Surprise! Taylor Moving 495 Buses to Residential Neighborhoods! Taylor Skipped this Slide in his Public Presentation.

 Read this article on our new Substack website:

https://parentscoalitionmd.substack.com/p/surprise-taylor-moving-495-buses

Will Bird Flu Close Down MCPS Bus Depots?

As bird flu is detected in more and more places in the United States, health officials are taking action.  In Massachusetts, bird flu testing has led to the closing of a park.   

What will happen here in Montgomery County?  

For example, the MCPS Shady Grove Bus Depot is covered with goose poop from the flocks of geese that live on top of the MCPS bus maintenance building.  If bird flu is detected at that location, will the bus depot be shut down?  The depot has goose poop on all of the pavement and stepping in goose poop is virtually guaranteed as staff and school bus drivers walk to their offices and onto their school buses.   

This is the same bus depot where feral cats are being kept by MCPS employees.  The feral cats live under the 4 office trailers used at the site for MCPS DOT Dispatch, Human Resources, Training and one trailer is the "lunchroom" for the MCPS bus drivers.   

Once Again, Superintendent McKnight will Try to Get @mocoboe to Hand Over Land Use Decisions to @mcps Staff. [An attempt in August 2022 failed.]

The Montgomery County Board of Education and Superintendent Monifa McKnight want to get the public out of decisions about Public School Land.  

On Thursday April 20, 2023, the Board of Education's Consent Agenda will include a vote to remove public input from some Public School Land decisions.

  

They tried to do this in August of 2022, but the resolution was pulled from the Agenda after a public outcry. 

Placement of an item on the Consent Agenda means that the item being voted on won't even be discussed.  It is assumed that the item is so trivial that Board of Education members will unanimously approve it without discussion. 

This Agenda item will hand over all these Public School Land Use decisions to the Superintendent and she can then hand those decisions over to Seth Adams, Director of Facilities Management, so that he can make the decisions without public notice, without public input and without oversight.  Seth Adams will be able to make these land use decisions even if they are of a controversial nature.  

What decisions might be included in this broad delegation of authority to the superintendent?  Moving bus depots, moving bus parking, cell tower compounds, removing trees/forests etc...? 

How might local Public School Land be changed by these decisions that will now be made by one MCPS employee alone behind closed doors? If the Board of Education approves this Resolution, those questions will be for the Superintendent and Seth Adams to know and the public to never find out.  

6.10 Delegation of Authority to Execute Permanent Easements, Utility Easements, Rights-of-Way, Rights-of-Entry, Memoranda of Understanding for Land-Related Issues, and Land-Related Agreements of a Routine Nature 

Breaking: County Executive Removes Plans for Bus Depot from Plans for Seven Locks Site in Rockville #MCPS #ShadyGroveBusDepot

At this evening's Forum to Address Controversial Proposed Bus Depot, Restoration Center in Rockville the forum started with an announcement that there will be no bus depot built on this site. According to County Executive Marc Elrich's Executive Staff, the plans for a bus depot at this site are no longer part of the planning process as long as the County Executive is in office.  

This means that the plan to relocate the MCPS Shady Grove School Bus Depot to the Seven Locks site is no longer viable.   

Rockville City Council to County Executive Marc Elrich: "...we believe it is not feasible to carry out this plan...' #ShadyGroveBusDepot #MCPS

Final Restoration Center and Bus Depot Letter to County 080922 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

TONIGHT: County to Hold Forum on Seven Locks Detention Center / Restoration Center / Bus Depot Plans

Montgomery County will hold a hybrid in-person/virtual community forum, 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, on a planned bus depot and restoration center at a 25.8-acre site along Seven Locks Road.

The in-person event will be held at the Montgomery County Council third-floor hearing room, 100 Maryland Ave. To join the county forum virtually, visit bit.ly/CountyForum100622.

County's Proposed Restoration Center and Bus Depot at 1541 Seven Locks Road | Rockville, MD - Official Website (rockvillemd.gov)

Thurs. Oct. 6th Meeting to Discuss Plan to Park 22 @mcps School Buses at Each of These High Schools: Magruder/Wootton/RM/Rockville/Gaithersburg/Watkins Mill

The Montgomery County/MCPS Plan to move part of the MCPS Shady Grove Bus Depot to Seven Locks Road only moves some of the school buses currently in the Shady Grove Bus Depot.  The rest of the school buses will be parked at 6 high schools.  The MCPS Shady Grove Bus Depot can't be removed from its current location without the use of the parking lots at these 6 high schools.  

The meeting shown below on October 6th will only discuss moving some of the Shady Grove Bus Depot school buses.  It's time for the Board of Education to discuss their plan to take over the parking lots of these 6 high schools and turn them into bus depots. 

 Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: Tues. 8/23/22: Board of Ed to Delegate Authority to Park 33 Buses at Each High School - Magruder/Wootton/RM/Rockville/Gaithersburg/Watkins Mill (parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com)

Board of Education Expected to Vote Tuesday 8/23 on Who Makes Land Use Decisions @mocoboe @mcps

Members of the Montgomery County Board of Education are expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on a resolution that would cede their authority on land use decisions “of a routine nature” to the superintendent, who then would be able to delegate that power to the director of facilities management.

