Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any way to petition to the Maryland regulatory bodies to force MCPS to do a full redraw of the boundaries?

What would be the basis or reasoning to ask them to intervene?

The only way an outside party MIGHT be able to force MCPS to do anything is if the boundaries are in anyway illegal or discriminatory.

Which while there may be people unhappy with the proposals, I don't think any of the proposed boundaries are either.

Like how far could they force a whole school district to be bussed?

I mean the obviously left out certain school districts as "protected" from being redrawn.

I'm not sure if you're aware of current bussing distances. Where some students are on the bus for 40 minutes.

It definitely looks like there are some areas that help grease the wheels. And even though we originally weren't interested in living there, will have to put it into consideration once everything is finalized and we know what everything looks like.

I'm not against you. And I think the fact that Wootton kept getting pushed off is bs and there was some discrimination in it. But you'd need valid reasons and proof if you plan or hope to bring outside parties in to intervene.

I get 45-minute bus rides. I grew up in a rural county where the entire county went to one school K-12.

What is the reason for Wooton being required to bus three miles in urban/suburban setting? If it's oops bad planning. Isn't that evidence enough. MCPS has a problem bigger than they can handle.

This is not bad planning. For once I think MCPS is doing the right thing - they are giving Gaithersburg residents what they need to prevent overcrowding and giving Wootton a new school 3 miles away so the kids are not in a school that is unsafe (at least that is what all these next door petitions were saying)

MCPS: We have addressed your petitions and will be moving you to Crown permanently along with some feeders from Gaithersburg

Wootton parents shocked that it will be a new Wootton with more URM: Bussing 3 miles is a problem

MCPS: We have addressed your concerns by moving some of the feeders to QO which is closer so you will not have a long commute

I sincerely hope Dufief and Travilah (all or part of it - the new homes on QO Rd) which are 2 miles from QO get zoned to QO, and Fields Road fully goes to Crown/Wootton.

Dufief and Travilah are the ones who care the least about this move since they are on a bus regardless. Those I have talked to actually like this option and welcome adding other schools to the wootton community. Also, there isn’t room at QO. Remember- this whole thing was to alleviate overcrowding at Crown and Gaithersburg? But that’s an inconvenient point when you just want to “punish” wootton kids.

And is that why I see all these signs on Dufief Drive asking to save Dufief? It sooo horrible that Dufief may end up going to QO that we need signs asking to save the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any way to petition to the Maryland regulatory bodies to force MCPS to do a full redraw of the boundaries?

What would be the basis or reasoning to ask them to intervene?

The only way an outside party MIGHT be able to force MCPS to do anything is if the boundaries are in anyway illegal or discriminatory.

Which while there may be people unhappy with the proposals, I don't think any of the proposed boundaries are either.

Like how far could they force a whole school district to be bussed?

I mean the obviously left out certain school districts as "protected" from being redrawn.

I'm not sure if you're aware of current bussing distances. Where some students are on the bus for 40 minutes.

It definitely looks like there are some areas that help grease the wheels. And even though we originally weren't interested in living there, will have to put it into consideration once everything is finalized and we know what everything looks like.

I'm not against you. And I think the fact that Wootton kept getting pushed off is bs and there was some discrimination in it. But you'd need valid reasons and proof if you plan or hope to bring outside parties in to intervene.

I get 45-minute bus rides. I grew up in a rural county where the entire county went to one school K-12.

What is the reason for Wooton being required to bus three miles in urban/suburban setting? If it's oops bad planning. Isn't that evidence enough. MCPS has a problem bigger than they can handle.

This is not bad planning. For once I think MCPS is doing the right thing - they are giving Gaithersburg residents what they need to prevent overcrowding and giving Wootton a new school 3 miles away so the kids are not in a school that is unsafe (at least that is what all these next door petitions were saying)

MCPS: We have addressed your petitions and will be moving you to Crown permanently along with some feeders from Gaithersburg

Wootton parents shocked that it will be a new Wootton with more URM: Bussing 3 miles is a problem

MCPS: We have addressed your concerns by moving some of the feeders to QO which is closer so you will not have a long commute

I sincerely hope Dufief and Travilah (all or part of it - the new homes on QO Rd) which are 2 miles from QO get zoned to QO, and Fields Road fully goes to Crown/Wootton.

Dufief and Travilah are the ones who care the least about this move since they are on a bus regardless. Those I have talked to actually like this option and welcome adding other schools to the wootton community. Also, there isn’t room at QO. Remember- this whole thing was to alleviate overcrowding at Crown and Gaithersburg? But that’s an inconvenient point when you just want to “punish” wootton kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live near Wootton high school and I do not want that to become a holding school. The school is in the middle of our community and it's a magnet for events. I love hearing the sound of the football games on Friday night we soccer games mid week as well as other sports.

I would hate to lose that community feel. If it becomes a holding school, it won't be the kids from our community.

I'm 100% against this option

Spoken like a true Wootton parent.

