I had the opportunity to attend the fireside chat with Dr. Taylor regarding Option H. As a Wootton grad this issue is personal to me.
Although I give him credit for standing in front of a very hostile audience of parents and community leaders, I found some of his responses disingenuous and dismissive.
The crowd was strongly favoring keeping Wootton at Wootton, however it appeared obvious that he had made-up his mind that Wootton would be closing.
I had the opportunity to talk to several parents and community members about Option H. Their concerns where chronicled during a December meeting where they used affinity mapping to document their concerns and included many high intensity comments, Including:
Direct Quotes:
"Many of us bought our homes because we want to live within walking distance of Wootton."
“If Wootton is unsafe, why use it as a holding school?"
“If you have to do a phased renovation to Wootton as a holding school, why not do it with the current population?”
“New admin building cost: "$85-350M."
"Our house values will go way down if we lose the neighborhood high school."
My solution: We should look at a phased, in place, renovation using a P3 – Public Private partnership contracting strategy where the compensation of the private partner is tied to the success of the project.
My name is Reardon Sullivan, and I support keeping Wooten Wooten. I need your help to bring common sense and accountability back to Montgomery County.