Durso: "...perception...is that we do a lot in secret..."

“I think sometimes the perception of the larger community out there is that we do a lot in secret or that we’re just waiting around to pounce on any ballparks we can take,” he said. “And that’s simply not true.”

Gazette:  Montgomery school system may offer groups more input on where to build

Let's Condemn Private Land for Schools

It's a new low for the Montgomery County Board of Education...

At the January 10, 2012 Board of Education meeting the Board will vote to proceed with requesting that a piece of farmland in Germantown be condemned for use as a school site.  

Northwest Cluster

Initially, think about the legal bills that the taxpayers of Montgomery County will be footing to fund this legal process.  Estimate of cost, anyone?  Remember the Board of Education legal advice comes via no-bid contract awards. Anyone know what taxpayers are paying an hour for these firms to give legal advice to the Board of Education? 


Then, take a look at the list of properties the Board of Education already owns. Remember that many sites are leased out to private entities, and one site in particular is being preserved for use by Comcast and cell tower companies rather than used for public school purposes.  

Close up of NW Cluster

The land the Board of Education wants condemned is in the Northwest Cluster.  It is farmland.  See images for an up close look at the Northwest Cluster of public schools.  The land is known as the Phillips Farm and is shown  with a yellow marker in the center of the Google Map below.  Click on any of the images to enlarge them for easier viewing. You might know this farm.  It's just 2 miles down the road from the Soccer Plex.

Location of farm landCondemnation

Cell Tower Compound Prevents Use of Public School Land for Students

Woodwards Road Elementary School site
Entire property leased to Comcast

Remember Superintendent Jerry Weast's cell tower compound that he put on a future elementary school site in Gaithersburg, Maryland?


That cell tower compound (shown in red circle in image) is now being used as a reason to not consider the Woodwards Road Elementary School site for use as a public school.  The leases that Superintendent Jerry Weast signed, without the approval of the Board of Education, have now tied up this public school site for use by for-profit telecommunications companies and a utility.  Public School students? Out of luck.


MCPS has released a "Site Selection" report by another one of their secret committees that violates the Maryland Open Meetings Act.  In the December 12, 2011 report below, the following statements are made about why the Woodwards Road Elementary School site is not being considered for a holding school.  

...The entire site is currently leased to Comcast with a portion also leased to several telecommunications providers...

...The Woodwards Road Elementary School property would require access  from Emory Grove Road, the road frontage of which is limited. This factor could limit the number of driveway curb cuts for optimum vehicular circulation.  The site is leased to four telecommunications companies and one utility company. Further study would be needed to determine whether there would be adequate space for the existing telecommunications operations to continue operations on the site...

Further study? Seriously? The Board of Education allowed this public school property to be converted into a cell tower compound without knowing if they could use the land for a public school when needed?  Hello, Board of Education, this land was entrusted to you for the benefit of public school children, not for the benefit of private companies.


When was this entire site leased to Comcast? Where is that lease and who signed it? 


So Emory Grove Center (18100 Washington Grove Lane, Gaithersburg), you are up as the secret committee selected location for the Upcounty Elementary Holding School.  Secret committee report below:


Upcounty Holding Facility Recommendation

"Chock full of errors and misrepresentations"

In response to a blog posting today of a letter from the Brickyard Coalition to all members of the Montgomery County Council, the Parents' Coalition received the response shown below from Montgomery County's Director of Public Information.  

We look forward to a more detailed response from Montgomery County officials to the statements made in the Brickyard Coalition letter.  A point by point response would go a long way to educate the public as to the position of Montgomery County government on this land deal.  

Thanks in advance to the Montgomery County Public Information Director for shining some light on the specifics of the Brickyard Middle School site land lease. 