Under the request from Superintendent Monifa McKnight, “the superintendent of schools or his/her designee” will approve and execute permanent easements, utility easements, rights-of-way, rights-of-entry, memoranda of understanding for land-related issues, and land-related agreements of a routine nature with governmental entities and adjoining land owners, to provide greater administrative efficiency.”

If this consent agenda item is approved, the facilities management staff will decide issues surrounding school land and placement of cell towers and bus depots, according to the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, which was formed in 2002 for “greater transparency and accountability,” according to its self-described principles...

Board of Education Expected to Vote Tuesday on Who Makes Land Use Decisions - Montgomery Community Media (mymcmedia.org)

UPDATED: .@mocoboe Board of Education to Hand Over Power to MCPS' staffer Seth Adams, Remove Transparency, Remove Public Input from Land Use Decisions

 

The Montgomery County Board of Education wants to get the public out of decisions about Public School Land.  

On Tuesday, August 23, 2022, the Board of Education will vote to remove public input from some Public School Land decisions on their Consent Agenda.  

Placement of an item on the Consent Agenda means that the item being voted on won't even be discussed.  It is assumed that the item is so trivial that Board of Education members will unanimously approve it without discussion. 

The Agenda item will hand over all these Public School Land Use decisions to the Superintendent and she can then hand those decisions over to Seth Adams, Director of Facilities Management, so he can make the decisions without public notice, without public input and without oversight.  Seth Adams will be able to make these land use decisions even if they are of a controversial nature.  

What decisions might be included in this broad delegation of authority to the superintendent?  Moving bus depots, moving bus parking, cell tower compounds, removing trees/forests etc...? 

How might local Public School Land be changed by these decisions that will now be made by one MCPS employee alone behind closed doors? If the Board of Education approves this Resolution, those questions will be for the Superintendent and Seth Adams to know and the public to never find out.  

6.10 Delegation of Authority to Execute Permanent Easements, Utility Easements, Rights-of-Way, Rights-of-Entry, Memoranda of Understanding for Land-Related Issues, and Land-Related Agreements of a Routine Nature 

Under the agreement, Highland and its project partners... will electrify all five of MCPS’ bus depots [Even the Shady Grove Depot that is supposed to move one day?]

Proterra Press Release

...Under the agreement, Highland and its project partners, including Thomas Built Buses, Proterra, and Annapolis-based American Bus, will electrify all five of MCPS’ bus depots, supplying the electric school buses and charging infrastructure along with services including managed charging. Highland will purchase buses manufactured in North Carolina by Thomas Built Buses, which will be supplied and serviced by American Bus. Both companies have been long-time trusted suppliers and partners for the MCPS Department of Transportation. Designed, engineered, and manufactured in the United States by Thomas Built Buses, the all-electric Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley school bus is powered by Proterra’s electric vehicle technology platform. The Jouley couples 226 kWh of total energy capacity with a Proterra Powered drivetrain to offer an industry-leading operating range of up to 135 miles on a single charge to meet the needs of school bus fleets...

https://www.proterra.com/press-release/montgomery-county-approves-largest-electric-school-bus-order/

Superintendent Met with County Executive about Bus Depot

That's all we can tell you. 

The Superintendent gave the Board of Education a report about his meeting with the County Executive at the Closed Session Board of Education meeting on May 21, 2018. 

The Superintendent and Board of Education do not want the public to know anything about what was discussed by the Superintendent and County Executive Ike Leggett.

City of Rockville: Comprehensive Overview of MCPS Shady Grove Bus Depot Replacement Saga

The City of Rockville, City Manager has put together a comprehensive overview of the events that have occurred in the last few years concerning County Executive Ike Leggett's attempt to move the MCPS Shady Grove bus depot to make way for developers to build housing.  The City Manager's memo discusses the four most recent sites that have been proposed for some or all of the Shady Grove bus fleet and includes concerns that have been brought up by the public.

...Following completion of their presentation MCPS opened the meeting to public comment and questions. All of the speakers voiced opposition to the project and expressed several concerns related to the proposal. The following is not an exhaustive list of all concerns expressed, but is a summary of general themes presented:

• noise impacts associated with the operation of the proposed bus depot at this location, given its adjacency to residential uses;

• health concerns given the concentration of over 100 buses at a single location and resultant air quality impacts;

• traffic impacts on the intersection of Mannakee Street and MD355;

• multiple buses utilizing neighborhood streets in the vicinity of the proposed depot;

• impact upon the adjacent historic district and Carver High School building; and,

• incompatibility of the proposed bus depot with the surrounding neighborhood.

MCPS staff indicating that there would be a follow-up meeting on the subject, however no date was provided...

 https://rockmail.rockvillemd.gov/clerk/egenda.nsf/d5c6a20307650f4a852572f9004d38b8/d473390b99a92f7c85257fb1005b0778?OpenDocument