Dumais, Feldman, King, Fraser-Hidalgo, and Qi Push Law that will take about $308,700 annually from Mont. Co. revenue. And the rich get richer!

(Note the Glenstone Museum was able to route a Ride On bus through their property without any public discussion.  That change in the Tobytown Ride On bus line requires riders to ride through the Glenstone property everytime they use the Ride On to get to and from Tobytown and Rockville.  The Ride On bus enters the locked Glenstone gates to pick up at the private Glenstone Ride On bus stop.  Who else in Montgomery County has a Ride On bus stop on private property behind locked gates and inaccessible to the public?)

...The bill would allow Glenstone to seek property tax exemption for all parts of the land that are used for museum purposes so long as Glenstone remains open to the public and doesn’t charge admission.

Montgomery’s county council and county executive submitted testimony opposing the bill, citing lost revenue.

Right now, state law allows Glenstone to exempt up to 100 acres. If the bill passes, the whole property could eventually be eligible and there are plans to use the entire acreage for artistic purposes. The county’s revenue loss would be about $308,700 annually if the whole property is exempted.

“The cost of this exemption would force the County to either absorb the revenue loss or shift the tax burden to its other taxpayers,” the county Office of Intergovernmental Relations wrote in a letter to the Ways and Means Committee.

The state’s property tax loss would be an estimated $34,800...

https://www.marylandmatters.org/blog/some-montgomery-lawmakers-balk-as-house-passes-museum-tax-break/

Contractor Sues Glenstone Museum Foundation for $24 Million

From the New York Times by reporter Colin Moynihan. Full story here.

A month before the much anticipated unveiling of the revamped Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Md., a contracting firm that oversaw the ambitious expansion there has sued the foundation that runs the institution, seeking at least $24 million in damages. ...

The company, Hitt Contracting of Falls Church, Va., filed the suit at the end of August in Federal District Court in Maryland, accusing the foundation of breach of contract and mismanagement, adding that a “torrent of changes” the foundation had demanded repeatedly disrupted and delayed work.

Hitt listed millions of dollars in unpaid fees it says Glenstone owes and stated that those outstanding debts had left the company “exposed” to $14 million in claims by subcontractors.

Starr's Favorite Sewer Project Back in the News

Remember when Superintendent Josnua Starr suddenly decided to be a supporter of private sewer construction? Here's more on the Mitchell Rales (Glenstone Museum) connection.

...Leggett, for example, received $12,000 from billionaire businessman and art collector Mitchell Rales and members of his family. Rales successfully sought a controversial sewer connection from the county for his Potomac gallery in 2012...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/maryland-news/2014/01/26/de4228ba-847e-11e3-8099-9181471f7aaf_story.html?wprss=rss_local-montgomery-social&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

You are invited . . .

to breakfast with Mitch, Emily, and Josh.

Come hear Dr. Starr's first State of the Schools Address.  Share a cup of coffee with the folks from Glenstone, Mitch and Emily Rales, who also invite you if you are over the age of 12 and not a blogger, to their lovely mansion to view their art!

But - sorry teachers, you can't go.  Josh scheduled this for 7:30am on a school day, so no cookies and coffee for you, unless you can find a substitute and use one of your sick days. 

Thank goodness its a federal and state holiday - so federal and state workers who will be observing veterans day, can show up and eat. 

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From the MCPS Web:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/superintendent/stateoftheschools/

2012 State of the Schools

Superintendent Joshua P. Starr will deliver his first State of the Schools address at the Music Center at Strathmore on November 12, 2012. Please join Dr. Starr as he shares his vision for the future and we gather to celebrate the outstanding students of Montgomery County Public Schools. This event is free and open to the public.

Please Join Us on Monday, November 12, 2012

The Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda, MD 20852

7:30 a.m.	Enjoy a light breakfast and student performances and artwork throughout the Music Center
8:30 a.m.	Dr. Starr presents his State of the Schools address Foreign language and sign language interpretation will be available. Event will conclude by 9:30 a.m. Free parking available in Grosvenor/Strathmore garage.

