Cell Tower REMOVED from Woodward High School site! Woodward HS site is now Cell Tower Free!

Montgomery County Public Schools Director of Facilities Seth P. Adams tried to have the cell tower at the Woodward High School site moved to the bleachers for the new school, but he failed.  

The cell tower at the Woodwards High School site was placed on the site in 2002 by former Superintendent Jerry Weast without any Board of Education notice or approval.

In the summer of 2022, MCPS Director of Facilities Seth P. Adams attempted to have a new cell tower built on the site without any Board of Education authorization.  That attempt failed and the application for a new cell tower at the site was denied.  

The original 2002 cell tower is in the path of the new construction and was removed on April 13, 2023.  

IT'S GONE!

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: Board of Ed. Ditches Plan to Replace 1/2 Home Team Bleachers with a Cell Tower Compound at new Woodward High School. @mocoboe @mcps

The Parents' Coalition has learned that the Board of Education has dropped their plan to replace half of the home team bleachers at the new Woodward High School stadium with a cell tower compound. 

Below are two images showing approximately what the Board of Education had planned.  The images below use the Walter Johnson High School stadium as an example of what a typical MCPS athletic stadium looks like.   

The Woodward High School cell tower compound would have replaced the home team bleachers on one side of the field.  Spectators for the home team would have been restricted to the other side of the field.  But as of today, the Board of Education has apparently declined to pursue this construction project.  

The red area below shows the location of the planned telecommunications tower compound at the new Woodward High School athletic stadium. The image is of the current Walter Johnson High School athletic stadium.

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 

Public Notice: .@SenatorSusanLee .@DelArianaKelly .@mkorman .@SaraLove4MD .@Andrew_Friedson can't say they never heard about the plan for a cell tower on the home team bleachers at new North Bethesda high school.

@SenatorSusanLee @DelArianaKelly @mkorman @SaraLove4MD @Andrew_Friedson You all going to tell yr constituents about cell tower going on home team bleachers at new high school? Or are you just going to let parents be surprised? This is your public notice. https://t.co/No9xr5XGfK pic.twitter.com/NvnPfGknrc

— Parents' Coalition (@PCMC1) July 18, 2022