“What is the staff confidence level that this is going to work sort of as advertised, that fees that are incurred and assessed by the City of Gaithersburg are actually going to … that MCPS is going to play ball and they’re actually going to go toward relief for our capacity problems at the specific school level.” #overcrowding #Gaithersburg

At a July 6 Joint Mayor and City Council and Planning Commission Public Hearing, a proposed amendment to the city’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) was discussed. The amendment suggests raising the APFO from 110 to 150 percent of school capacity five years in the future and collecting a Gaithersburg Schools Facilities Payment Fee from developers in areas where a specific school exceeds 105 percent capacity.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, Rachel Carson Elementary School is expected to reach 148.1 percent capacity, a student population increase of more than 5 percent from FY2015. Speaking before the Mayor and City Council and Planning Commission, John Schlichting, director of Planning and Code Administration, said that RCES is “the most crowded school in the City of Gaithersburg, and one of the most crowded elementary schools in the county … (and) is already one of the largest if not the largest elementary school in the county.”
All of the elementary schools in the Quince Orchard cluster are overcapacity, he noted. Fields Road will be at 125.5 percent in FY2016 and Thurgood Marshall at 124.2 percent.
In total, 11 Gaithersburg public schools will be over 110 percent in FY2016, putting them in moratorium per the city’s current APFO that limits residential development when schools exceed 110 percent capacity. While waivers can be granted for schools that are below 120 percent capacity, only Gaithersburg Elementary at a projected 117.6 percent capacity and Northwest High School at a projected 110.3 percent capacity are eligible for this...

...Working in tandem with the new fee, the current 110 percent maximum for forecasted enrollment (in five years) would be changed to 150 percent. The City Council would be given authority to waive either the 150 percent capacity ceiling or the Gaithersburg Schools Facilities Payment Fee (or both) with defined justifications...

 http://towncourier.com/proposed-apfo-amendment-suggests-local-fix-for-schools/

Breaking: MCPS Superintendent Finalist Announced and Lost to Florida

You can only read the article linked below if you promise not tell Board of Education President Patricia O'Neill that you have learned the name of one of the finalists for the position of the MCPS superintendent.

Board of Education President O'Neill has already made it very clear that she does not want the names of the MCPS superintendent finalists made public.

So, if you can keep a secret you can read this AJC.com article about a finalist for the MCPS superintendent position that just accepted another job in Florida. 

...Avossa is also a finalist for the superintendent position in Montgomery County, Md., but he told reporters at the Palm Beach Post Thursday that “Florida feels like home to me.”...

 http://www.ajc.com/news/news/fulton-school-superintendent-avossa-to-leave/nkwnQ/

Starr Wants to Put 400 Buses on a Site Half the Size of Shady Grove Bus Depot

The 2009 MCPS presentation on the Montgomery County proposal to move the MCPS Shady Grove School Bus Depot shows that Superintendent Joshua Starr's current plan to move the bus depot to a site half the size is unworkable, dangerous and outrageously expensive.

Superintendent Joshua Starr's current plan is to move the already severely, dangerously overcrowded 35 acre Shady Grove school bus depot to the Ewing Center School site where there will only be 15 acres of available land.

In order to fit 400 school buses at the Ewing School site, the County will have to build a multi level school bus parking garage and stack the buses on top of each other.

Where will Ike Leggett find the $200 MILLION +  to build the 4 story school bus parking lot that will be needed to fit the 400 MCPS school buses on the way too small Ewing School site?

Below is the 2009 Board of Education presentation on the Shady Grove bus depot that gives the facts behind the move of the MCPS Shady Grove bus depot.

Here's the math problem:
The current MCPS Shady Grove bus depot is 35 acres.  The current site is already severely, dangerously overcrowded.  A superintendent wants to move the Shady Grove bus depot to a 15 acre site.  
How many levels will the parking garage need to be to safely fit all 400 MCPS school buses on the 15 acre site?   
What will it cost taxpayers to build a ____ level school bus parking garage?
Show your work.



http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/agenda/2008-09/2009-0414/7.0%20Shady%20Grove%20Sector%20Plan%20Green%20Sheet_4-14-rc.pdf

"Song said MCPS will not clear the trees protected by the easement"

The site that Superintendent Joshua Starr has proposed for the relocation of the MCPS Shady Grove bus depot just lost 7 acres.  

MCPS Director of Construction says that MCPS will not be cutting down the 7 acres of trees that are in a forest conservation easement at the site.

That means the Ewing Center School site is no longer a 22.5 acre site.  It is now just a 15.5 acre site. 

...The 22.5 acres includes the Blair Ewing Center, the surrounding athletic fields and six acres of forest land protected by a forest conservation easement, according to Rockville Deputy City Manager Jenny Kimball.

Song said MCPS will not clear the trees protected by the easement and the forest is actually a benefit of the site because it’s a buffer between residential areas.

“Most of the trees are around the perimeter and those will be preserved,” Song said.

But the athletic fields Rockville shares with the school would have to be moved. The city originally funded the fields through the state’s Program Open Space in 1999 and maintains the school-owned fields in exchange for using them when the school does not need them...

 http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1513:where-do-we-go-from-here&Itemid=766

Fake Work Group Document: ...Zuckerman and Debra Berner...developed the proposals.

Montgomery school board questions child abuse prevention plan

...One work group member, however, said the recommendations driving the changes were not fully vetted by the group’s participants. The work group included representatives from the school system, county police, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office and the county Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Welfare Services program, which includes Child Protective Services.
Susan Burkinshaw — health and safety committee co-chairwoman of the Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations — said the work group didn’t have time to review all of the recommendations at its Jan. 5 meeting. She felt they were “rushed through.”...

 http://www.gazette.net/article/20150113/NEWS/150119802/1124/montgomery-school-board-questions-child-abuse-prevention-plan&template=gazette

Durso: But are we capable of clearing this up in many cases with the same people who may be well-intentioned and have not made good decisions in the past?”

...School Board Vice President Michael A. Durso recalled that schools officials had assured the community that changes were under way in August 2013. “It almost sounds like we are starting again, and we have really serious credibility issues with the community on this,” Durso said.“I think we’re being honest when we say we want to clear this up. But are we capable of clearing this up in many cases with the same people who may be well-intentioned and have not made good decisions in the past?”
Durso said he looked back to the school board’s credit card controversy of last year, when the board brought in outside counsel to examine records and suggest changes. “I wonder if we’re at a point where most if not all of this needs to go elsewhere with objective eyes?”...

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/montgomery-overhauling-approaches-to-school-sex-abuse-allegations/2015/01/13/87846a06-9a53-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html

MCPS Public Information Officer Gets Cell Tower Process Wrong

In today's Bethesda Magazine article on Wootton High School's cell tower proposal the MCPS Public Information Officer is quoted as saying,

“We have a process we follow for each request,” Tofig wrote in the email. “The providers must approach the school and set up public meetings through the school’s Parent-Teacher Association, as well as inform the neighborhood. 

However, under the official MCPS Process for approving a cell tower, the school's principal is responsible for contacting the surrounding community.

The principal will schedule an informational meeting with the PTA. The principal will ensure members of the surrounding community, HOAs, and civic associations are invited. Should there be substantial opposition; the principal may decline the request. Should the community be supportive, the provider will begin the formal approval process with local and County government agencies

In the case of Wootton High School neither the principal nor the cell tower provider (AT&T) notified the surrounding community.

Looks like its time to review the MCPS process!  So here it is:

  2014 MCPS Cell Tower Process by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland