Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am new to this discussion.

Can anyone summarize how big a downgrade Tilden area going to Woodward will be compared to WJ?

Is Art is done deal for Woodward or some chane of Stem oriented programs can still happen? \

If Whitman safe from all these changes?

It’s not. It’s will be another w school.

W school in name with 30% FARMS.

Woodward Art school will be a big downgrade from WJ let alone Whitman.

In terms of student population, Woodward will be fine. It will start as 25-30% FARMS, which is quite OK, and only get better as it is in the great neighborhood.

The regional plan is the bigger problem but WJ is in the same boat so it doesn't matter when comparing the two schools. They will be on their own as IB at Kennedy will be useless, and similar for STEM at Wheaton that will be more like an engineering program rather than science program like Blair. And of course, art magnet is nonsense. So if you are worried about losing access to a quality STEM program, you should be. But not because of WJ/Woodward split.

Based on what you wrote, it seems WJ and Woodward both will be step down from current WJ, but Woodward will have a much higher FARMS rate with Art magnet attached to it. WJ will have less STEM courses based on what you are writing and following the same logic Woodward will have even less than WJ.

I am not that much concerned about brand name or anything, but discussion confused me. I get it now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am new to this discussion.

Can anyone summarize how big a downgrade Tilden area going to Woodward will be compared to WJ?

Is Art is done deal for Woodward or some chane of Stem oriented programs can still happen? \

If Whitman safe from all these changes?

It’s not. It’s will be another w school.

W school in name with 30% FARMS.

Woodward Art school will be a big downgrade from WJ let alone Whitman.

How is that a problem? WJ is going to lose a lot of staff and classes with the reduction in students. It will not longer have what it did.

Agree here.

Future WJ < current WJ

Woodward Art school << Future WJ << Whitman

Now, I do see it a s abig problem. If I was able to afford, I will stick to Whitman. I am assuming question had Whitman so poster was interested in Whitman as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am new to this discussion.

Can anyone summarize how big a downgrade Tilden area going to Woodward will be compared to WJ?

Is Art is done deal for Woodward or some chane of Stem oriented programs can still happen? \

If Whitman safe from all these changes?

It’s not. It’s will be another w school.

W school in name with 30% FARMS.

Woodward Art school will be a big downgrade from WJ let alone Whitman.

In terms of student population, Woodward will be fine. It will start as 25-30% FARMS, which is quite OK, and only get better as it is in the great neighborhood.

The regional plan is the bigger problem but WJ is in the same boat so it doesn't matter when comparing the two schools. They will be on their own as IB at Kennedy will be useless, and similar for STEM at Wheaton that will be more like an engineering program rather than science program like Blair. And of course, art magnet is nonsense. So if you are worried about losing access to a quality STEM program, you should be. But not because of WJ/Woodward split.

Anonymous wrote:Whitman is safe from all this.

I think there is an option to move wood acres out of Whitman to BCC. In general I don’t understand why people are so hell bent on making sure Whitman is changed too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am new to this discussion.

Can anyone summarize how big a downgrade Tilden area going to Woodward will be compared to WJ?

Is Art is done deal for Woodward or some chane of Stem oriented programs can still happen? \

If Whitman safe from all these changes?

It’s not. It’s will be another w school.

W school in name with 30% FARMS.

Woodward Art school will be a big downgrade from WJ let alone Whitman.

How is that a problem? WJ is going to lose a lot of staff and classes with the reduction in students. It will not longer have what it did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am new to this discussion.

Can anyone summarize how big a downgrade Tilden area going to Woodward will be compared to WJ?

Is Art is done deal for Woodward or some chane of Stem oriented programs can still happen? \

If Whitman safe from all these changes?

It’s not. It’s will be another w school.

W school in name with 30% FARMS.

Woodward Art school will be a big downgrade from WJ let alone Whitman.

What's wrong with 30% FARMS? I thought what made a school a great/W school was the quality of the teaching?

