County school board renews debate over artificial turf vs. grass fields during proposed capital budget review

Six high schools are set to get either new synthetic turf fields or replacement fields as part of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) proposed six-year capital improvements program (CIP), a plan that sparked debate among county school board members Tuesday over whether the district should move forward with turf or explore installing more natural grass fields.  

MCPS Athletics Director Jeffrey Sullivan and Capital Budget and Projects Manager Donald Connelly joined the school board Tuesday to talk about the proposal for fields during a CIP work session at the school board headquarters at 15 W. Gude Drive in Rockville. They discussed the costs, benefits and drawbacks of natural and turf fields as part of the board’s review of the district’s $2.7 billion proposed CIP plan.  

In recent weeks, the board has held several work sessions to review the proposed CIP, and is expected to vote on the proposal during its Nov. 20 business meeting.   

The CIP calls for the district to spend $15 million during fiscal year 2027 for six turf installations or replacements. The amount also includes money for three or four playground replacements...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/11/13/mcps-turf-debate/

MCPS, school board relocate headquarters to spiffy, new digs in Rockville

After decades of meeting in an aging former school, Montgomery County Public Schools and the school board have moved into a modern office building — at 15 W. Gude Drive in Rockville –complete with a board meeting room with fresh blue paint, a new sleek dais for members, rows of grey plastic chairs and six flat-screen TVs...

https://moco360.media/2024/05/20/mcps-school-board-relocate-headquarters-to-spiffy-new-digs-in-rockville/

Today: Board of Ed to Buy $18M in Technology Hardware & Services, $14.4M in Computers, $1.9M in Disposable Supplies for Food

The Montgomery County Board of Education will be holding a virtual meeting today at 3:00 PM. 

The meeting will start with an update on COVID-19.

The Board will then approve numerous Consent Items including the following 3 purchases:

Technology Solutions Contract

Computers, Associated Hardwareand Services—Extension

Cafeteria Disposable Supplies—Extension

Exclusive Video: BOE Committee Discussion of BOE Property: Future School Sites and Surplus Land

MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
Policy Committee 
May 10, 2013
1:00 pm
Room 120

Discussion of “Guidelines for Leasing, Licensing, or Using MCPS Property 
that is Being Held as a Future School Site.” (Policy DNA, Management of
Board of Education Property) – Judy Bresler/James Song/Bruce Crispell
(2:25) 20 minutes

BOE Committee meetings are held off camera.  The Parents' Coalition videotaped this discussion and is making it available to the public.

Breaking News: BOE says, "local Boards of Education are not subject to the procurement laws" of State of Maryland

Our Montgomery County Board of Education says that they do not have to follow the procurement laws of the State of Maryland.  Now, that does explain a lot!  

But, is it really in the best interest of the citizens of Montgomery County that our $2.2 billion dollar school system does not follow Maryland procurement law?   

See page 4 of the Board of Education's Motion to Dismiss below, filed in response to our Appeal of the September 11, 2012 surprise decision to buy 2,000 Promethean Boards, for the BOE's announcement that state laws don't apply to them.

2012 Oct 10th MCPS Board of Education Motion to Dismiss

Jerry Weast's Cell Tower Leases

When did the Board of Education vote to place all of these cell phone towers (and antennas) on public school playgrounds?


They didn't.


Here are just some of the Leases that Jerry Weast signed in the name of the Board of Education while superintendent.


Where does the money from these leases go? Anyone seen an accounting? Imagine how these funds ($700,000 +/-) could help after school athletic programs that have now been cut.


When are these funds taken to the County Council for appropriation? Oh, they aren't. Just another revenue stream with no oversight. 


And...have the taxes on these cell tower compounds been paid yet?


June 24, 2005 ~ Wheaton High School ~ Omnipoint Communications CAP Operations, LLC

June 24, 2005 ~ Einstein High School ~ Omnipoint Communications CAP Operations, LLC

May 26, 2006 ~ Magruder High School ~ T-Mobile Northeast, LLC 

June 6, 2008 ~ Springbrook High School ~ T-Mobile Northeast LLC

November 11, 2008 ~ Watkins Mill High School ~ T-Mobile Northeast LLC

June 19, 2009 ~ Wheaton High School ~ Cricket Communications, Inc. 