Anonymous wrote:I live near Wootton high school and I do not want that to become a holding school. The school is in the middle of our community and it's a magnet for events. I love hearing the sound of the football games on Friday night we soccer games mid week as well as other sports.

I would hate to lose that community feel. If it becomes a holding school, it won't be the kids from our community.

I'm 100% against this option

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What no one has mentioned so far is logistics. Specifically transport.

If option H were to be the only change, I would be less concerned about bussing, but as it is, MCPS doesn't have enough buses/drivers for today's needs. So if option H becomes the way forward, then coupled with the proposed changes - namely grandfathered magnet students (so keeping current bussing levels) while implementing the new boundaries/regional programs which will overall increase demand for busses/drivers, how does MCPS then think they will also have enough to then bus all the Wootton students to Crown, many of whom are in the walk zone today?

We already know that Taylor's plan in his former school district caused bussing problems, making headline news - forcing students to opt-in to riding the school bus because there weren't enough seats. And that was for a much smaller school district. I see this being the likely scenario again - with or without Option H - but Option H will exacerbate this situation even more. Then I imagine that's even more clogged local roads as a result for all the students who can't get a bus even if they want one.

The folks who are highly in favor of Option H don't care about this. They also don't care about the increased amount of traffic because half of Wootton's students can't walk to Crown anymore.

Instead, they're convinced that the only reasons Wootton parents oppose Option H is because of racism and/or classism. When these are always what you're looking for, they're the only things you'll find (and you'll ignore pesky little facts that are inconsistent with your worldview).

Wootton parent here - so the Crown kids will walk now instead of the Wootton kids. Either way. At the end of the day there is no demand for both schools and one needs to close for the time being.

What crown kids? There is like 200 kids that come from Rio and maybe there will
be 100 at Crown development. There are no kids there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What no one has mentioned so far is logistics. Specifically transport.

If option H were to be the only change, I would be less concerned about bussing, but as it is, MCPS doesn't have enough buses/drivers for today's needs. So if option H becomes the way forward, then coupled with the proposed changes - namely grandfathered magnet students (so keeping current bussing levels) while implementing the new boundaries/regional programs which will overall increase demand for busses/drivers, how does MCPS then think they will also have enough to then bus all the Wootton students to Crown, many of whom are in the walk zone today?

We already know that Taylor's plan in his former school district caused bussing problems, making headline news - forcing students to opt-in to riding the school bus because there weren't enough seats. And that was for a much smaller school district. I see this being the likely scenario again - with or without Option H - but Option H will exacerbate this situation even more. Then I imagine that's even more clogged local roads as a result for all the students who can't get a bus even if they want one.

The folks who are highly in favor of Option H don't care about this. They also don't care about the increased amount of traffic because half of Wootton's students can't walk to Crown anymore.

Instead, they're convinced that the only reasons Wootton parents oppose Option H is because of racism and/or classism. When these are always what you're looking for, they're the only things you'll find (and you'll ignore pesky little facts that are inconsistent with your worldview).

Wootton parent here - so the Crown kids will walk now instead of the Wootton kids. Either way. At the end of the day there is no demand for both schools and one needs to close for the time being.

Anonymous wrote:I live near Wootton high school and I do not want that to become a holding school. The school is in the middle of our community and it's a magnet for events. I love hearing the sound of the football games on Friday night we soccer games mid week as well as other sports.

I would hate to lose that community feel. If it becomes a holding school, it won't be the kids from our community.

I'm 100% against this option

Anonymous wrote:Option H is a win-win for MCPS. I hope they do it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What no one has mentioned so far is logistics. Specifically transport.

If option H were to be the only change, I would be less concerned about bussing, but as it is, MCPS doesn't have enough buses/drivers for today's needs. So if option H becomes the way forward, then coupled with the proposed changes - namely grandfathered magnet students (so keeping current bussing levels) while implementing the new boundaries/regional programs which will overall increase demand for busses/drivers, how does MCPS then think they will also have enough to then bus all the Wootton students to Crown, many of whom are in the walk zone today?

We already know that Taylor's plan in his former school district caused bussing problems, making headline news - forcing students to opt-in to riding the school bus because there weren't enough seats. And that was for a much smaller school district. I see this being the likely scenario again - with or without Option H - but Option H will exacerbate this situation even more. Then I imagine that's even more clogged local roads as a result for all the students who can't get a bus even if they want one.

The folks who are highly in favor of Option H don't care about this. They also don't care about the increased amount of traffic because half of Wootton's students can't walk to Crown anymore.

Instead, they're convinced that the only reasons Wootton parents oppose Option H is because of racism and/or classism. When these are always what you're looking for, they're the only things you'll find (and you'll ignore pesky little facts that are inconsistent with your worldview).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I sincerely hope Dufief and Travilah (all or part of it - the new homes on QO Rd) which are 2 miles from QO get zoned to QO, and Fields Road fully goes to Crown/Wootton.

Yes, geographical proximity should be the primary concern in boundary study.