Dear Westbrook,
As ... mentioned in his list serve email last week, this month's BCC Cluster meeting included vigorous conversation about the proposed second middle school, to be completed at the earliest in 2017. [The site selection committee’s report about it can be seen here,http://bit.ly/opNp6f.] There's little debate over whether a new middle school is needed in the central or eastern part of the cluster (Rosemary Hills Elementary has 2 grades in which there are 9 classes!), but a small, yet loud, contingent of constituents is lobbying hard to turn back the clock on the approval process because they feel disenfranchised from the site selection process, given its secrecy.
The school superintendent, Dr. Starr, has mostly heard from those people that oppose the new middle school’s site (Rosemary Hills/Lyttonsville Local Park), and Dr.Garran, community superintendent for the B-CC cluster, encouraged the PTA presidents and cluster representatives at last week's meeting to contact Dr. Starr, board of education members, and even county council members to articulate support, if we in fact do support the new middle school and its proposed site. It seems pretty clear that although the selection process lacked transparency, the chosen site is the best available option. You can read the report for yourself.
I sent an email to Dr. Starr and all members of the county council and attach it here for your information. If you feel you would like your voice heard, too, I've attached the email addresses below.
Karen
***
Dear Dr. Starr,
I write to urge you to approve the site for the new B-CC cluster middle school...
Westbrook is overcrowded. Our teachers do an amazing job with what they have, but the limitations are real. Our student population outnumbers building capacity by 132 kids and we exceeded our projected enrollment this fall by 6. Next fall we are projected to have 443 students. There are 86 students in the third grade with my oldest son. In three years these third graders will reach Westland and the middle school will already be bursting at the seams. (By way of comparison, the recent graduating fifth grade classes have been considerably smaller. In 2010, Westbrook graduated just 38 fifth graders and in 2009 it was 50 graduates). There is no doubt the cluster needs a second middle school given the growth that we see on this side of the cluster and hear about on the other side. This is not a case of if you build, they will come – the elementary students are already on their way.
It is my understanding that there are those that oppose the proposed site for a variety of reasons, but we cannot afford to move backward. This cluster needs a second middle school in 2017, as long as the quality and quantity of programs at Westland are neither diluted nor diminished. Our cluster currently has an outstanding middle school that offers various class offerings and a rich variety of specials and extracurricular activities. A new middle school should not mean that the cluster has two "satisfactory" middle schools instead of one "outstanding" school. Our hope is that the new school will be provided with the resources required to achieve parity with the current Westland, and not that Westland's resources will be somehow rebalanced to account for a new school.
Thank you for your time and attention to this issue.
Karen Thornton
Westbrook Elementary School
PTA Co-President
EMAIL ADDRESSES:
Superintendent:
Joshua_Starr@mcpsmd.org
Christopher Garran (pls. copy him on letters to Dr. Starr)
Christopher_S_Garran@mcpsmd.org
School Board:
boe@mcpsmd.org
County Council ( I recommend sending to all):
councilmember.andrews@montgomerycountymd.gov; councilmember.berliner@montgomerycountymd.gov; councilmember.elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov; councilmember.ervin@montgomerycountymd.gov; councilmember.floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov;councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov; councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov; councilmember.leventhal@montgomerycountymd.gov; councilmember.navarro@montgomerycountymd.gov;
county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov
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This is amazing. Was there even a vote of the PTAs?
ReplyDeleteThe SSAC didn't only lack transparency, it was flat-out wrong on the facts. It either dismissed or misdescribed the sites located near the three towns of the hand-picked members on the SSAC (one of which is home to a fundraiser for local candidates). It ignored the multiple roads into Norwood Park, incompletely described the size of the one road it did identify, and placed the park in -two- different locations within the cluster, both at variance with reality. The bottom line: The SSAC was gunning for RHLP to create a separate-but-equal section of the the cluster. When that community rose up, as they should have done, the BOE shot RCHP, again ignoring reality, specifically, that the park is less than 2/3 the size of the old junior high school site and now lacks a separate access road. The only thing more disgraceful than this behavior is the fact that the limousine liberals in our electorate keep returning these autocrats to office.
One of the SSAC members was the treasurer for a current Board of Education member's campaign. Small world.
ReplyDeleteThis is now old news, but the information from the PTA references the wrong site as the one selected.
ReplyDeleteSo to paraphrase Ms. Thornton:
ReplyDelete"Since the SSAC didn't select my neighborhood park for the new middle school, I support their decision. It 'seems' as though the SSAC chose the best available option, even though they did no research into possible alternatives to the parks MCPS staffer Bruce Crispell fed them. Even though the secretive process violated the Open Meetings Act and disenfranchised two communities, I urge everyone to write to Dr. Starr and tell him you support the chosen site."
MCPS PTA reps really need to have volunteer term limits before they become MCPS drones.
This was labled as a "guest post," but the truth it that it was reprinted here without the permission or knowledge of Ms. Thornton. Whether or not one agrees with the contents, misleading bylines undermines the credibility of everyone who posts.
ReplyDeleteNothing misleading at all. This was a post sent to the Parents' Coalition. All posts sent to us are labeled as Guest Posts.
ReplyDeleteIs there a problem with this post? Is the PTA recommended action that was distributed to all members not supported by the PTA?
Are you requesting that we remove this post on behalf of the PTA? Just let us know.
Note that the link to the MCPS Site Selection Report that was referenced in this post has now been disabled by MCPS. The BCC Middle School #2 Site Selection Report has been removed from the MCPS website.
ReplyDeleteNow that I see it written on the page, I understand that all guest posts have that byline, so your point is well taken. But it still, to me, is at least confusing, if the poster does not include more about how he or she came to have the information. I think it would be appropriate that when taking emails from a group listserv and posting here, to say whether or not it was with permssion of the person who wrote the email. I am not speaking on behalf of the PTA, or anyone but myself.
ReplyDeleteAgain, the post wasn't taken from anywhere. It was sent to the Parents' Coalition.
ReplyDeleteI get that it was sent here, but it was originally taken from a listserv. I'm saying that the person who took it and sent it should have clarified whether the post here was with the original writer's permission. I think it would be good policy to ask posters to say is all. But that's just my point of view.
ReplyDeleteThis was a PTA action. PTA members were being told to write to public bodies and take a specific position. That position is part of the public process.
ReplyDeleteDo PTA members have to ask the permission of the PTA before they can advocate on public issues?