Silver Spring? Tricked and gets parking lot instead. Maybe the Board of Education will make it up to the Silver Spring school by giving them a nice cell phone tower.
Gazette: Westbrook Elementary in Bethesda to gain new gym, classrooms
...The $13 million expansion, which is being managed by HESS Construction and Engineering Services, also will more than double on-site parking at the school, modify the bus loop to accommodate more buses, and replace aging playground equipment.
To facilitate outdoor classes, the courtyard will feature a tiered seating area built into the ground, said Principal Rebecca Jones. Construction began about three and a half months ago...
The seating area is not being paid for by MCPS, nor any tax payer funds. It's being paid for by a nonnprofit. The school had been past capacity for sometime and the nonprofit FOWS decided to contribute money to an outdoor garden with a seating area.
ReplyDeleteEven worse. Bethesda can pay for perks for their schools while Silver Spring schools are mislead and lied to about the design of their schools. Same perk is put in Silver Spring school's plans and then paved over with out public notification or a vote of the BOE. The BOE VOTED to put an outdoor classroom at Flora Singer ES (McKenney Hills). MCPS administrators paved over that plan without any authorization from the BOE. Moral of the story? As always, MCPS site plans are sham documents. Same story at Cabin John MS in 2010, same story today. Weast/Starr = no difference.
Deletehttp://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2010/05/cabin-john-weve-been-duped.html
No taxpayer funds? All of the planning is being funded with taxpayer funds.
And, the "over capacity for some time"? Sorry, you don't get any points for that one. Some schools in MCPS have had classroom trailers for over 25 years. Still do. The abysmal capacity planning of MCPS administrators is a whole other issue.
No, it's NOT worse. It's not a comment about Silver Spring. The PC post - probably because the original article didn't say differently - implied that MCPS was paying for the outdoor area, when it's not.
ReplyDeleteI'm not looking for points here, no worries about that. I'm looking to clarify your original post because I thought the PC would like to have the most accurate picture possible. Apparently I was mistaken. As for schools with portables, Westbrook had run out of safe, usable outdoor space to add to the protables it's already had for the last few years (much of the space to the left of the school is a flood plain which can't be built on, not even protables). The next step would have been to deprive the children of all their playground equipment for additional portables. Perhaps you are okay, with that, but MCPS was not.
Sorry, lots of schools have run out of safe usable outdoor space to add classroom trailers. Apparently, you missed the recent articles about Arcola Elementary School. There is nothing new or unique about Westbrook. MCPS is fine with putting classroom trailers all over the place.
DeleteThe only difference is that Westbrook is in Bethesda and they are getting what they want ahead of other schools. They are also able to buy perks that other schools can't.
What's different about Bethesda? It's the home of two BOE members and the Superintendent.
One thing we agree on,there's nothing new about Westbrook, it was built in 1939.
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't miss that in July of this year, portables were going to be installed for on the front lawn at Arcola. But you've obviously missed the fact that Westbrook's had portables on the front lawn for the past two years before this, and in the back before that. Westbrook was built in 1939 and is over capacity.
Honestly, I have no idea why you try to blast people providing honest facts to this blog. You've failed to provide a single fact that substantiates your claim that that Westbrook has cut ahead of any school. And, btw, Dr. Starr's children do not attend Westbrook, nor do any board member's kids. Please, get your facts straight! And stop blasting children and parents based upon zip code. As an Hispanic who grew up hearing my ethnic group disparaged, I have no patience for any kind of stereotyping.
Go count the cell towers on Silver Spring public school playgrounds and compare that to the cell towers on Bethesda public school playgrounds and let us know your findings. And, yes - cell tower companies wanted to put cell towers on playgrounds in Bethesda. (Spoiler alert: Silver Spring has 7. Whitman Cluster: 0. Yes, that is a Zip Code issue.)
DeleteWestbrook is still in Bethesda, and they are still getting a perk for their school that was paved over at a Silver Spring school. Please explain.
Two years of trailers on the front lawn? That's it?
Is it OK if MCPS decide to pave over the perk at Westbrook? No questions asked. No public input? No one will miss it or say a word?
In my opinion it is a question of haves and have nots. Westbrook PTA campaigned hard for this addition and secured meetings with their reps on the County Council and Board of Education. Politicians like deep pockets around the time of the elections.
ReplyDeleteFrankly most people near Westbrook do not like the idea of having a mega school in their neighborhood. Nobody asked for twelve new classrooms.
@Anonymous Aug 18, 12:36 am, re: "secured meetings," are you implying that it is difficult to have meetings with your council representatives? That is not the case. In fact, that is their job for which you pay them with your tax dollars. You pay them, you pay their staff, you pay for their office space, their electricity, their computers, their pencils. To represent you. How would they know how to represent you if they don't meet with you? Anyone on this blog ever have difficulty meeting with their council reps? I have not found that to be the case.
ReplyDeletePaula: Perhaps inadvertently you left out the Board of Education. Their supplies and salaries are paid for by the taxpayer too. Yet, how many people do you know that received as little as an e-mail response from the Board. Please don't forget that the e-mail addresses for individual Board members became available only a couple of years ago after the Parents Coalition had publicized them.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous Aug 22 3:03PM, you are right that the BOE is maintained by the taxpayers. If you don't receive a response from a BOE member, please let us know on this blog. We are happy to reprint letters, or emails you care to share. And, here is a tip the late Jean Cryor gave me: if you want a response, it always helps to cc the press.
ReplyDeleteNot just two years of portables out front - you didn't read my post correctly. This is year 6 of portables and we're on year 3 out front (the two years out front being the past two years). Westbrook was reaching the point where in the next year or so kids would lose their playground equipment - hard on one of only 6 schools in all MCPS without a gym - and not be able to attend their home school. It hasn't been renovated in 22 years, and when it was back then, it was supposed to get a gym but budget cuts stopped it. So it reamins one of 6 schools in MCPS without a gym.
ReplyDeleteFull disclosure, the benefit to my family from this construction is 0. My kid will have all the hassle, none of the benefit. My point was was you really haven't done your homework on this school to support your claim that this school wasn't entitled to expansion. This is about making sure kids can go to their neighborhood school. And about the simple point that you said MCPS was paying for the outdoor space when it wasn't. Your laudable concern of making sure schools are treated fairly would be better served if you did a little more research on the examples you pick. Westbrook was not a fair example, because this school was sorely indeed of expansion.
This is my last post; it seems to me you're more interested in arguing and less about the facts of this particular school and this particular construction.
Year 6? That's it? Losing playground equipment? Join the rest of MCPS overcrowded schools. That's been happening at MCPS for over a decade.
DeleteYou want research? Take a drive by Matsunaga Elementary School. Overcrowded since opening in 2001. Count the portables and let us know what you find.
Where is the MCPS priority list of construction? Oh, there isn't one. MCPS does what they want, when they want. Projects are added, deleted and moved around at will.
Glad you are focused on your one school, but it is a big county and there is lots going on at other schools that make this situation look like a dream.