Brickyard Middle School Lease to Leggett is a Disguised Surplusing of the Property

The letter below was hand delivered to all Montgomery County Councilmembers on December 12, 2011 by the Brickyard Coalition.
The letter discusses the surprise lease of a 20 acre public school site by the Board of Education to Montgomery County at the request of County Executive Ike Leggett.  
At a time when public school land is a precious resource for public school students, County Executive Ike Leggett has taken 20 acres of public school land and plans to turn it over to a private club. 

UPDATE: Response from Montgomery County Director of Public Information.
Brickyard Coalition Letter to Berliner and Council

Planning Board wants Closed Session related to School Land purchase?

Note:  In order for a public body to go into a Closed Session, they must first meet in the Open and vote to go into a Closed Session.  The public has the right to attend the Open Session of the meeting and witness the discussion and vote of the public body to Close the meeting.  

The Maryland Open Meetings Act favors Open meetings over Closed meetings and gives the public the right to observe when a public body decides to take a matter into a Closed session. 

Attend the Planning Board Lunch (See Agenda announcement below) on December 1st if you want to witness this public body's decision to go into a Closed session to discuss a matter relating to School Site Selection.  

Montgomery County Planning Board Agenda

Thursday, December 1, 2011
12:30 PM

LUNCH 

Closed Session - REVISED

Pursuant to State Government Article Annotated Code of Maryland 10-508(a)(3) to consider the acquisition of real property for a public purpose and matters directly related thereto and pursuant to State Government Article Annotated Code of Maryland 10-508(a)(14) to discuss a matter directly related to a negotiating strategy or the contents of a bid or proposal before the contract is awarded or bids are opened, if public discussion or disclosure would adversely impact the ability of the Commission to participate in the competitive bidding or proposal process TOPIC: Joint MCPS/MNCPPC Working Group on School Site Selection

Gazette: Committee discusses nine properties in closed session

Gazette:  Efforts move forward in finding an upcounty holding school

...Members of the Site Selection Advisory Committee, appointed by the county school board, met Monday at the Upcounty Regional Services Center in Germantown to consider nine public and private sites and make a recommendation to the school system for a location where upcounty elementary school students could be housed when their schools are being modernized......Before the nine locations were identified or discussed Monday, the committee voted to enter a closed session, resulting in the expulsion of anyone who was not a committee member, including a Gazette reporter...

Notice: This meeting will violate the Open Meetings Act

We might as well get right to the point on this one. The Board of Education's current site selection process is flawed. This isn't a guess, it's a fact.


The Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board has already determined that the Montgomery County Board of Education's secret, closed meeting, no minutes site selection process violates the Open Meetings Act.  Here's what they said in their September 15, 2011 decision: 

"We conclude that the site selection committee violated the Act by holding meetings without giving notice to the public, by failing to keep minutes, and by failing to follow any of the procedures required of a public body meeting out of the public eye."

Now that decision referred to the Site Selection for the BCC Middle School #2. But, at the very same time as this decision came out, a Site Selection Committee had already been meeting for months to select the location for the Upcounty Elementary School Holding Facility.  This Site Selection Committee has also been violating the Open Meetings Act. 


What to do?


The easy answer for the Board of Education was to schedule a fake meeting that pretends to comply with the Open Meetings Act! That meeting will take place Monday, October 3, 2011 at 1 PM at the Upcounty Regional Services Center.


Here's the glitch in the plan: in order for a public meeting to be closed, it must be closed based on a public vote of the committee members and only for specific reasons as allowed by the Maryland Open Meetings Act.  


Will the members of this committee vote to close the meeting? If they vote to close the meeting, will it be for a reason that is permitted by the Open Meetings Act?  For example, the committee can't vote to close a meeting based on the exception that they will be discussing the acquisition (purchase) of land, if in fact there is no discussion of a land purchase. What if the committee members don't vote to close this meeting? That means that the public will be able to sit in on a Site Selection Committee meeting! 


Bring a bag lunch and see what open government looks like in action, or at least see an attempt to cover up a broken process!

Monday, October 3, 2011
12900 Middlebrook Road 
Germantown, MD
Conference Rooms 3a/3b