TODAY: Board of Ed. to Vote on Whether School Land is for Cell Tower Companies or Public School Children. Question for @mocoboe: Do you want to keep building cell towers or are you going to focus on using school land for public school children?

 From: Parents Coalition

Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2023 1:05 AM
To: BOE <BOE@mcpsmd.org>; Brenda_Wolff@mcpsmd.org <Brenda_Wolff@mcpsmd.org>; Karla_Silvestre@mcpsmd.org <Karla_Silvestre@mcpsmd.org>; Graciela_Rivera-oven@mcpsmd.org <Graciela_Rivera-oven@mcpsmd.org>; Shebra_L_Evans@mcpsmd.org <Shebra_L_Evans@mcpsmd.org>; Lynne_Harris@mcpsmd.org <Lynne_Harris@mcpsmd.org>; Julie_Yang@mcpsmd.org <Julie_Yang@mcpsmd.org>; Rebecca_K_Smondrowski@mcpsmd.org <Rebecca_K_Smondrowski@mcpsmd.org>; Leslie_E_TurnerPercival@mcpsmd.org <Leslie_E_TurnerPercival@mcpsmd.org>; sami_saeed@mcpsmd.org <sami_saeed@mcpsmd.org>

Subject: Did Seth Adams tell the BOE that a Cell Tower Application was REJECTED because Adams and McKnight CANNOT sign for the BOE?

 

To the members of the Montgomery County Board of Education:

At your July 20, 2023, Board of Education meeting you will once again be told that a Telecommunications Lease Agreement is being presented to you as a courtesy.

THAT IS A LIE.

Agenda Item 9.16 for the Woodwards Road Elementary School site MUST be voted on by the Board of Education.  

Policy ECN DOES NOT give Superintendent McKnight or Seth Adams the power to sign away property rights.  A lease signs away rights in a property.  

The Board of Education is the LAND OWNER and only the LAND OWNER can sign away property rights.  

You have the power to vote to give away property rights or to retain property rights.  It is YOUR CHOICE.  

Do you want to keep giving away school land to private companies? Approve the lease.  

Do you want public school land preserved for public school students? Don't approve the lease. Your choice.

How do we know this?  

What happened to the cell tower on the Woodward High School site?  It's gone! Do you know why?  

The Woodward High School cell tower was removed because YOU did not authorize a new cell tower to be constructed on that property.  

On September 15, 2022, the Hearing Examiner in case CU 22-09 in the OFFICE OF ZONING AND ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS for MONTGOMERY COUNTY determined that the Application for a new cell tower at the Woodward High School site was INCOMPLETE because it was not signed by the LAND OWNER.  The land owner is you, the Board of Education.

[MCPS Office of Facilities Management] Seth Adams was present at that hearing and heard the determination of the Hearing Examiner.  He could not sign in your place.  Because you did not authorize that Application, the Application was withdrawn and the matter closed.

Again, the Hearing Examiner determined that SETH ADAMS COULD NOT SIGN FOR THE BOARD OF EDUCATION.  The Hearing Examiner ruled that there was NO DELEGATION to Seth Adams to sign on behalf of the Board of Education. The Application was deemed incomplete because it was not signed by the LAND OWNER.  

This is not the first time a cell tower application has been withdrawn because the Board of Education (the land owner) did not authorize the project, but it is the most recent time this has happened.

The September 15, 2022, ORDER in CU 22-09 from the OFFICE OF ZONING AND ADMINSTRATIVE HEARINGS for MONTGOMERY COUNTY is attached to this email.  Read it for yourself. 

Today, it's up to you.  

Do you want to keep building cell towers or are you going to focus on using school land for public school children? 

Janis Zink Sartucci

Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD

Formed in 2002, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland seeks to achieve the goals of coherent, content-rich curriculum standards; high expectations combined with timely remediation and acceleration; a wider range of educational options for parents and children; greater transparency and accountability; and meaningful community input.

CU 22-09 Order Requiring Am... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...