Whitman is safe from all this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am new to this discussion.

Can anyone summarize how big a downgrade Tilden area going to Woodward will be compared to WJ?

Is Art is done deal for Woodward or some chane of Stem oriented programs can still happen? \

If Whitman safe from all these changes?

It’s not. It’s will be another w school.

W school in name with 30% FARMS.

Woodward Art school will be a big downgrade from WJ let alone Whitman.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am new to this discussion.

Can anyone summarize how big a downgrade Tilden area going to Woodward will be compared to WJ?

Is Art is done deal for Woodward or some chane of Stem oriented programs can still happen? \

If Whitman safe from all these changes?

It’s not. It’s will be another w school.

It will be the better W school because it will have a new building.

Anonymous wrote:I am new to this discussion.

Can anyone summarize how big a downgrade Tilden area going to Woodward will be compared to WJ?

Is Art is done deal for Woodward or some chane of Stem oriented programs can still happen? \

If Whitman safe from all these changes?

It’s not. It’s will be another w school.

I am new to this discussion.

Can anyone summarize how big a downgrade Tilden area going to Woodward will be compared to WJ?

Is Art is done deal for Woodward or some chane of Stem oriented programs can still happen? \

If Whitman safe from all these changes?

Anonymous wrote:When is the final choice made? March?

Yes, but the Superintendent's recommendation will be presented the first week of February.

When is the final choice made? March?

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if after you complete the survey, you can go back to edit your comments later?

Anyone know this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Option F clearly balances facility utilization, proximity and demographics quite well. And without doing anything completely insane. I love it but I wish there was an Option H to keep SSIMS open but everything else the same.

Option F flips two elementary schools (Wood Acres and Bethesda Elementary) to the others middle and high school for no apparent reason. Neither school population benefits from the switch. Both populations have a further distance for high school and Bethesda Elementary kids lose walkability to BCC in a downtown core. It increases bus, car traffic, and safety issues.

I mean I don't care if they switch them back as it doesn't affect me, but it is important to balance demographics as having a high needs population makes it harder to manage a school and they don't get extra funding for this. And neither Wood Acres nor Bethesda would be buses very far - Bethesda ES wouldn't require busing at all. And Wood Acres kids will get a bus instead of being driven by their parents/friends which will reduce traffic and increase safety. I get people will be upset but there are real benefits to this.

I have no stake here (I’m in the other study area), but have you ever been in downtown Bethesda between 7-9AM or 3-6PM? The last thing we need is more cars/buses on the road in Bethesda!

While the distance may not initially sound terrible, when you factor in the time for bus stops and travel on major roads during rush hour, the bus commute could easily be 30-40 minutes. More travel time equals less sleep for teenagers.

Or, parents make sure their kids go to bed earlier. You clearly have a stake as you are commenting.

I do have a stake as I have two kids with sleep disorders that would be negativelyimpacted. It is hard enough to get them to sleep at a decent time in elementary and middle school. I will have little ability to control when they go to bed in high school. We literally switched one of the kids from private school to public school because of the later start time and ability to get more sleep.

You need to homeschool if you want a school program that wil cater to your kids individually.

Please. It’s not unreasonable to expect your kid in public school to attend the high school closest to them in proximity. The sleep issue is such a big deal for high school students that schools across the country have been reconsidering high school start times to allow kids to start later. No one says parents should just get their kids to bed earlier. Teenagers are wired to stay awake later in the evening and need to sleep later in the morning.

It is much more asinine to make an entire school district switch to a further away high school so the county can say they had a minor increase in diversity.

You cannot have kids in HS or ones in activities. If you move school later, sports are later and not all schools have lights, then the kids have to walk home in the dark as there is no bus. And, if you move things later, kids just go to bed later. That may work for you but not the rest of us. The walk isn't safe and we don't get bus so the earlier is better to drop them off on the way to work.