Re: New BCC Cluster Middle School Site Selection
Date: March 28, 2011
Dear Montgomery County Board of Education,
I am submitting these comments for the record, as I am unable to attend tonight's meeting,* during which you will vote on the site of the new BCC cluster middle school. I respectfully ask that you please read and
consider these comments before making a decision tonight.
I am a homeowner in the Lyttonsville/Rosemary Hills neighborhood as well as the mother of a XX grader at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. I own a townhouse located directly across the street from the Coffield Community Center, adjacent to Rosemary Hills Park.
Below are my immediate concerns about the selection of this park as the location for a new middle school:
1. There was no community engagement or transparency in the process of selecting this site. Our community maintains an active listserv, yet we just found out about this issue on Friday, three days ago, after the site was selected and Dr. Weast forwarded the recommendation to you for final approval tonight. The process was handled quickly and quietly without any involvement from members of the impacted community.
2. The land on which the park is located - the community of Lyttonsville and the Coffield Community Center - has a rich African-American history recognized by the Silver Spring Historic Society that should be taken into consideration before undertaking any major development. The very active Lyttonsville Civic Association should be consulted and have a vote in the site selection, given the historic importance of the land and the major impacts to our community.
3. This particular part of the Lyttonsville/Rosemary Hills community is already set to undergo a major development project when the County begins construction of the new purple line. My property is now situated between a beautiful nature trail on one side and a quiet park on the other side. Both will be replaced with an above-ground metro train and a school. It seems extremely unfair to heap these major development projects onto the community at once.
4. The site location is in Silver Spring, not Chevy Chase as the proposal states. It's odd to build the "Bethesda-Chevy Chase Middle School" in a Silver Spring community. It's disingenuous at best to call
this area "Chevy Chase." At worst, it's further evidence that the selection committee did not engage the community or fully research and consider its historic significance.
5. Demographics and diversity of the two middle schools' new composition should be studied and considered before reaching a final decision to select this as the site of the new school. Lyttonsville/Rosemary Hills is predominantly a minority neighborhood with several apartment communities. The socio-economic structure is vastly different from the typical Bethesda or Chevy Chase community. There is mutual benefit from diversity infusion from this community into the larger BCC cluster before the children reach high school.
6. Many homeowners purchased in this neighborhood because of the quiet green space offered by the park, with its walking paths, fields, playgrounds and tennis courts. We would be so sorry to lose our park.
While I realize there is need for a new school, it doesn't seem fair to take parkland away from one of the least advantaged communities in the cluster to make way for a school.
7. The selection committee based its decision on the following criteria: typology, traffic, location, ownership and site acreage. Aside from this, no additional details on the proposed school are available to
the community. We need details - how would the school look? How would it be situated on the property? How would traffic be routed? How would school parking be accommodated? What would happen to the existing community center on the site? It's difficult to envision how a new school will change the landscape of the park and might otherwise adversely impact the community with congestion, noise, and frequent evening activity. I'm afraid it will cause over-development of this area. The park backs to homes on two sides, a large apartment complex on another, and the community center on the other.
You have a difficult decision in front of you, and I thank you immeasurably for taking time to consider my comments.
Respectfully submitted by Susan Buchanan
*UPDATE: Shortly before the March 28, 2011, Board of Education meeting began Superintendent Jerry Weast withdrew this item from the Board's agenda.
This opinion is a minority opinion in the neighborhood and is far from representing us.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous -
ReplyDeleteLet's have some facts. Who is "us"?
What group has met? Vote taken?
The above writer stands up for her position with her name, you?
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI never intended to imply that I represented the neighborhood (and don't think I implied that). However, you have no basis for your claims that my opinion is a minority opinion in the neighborhood, as no surveys have been conducted and meetings are just starting to be scheduled. Some share my opinion and some don't. Others feel they need more information to decide. Most, however, still have no idea this issue has emerged.
I 100% support Susan Buchanan's comments. I have read the selection committee's report and find it deeply flawed. Particularly with the lack of consideration given to the surrounding community.
ReplyDeleteI 100% support the views expressed by Susan Buchanan in her above posts. The selection committee's report is deeply flawed. I too favor more community engagement, especially since it is our community which will be impacted by this site selection.
ReplyDeleteI share the same concerns as those voiced by Susan Buchanan.
ReplyDeleteI too support Susan Buchanan's comments with a couple of corrections. First, there are 4 aparment complexes on the park, not one. Thousands of people, in effect, would lose their only green space, their "yard." In addition to the coming Purple Line and station, we are bordered by an industrial complex, the ride-on bus facility, and WSSC truck yard.
ReplyDeletePlease reconsider other more centrally located sites--and healthier sites, in the sense of physical and mental health, as well as educational opportunity.