Tech-savvy parents in Takoma Park have taken to the Internet to discuss, debate and exchange information on MCPS' proposals to change school boundary lines. Parents have video of a MCPS Boundary Advisory Committee meeting that ends with MCPS Senior Facility Planner Deborah Szyfer stating, "Please turn that off for a moment because I think people are uncomfortable with the video taping."
Other parents have a blog to discuss these changes and multiple online discussion groups have sprung up to allow parents to rapidly communicate on this issue.
Here is the video with excerpts of the May 20, 2009, meeting of the MCPS Boundary Advisory Committee on the school zone decisions affecting Takoma Park and surrounding areas.
Glossary for video: "Options 4 and 5" would displace not only the 10-family Takoma Park neighborhood into East Silver Spring Elementary, but would also displace East Silver Spring (ESS) kids into Sligo Creek Elementary (which the ESS PTA doesn't want)."Option 1b": Nobody likes it as is, but everyone except Sligo Creek Elementary accepts it as the least-bad of the six options that the bureaucrats in Rockville developed."SC4" is the middle-class side of a 6-lane highway. "SC5" is east-of-New Hampshire Avenue: an economically disadvantaged, often ESOL neighborhood that did not have a representative at the table during the discussions about whether they should remain at the Math and Science Academy or get relocated.
Why have these parents taken to the Internet to advocate for their communities? One dad in the affected zone, Charles Thomas, said, "I love our rainbow community: immigrant families, gay and lesbian families, hippies, and professional and volunteer advocates for social and economic justice, world peace, and a healthy environment. We want to stay in Granola Park! Any neighborhood is at risk of having 10 families plucked away, with no seat at the table, for no justifiable demographic reason. It's like a computer generated these options randomly. The bureaucrats gave the community advisors six lemons and thwarted their efforts to make lemonade. It's time to stop the process and fix this problem, before it damages other communities like the six affected neighborhoods here."
I am confused that these citizens say they have no seat at the "table." They have George Leventhal, from TK who is on the county council, at the minimum.
ReplyDeleteMCPS set up a Boundary Advisory Committee of parents but only allowed a limited number of parents on the committee and restricted the conversation that the committee was allowed to have. This is standard MCPS procedure for these "advisory" committees. They don't really get to "advise".
ReplyDeleteTo put this in context, this is the pattern for the entire county government. The Planning Board is currently 'planning' to get rid of the entire zoning ordinance and put a different one in its place that will be 'easier' to understand. The Planning board Chairman, Royce Hanson, hand picked a 'committee' to discuss this; the committee is composed 2:1 of developers and development lawyers: citizens. So, this arrangement is by no means limited to MCPS. This is how you voters set up the government. This is what you wanted. Now you have it.
ReplyDeleteSome facts - MCPS expects the PTAs to recruit and represent parents in the community. Due to language and technology barriers in this part of the county, the PTAs have asked MCPS to own the outreach. They have agreed to do so though at a late stage in the process.
ReplyDeleteAs someone serving on one of the Boundary Committees and who was at the meeting in question, I have to, in fairness, point out that there is nothing sinister about Deb's request to turn the camera off. The parent walked in and started video taping without introducing himself-- he had to be asked to do so. Everyone at the table agreed to being video taped and there were no problems until the parent began to get increasingly intrusive toward the end of the meeting-- stalking around the perimeter of the table, interrupting and leaning over people. He was asked to turn the camera off because he was irritating-- not because we had anything to hide.
ReplyDelete-Jayne Holt, TPES Boundary Committee
Another fact check... the residents of SC5 were represented, just not at this particular meeting. The SC committee held meetings in the SC5 community to make sure their voices were heard. They have quite a bit of feedback from that area.
ReplyDeleteAnother fact check: The video clip available here takes Sligo Creek Parents' comments out of context; it's not aimed at being representative of the full hour and a half meeting. Rather, it's edited to make one parent's point so he can try to get his way. People should stop circulating it. Parents at SCES may not be garnering this "tech savvy takoma" coverage, but the parents on the committee -- including ones who ultimately will likely be moving to another school -- have been true to their mission of representing the school's and all its students' educational needs, regardless of which zone they live in.
ReplyDelete