Superintendent Larry Bowers is a pro at doing this, having signed for the Board of Education in 2008 on a major purchase of Promethean Boards when he was only the Chief Operating Officer.
The Parents' Coalition has obtained a copy of an October 7, 2015, internal memo [shown below] from Superintendent Bowers to the Board of Education. This memo shows the sleight of hand that Mr. Bowers is using to hand over 60 acres of public school land to a private company without having the Board of Education vote on this major loss of future school sites.
- On April 27, 2015, the Board of Education approved a contract that would put solar panels on the roofs of 8 existing schools and at a remote site that was not owned by MCPS. But, slipped into this memo was a sentence that MCPS staff could also hand over as many additional schools and as much Board of Education land as they so desired!
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| April 27, 2015 BOE Memorandum |
- And, just like that, Superintendent Larry Bowers tricked the Board of Education members into approving a contract that robs MCPS students of 60 acres of future school sites. There was no public discussion of overcrowding. There was no public discussion of the hundreds of classroom trailers in use. There was no public discussion of current or future school land needs. 60 acres is gone without any public notice or discussion.
- On October 7, 2015, Superintendent Larry Bowers handed Board of Education members a memo (shown below) that presents them with the surprise announcement that he is turning over 60 acres of future school sites to a commercial vendor based on their April 27th vote. What about the public process? Oh, it's all been taken care of by MCPS staff. They have looked at everything, in secret, of course, but it's all done. All the analysis, the site review, the long range planning, it was all handled behind closed doors.
- It's now November. We now see that Board of Education members sat on this information for a month. They didn't discuss the October 7th memo at the recent Board meeting, and did not inform their constituents of this surprise plan.
How can Bowers, the BOE and the County not be accountable for this? It looks like the deal was conceived and signed long before citizens knew anything about it. Isn't this illegal?
ReplyDeletethey arent accountable to anyone, whatsoever. So, the better question is "how did it come to be that this literal feudal system come to exist in a public body where it is essentially a free and independent state, devoid of all responsibility to the hands that feed it?"
DeleteIt "came to be" because these are the people that the voters elected. Repeatedly. All are long-time members, except for new member Jill Ortman-Fouze. See a pattern here? If not, check the longevity of the county councilmembers and Mr. Leggett, elected to a third term. Will he run again? who knows. who cares.
DeleteIt's called People's Republic of Montgomery County.
ReplyDeleteOnce these three school properties are leased to Sun Edison for "ten years," there will be automatic renewal after renewal, effectively taking these three school properties (and the schools that were supposed to be built on them) out out the inventory for many decades. What can we do to stop this?
ReplyDeleteFirst it's cell phone towers; now solar panels... what's next, nuclear waste storage? Why ca't our schools and school properties be used to educate children?
ReplyDeleteEducation is defined as the transfer of knowledge, so technically it can take place in the school parking lot.
ReplyDeleteWhen the solar arrays are installed at the three "future" middle school sites, there won't be a school or a school parking lot.
ReplyDeleteThey'll transfer the knowledge via the WiFi towers.
DeleteMr. Bowers did not 'trick' the elected members of the BOE into anything. Any one of them could have followed this issue, asked some questions, actually read the memo. They didn't. this is on the Board of Education members. oh, and did I say, they are all elected by you, the voters. This is exactly what the voters want.
ReplyDelete