MCPS Staff Changes Building Design Behind Closed Doors

As parents, community and staff were meeting as a committee to design a modernized Edison High School, MCPS staff was making changes behind the scenes.  The committee saw a change to the building's design at the April 12, 2012 meeting, that was to have been the last of the series of design meetings. Below is an e-mail from an Edison High School parent about that change. 


From: Theresa Defino
To: boe <boe@mcpsmd.org>
Cc: Joshua_Starr <Joshua_Starr@mcpsmd.org>
Sent: Thu, May 10, 2012 4:26 pm

Subject: follow-up on Edison/Wheaton designs

Thank you to the board members who spoke on behalf of Edison [High School] at your recent business meeting.

To provide further clarity on the issue, I have attached the presentation from the April 24, 2012 design meeting (our last). I ask that you spend a minute to look at pages 21-23, focusing on the area on the left where there is a flag.

Page 21 has the original design with the corner, which you can see altered in 22 and again on 23. As you know, the change was ordered by MCPS staff. We are still not in receipt of any detailed justifications for the change.

We believe the original design is cleaner and more attractive, and contributes to the "wow" factor that we all want a building to have that is unique in the county and will last for 50-100 years.

Keep in mind these designs are the result of multimillion contract with Grimm + Parker. This is a top-notch, highly-regarded firm that has done many projects for MCPS.

Overall, we are extremely pleased with their work and the plans for the schools. But staff, students, parents and the community we deserve a building that demonstrates the best that they have to offer, both professionally and creatively. We believe the angle should remain as proposed.

Thank you.

Theresa Defino
Edison Parent

EHS_SD_MTG7_24APR2012_final_MCPS