Agricultural Reserve & School Policy

Time for a Rural Schools Policy, says the Montgomery Countryside Alliance.

"Superintendent Weast last month decided to keep Monocacy open and revisit closure in 2 years. His rationale: they neglected to calculate the addition of two housing developments in Poolesville. The rationale employed seems to support the notion that to save services for rural communities...they should be developed - sort of a pave 'em to protect 'em logic. He denies that the Poolesville Cluster is located wholly within the Ag Reserve and offers none of the proposals carefully crafted by the Roundtable group. There is no acknowledgment of the need to press forward with a master plan based policy that will support no or low cost means to ensuring healthy rural schools enrollment. There is no acknowledgment of the regional value of the Reserve as a source of food and fibre or recreation or resource protection. Nothing. So we need to send a chorus of respectful but firm emails: Time for a Rural Schools Policy!"

Time for Rural School Policy that Supports the Ag Reserve! Montgomery County's rural public schools will "will never see the kind of increased enrollment that we see in neighborhoods that are planned for future growth" and are "also not served by the Recreation and County Services Centers that are located in other parts of Montgomery County; as a result, the local schools and libraries must provide the gathering places and meeting rooms that are otherwise unavailable." -Dr. Royce Hanson, chief architect of Reserve Letter to Superintendent Weast Nov. 18, 2009

 A few minutes of your time will matter greatly to the ongoing preservation of Montgomery County's Ag Reserve and its farming/rural communities. Whether you are a parent with children in the Poolesville or neighboring school cluster, or a Reserve resident or a County resident that supports the Reserve and the production of local food: We ask that you send a brief email to the Board of Education and the County Council by COB tomorrow, November 17th. (contact info below) Your email should:
 ~Thank the Board for their support of our rural schools by keeping Monocacy Elementary School in Barnesville open.
~Ask the Board to recognize the work of the Roundtable held last spring, and develop a policy for the four schools (Poolesville Cluster)located in the Agricultural Reserve that recognizes their special status and accepts lower enrollment levels at those schools than in other downcounty public schools.
 ~Ask the Board to keep in mind that the roundtable also recommended the liberal transfer of students into Monocacy, as the Board explores changes in the transfer policy.
~Ask the Board to act now, ask the County Council to press for the Board to establish the policy so that Montgomery County's rural communities do not continue to suffer from lingering questions about their schools' future.
Background and link to testimony and Rural Schools Policy position paper:

Thirty years ago the County took a vast portion of its geography and "placed" it in a Reserve for the purpose of farmland and open space preservation. Property owners were told they could not develop more than 1 home per 25 acres. Farming and agriculturally related uses were to be the primary uses in the zone. Reserve residents were also told that they would, by design, be outside the water sewer envelope - meaning that they would be served by limited groundwater and septic availability. This master plan and supporting public policy is considered a national model for farmland preservation and is cited in textbooks across the nation. All good right? Flash forward to 2009: Communities within the treasured Reserve face closure of schools and removal of services. Why? The communities are told that they don't have a large enough population. In the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain, in the historic rural community of Barnesville, the residents are told that their heart, Monocacy Elementary School will be closed. Although at over 80 % capacity and a routinely high performer, Monocacy is placed on the chopping block as a presumed cost saving measure. Down county enrollment standards are employed to justify closure. The Poolesville Cluster is sent into the kind of panic that results after a school is marked for closure. Board of Education staff also warn of enrollment decline at John Poole Middle School and, potentially, Poolesville Elementary School! The Board of Education rightly decides that they should enlist the counsel of a group of stakeholders to examine how to keep Monocacy open. Early this year, the "Roundtable," comprised of representatives from Poolesville, Barnesville, the Ag Reserve, District 2 school clusters and individual schools, carefully and collegially arrived at various ways to keep Monacacy and the Poolesville Cluster vital and open and respected. The most important and unanimous proposal of the groups was to have, finally, a policy established that recognizes that Montgomery County's Rural Schools are unique and central to their communities' well being. Such a policy has been verbally promised by various County Council members over the years. That approach coupled with other no or low cost measures,such as a liberal transfer policy, were sent to the Superintendent. A reprieve but without an eye on the big picture: Superintendent Weast last month decided to keep Monocacy open and revisit closure in 2 years. His rationale: they neglected to calculate the addition of two housing developments in Poolesville. The rationale employed seems to support the notion that to save services for rural communities...they should be developed - sort of a pave 'em to protect 'em logic. He denies that the Poolesville Cluster is located wholly within the Ag Reserve and offers none of the proposals carefully crafted by the Roundtable group. There is no acknowledgment of the need to press forward with a master plan based policy that will support no or low cost means to ensuring healthy rural schools enrollment. There is no acknowledgment of the regional value of the Reserve as a source of food and fibre or recreation or resource protection. Nothing. So we need to send a chorus of respectful but firm emails: Time for a Rural Schools Policy! Help give voice to our rural communities: Please send a quick email today! As always, We thank you for your continued support!
Please contact Members of the Montgomery County Board of Education and County Council by cutting and pasting the addresses below, please also cc any emails to info@mocoalliance.org: Board of Education Members- boe@mcpsmd.org County Council Members- county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov Join Our Mailing List! Montgomery Countryside Alliance PO Box 120 Boyds, Maryland 20841