years ago?

Same reason SSIMS and Sligo Creek ES weren't renovated from the old Blair building around the same time to a level that would make them comparable facilities to others that were new or renovated atound that time. It was Silver Spring/Wheaton instead of Bethesda/Potomac. Not enough juice (political $), fewer squeaky wheels among parents and no BOE champion like Pat O'Neill was.

Wootton rebuild has been pushed back every single time for over a decade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why was Northwood not renovated before the school re-opened 20 years ago?

Same reason SSIMS and Sligo Creek ES weren't renovated from the old Blair building around the same time to a level that would make them comparable facilities to others that were new or renovated atound that time. It was Silver Spring/Wheaton instead of Bethesda/Potomac. Not enough juice (political $), fewer squeaky wheels among parents and no BOE champion like Pat O'Neill was.

Anonymous wrote:Brian Hull is in damage control mode.
He doesn’t care about Northwood or its students and staff. It seemed pretty easy for them to make some changes to bus pick up times and parking so why were they trying to screw Northwood in the first place. They just assumed the Northwood school community would not complain about anything. And now he is saying trust us, we are trying to find money to build the auditorium. Ya right.
Why did MCPS reapprove the virtual academy if they can’t even run functioning high schools?

Anonymous wrote:Brian Hull is in damage control mode.
He doesn’t care about Northwood or its students and staff. It seemed pretty easy for them to make some changes to bus pick up times and parking so why were they trying to screw Northwood in the first place. They just assumed the Northwood school community would not complain about anything. And now he is saying trust us, we are trying to find money to build the auditorium. Ya right.
Why did MCPS reapprove the virtual academy if they can’t even run functioning high schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why was Northwood not renovated before the school re-opened 20 years ago?

Same reason SSIMS and Sligo Creek ES weren't renovated from the old Blair building around the same time to a level that would make them comparable facilities to others that were new or renovated atound that time. It was Silver Spring/Wheaton instead of Bethesda/Potomac. Not enough juice (political $), fewer squeaky wheels among parents and no BOE champion like Pat O'Neill was.

Anonymous wrote:Why was Northwood not renovated before the school re-opened 20 years ago?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's nice that Brian Hull finally decided to step down from the mountaintop to address the fire broiling around this. These are reasonable responses and updates that should have happened much more quickly.

+1 This was a good update. Clear and responsive. I just wish the MCPS folks would start moving faster and anticipating blowback. So, if you have to push back the date that these kids get an auditorium, fast-track some agreements with neighboring schools, arts venues, etc. and find a way to announce some solutions at the same time you announce the problem.

But, to give credit where it is due, this was a good message.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about having Northwood go virtual for a year and speed up construction?

So you missed out on all the information that came out about the emotional and psychological harm and learning loss that happened when we spent nearly two years virtual during the pandemic?

I clearly missed it as mine were fine in virtual. Get your kids help and fix what ever is going on in your house that caused those issues.

That's nice. There's a landslide of data that says otherwise that virtual learning was really harmful for children's academic education and their mental wellbeing. We won't be going back to that, though you're free to since it was great for your kids.

Anonymous wrote:It's nice that Brian Hull finally decided to step down from the mountaintop to address the fire broiling around this. These are reasonable responses and updates that should have happened much more quickly.