For more information about the event, please call 301-279-3424.

Sponsors
The 2012 State of the Schools event is supported, in part, by Strathmore and the Glenstone Foundation.

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Do you feel left out?  Don't be.  You too can be a sponsor of this great event.  Philanthropies, other federal and state agencies, corporations, non-profits, and individuals - you are all invited, no minimum specified.  Just go to the Montgomery County Educational Foundation webpage and make a donation.   United Way and CFC donations also accepted.  MCPS has its hand out, and will take all donations.  What are the naming opportunities for other folks?  Guess you will just have to show up and find out.

Arts Curriculum Returns to MCPS

We are so excited.

Arts education in MCPS is making a comeback. Thanks to Mitchell and Emily Rales, who want a sewer so badly that they are lookiing into a partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools.

Want to visit Glenstone? Sorry, but if you are under the age of 12, no such luck. Glenstone cards those who visit, and only those age 12 years or older can visit. You can read the visitor information package right here. 2012 Glenstone Visitor Package




But wait - excluding those under the age of 12?  In a school system that is K-12, that means more than  half of the students in MCPS can't go on those lovely class trips.

Here is one solution.  Washington DC has an abundance of art museums, all free, with curricular material and many ready with lesson plans just waiting for an age appropriate group of school kids.  Try the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, or the Hirshhorn.

So elementary and middle school teachers in MoCo - start planning your trips to the Mall.  Now that art is back in the county, plan your trip and get those reservations in.  Art is back, just not at Glenstone. 

So - why is Dr. Starr advocating for a partnership with a private entity that still has to develop lesson plans and lacks adequate public bathrooms when your tax dollars already pay for facilities with lesson plans and sewer hookups? 

The Parents Coalition Annual List of School Fees for 2012

Did you think that our new Superintendent of Schools, Josh Starr, would shake things up here in MoCo?   Did you think he might chart his own course?

Wrong. Looks like its more of the same old same old. Our students are still not getting their constitutionally guaranteed free education again this year.

Here is the annual back to school fees list for high school students.
2012 Highschool Fees

And here is the back to school fee list for middle school students.
2012 Middle School Fees

Are the lists accurate? Readers will need to report back whether they were charged additional fees not on the list.


So - what is a parent to do, other than try to transfer their students into schools that charge less than others?

Ask for a waiver. Students are not supposed to be denied educational opportunities based on whether a fee is paid. If you do choose to pay a fee, consider it a donation.


Want to compare to last year's lists? Try here for high school and here for middle school.

Note to Emily and Mitch Rales - when you look over the lists, you will see that the majority of the fees are charged in the arts related classes. If you (or any other business person in MoCo) would like to help out students, perhaps you could adopt a school or a class on the list, and save Josh and his staff from having to beg for the payments.

Lets do lunch - and please have your boss sign a letter supporting my sewer

To be fair, its not clear whether Linda Adams had lunch with Emily Rales or whether she just got her own private tour of the mansion posing as an art museum.

But - what is clear from reading the emails provided in a request under the Maryland Public Information Act, is this:

1. Linda Adams, the MCPS Supervisor for Arts visited Glenstone with Elizabeth Stuart, another MCPS staff member (see March 16 2012 email)

2. She was so excited that she shared this information with Brian Edwards (on March 19 email from Adams)

3. The Glenston-MCPS collaboration is exciting, but

4. Could Josh Starr please help out and write a letter (March 19 email from Emily Rales)

Note that the collaboration at this time simply involves a visit between Linda Adams and Emily Rales. No student visits, no teacher visits, nothing but a promise.   Unless you count the September party Mitch Rales held to welcome Josh to the County.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if any MCPS parent could get a simple request before Dr. Starr by simply inviting him or someone from MCPS over for a cup of coffee?

Lesson to MCPS parents and staff.  Next time you have a request, invite Josh or one of his staffers to your home for a visit, and you can ask for anything.
2012 Glen Stone 4