July 26, 2010 ~ Springbrook High School ~ Clear Wireless LLC

August 12, 2010 ~ Wheaton High School ~ Clear Wireless LLC

August 31, 2010 ~ Einstein High School ~ T-Mobile Northeast LLC

September 22, 2010 ~ Wheaton High School ~ T-Mobile Northeast LLC

Surprise! Leggett wants sports complex on 20 acre school site

It's Thursday! The public has exactly TWO business days to figure out what this super cool County Executive Ike Leggett - Superintendent Jerry Weast - Board member Patricia O'Neill and the rest of her Board deal is all about.  


Hey, they have been working on this since November 2009 so they should be thoroughly ready to discuss this with the public!


HURRY! The Board of Education will vote on this mystery "lease" with the County and an "athletic organization" on Tuesday, March 8, 2011!

4.2.5 Brickyard Land Lease

FBI looks at Promethean purchase in San Diego

Tucson, Arizona - Sarasota, Florida - Waterloo, Iowa - San Diego, California...

voiceofsandiego.org/education: Schools' Technology Choice Draws FBI Interest

Posted: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 3:51 pm | Updated: 4:15 pm, Wed Apr 28, 2010.

By EMILY ALPERT

The way in which the San Diego Unified School District chose a specific brand of technological tools has drawn the interest of the FBI, according to a local businessman who sued the school district over it...

...Like the other school systems, San Diego chose to only allow the Promethean brand of whiteboards in its classrooms. That meant that companies vying to install the boards had to purchase and install Promethean, not any other brand on the market. Here and across the country, selecting a specific product has raised questions and stirred up debate about fair competition in awarding work in schools....

...Tucson schools also chose Promethean as their sole whiteboard brand and used a state contract to obtain the boards, something that San Diego did too. The Arizona attorney general found that the Tucson school district violated state laws when it bought boards without approval from the school board and skirted the need to competitively bid for some items...

  Arizona by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Why is Weast signing for Board on Cell Tower Leases?

The Parents' Coalition has obtained 4 leases for the placement of cell phone towers on Montgomery County Public School land. There is no evidence in Board of Education minutes of any Board discussion, public comments, or Board votes on the placements of these towers. However, each of the leases shows a signature line for the "Board of Education of Montgomery County".  In place of the signature of the President of the Board of Education we see the signature of Superintendent Jerry Weast.

When did the MCPS Board of Education delegate their signature authority to Superintendent Weast for the placement of cell phone towers on school sites?

What is notable is that when a proposal is made for the placement of a cell phone tower on a school site there is no discussion or vote by the elected Board of Education members. Therefore, there is no notice to the public or opportunity for the general public to comment on these leases.  All "public" discussion of these leases has been confined to limited PTA meetings.   

Why aren't cell tower leases being discussed, voted on, and signed by the MCPS Board of Education? 

2006 Lease for Daly Elementary School:

2002 Lease for Woodwards Road Elementary School Site:

2004 Lease for Woodwards Road Elementary School Site:

2009 Lease for Woodwards Road Elementary School Site:

Weast puts HAZMAT on playgrounds

Cell phone tower compound at Daly Elementary School

Carrier T-Mobile has applied for Cell Phone Tower placements at 14 MCPS school sites, including Daly Elementary School and Whitman High School.

Yet, a 2008 Board of Appeals decision states that T-Mobile had "adopted a corporate policy of not complying with Montgomery County's registration requirements for businesses that store hazardous materials, arguing that they should be considered exempt." (Page 61 of Opinion S-2709 shown below)

Cell phone tower carriers are required to obtain a Hazardous Materials Use Permit (See Montgomery County Fire Safety Code Reg. 22.00.01)

Here is what the 2008 Opinion stated on Page 61:

...T-Mobiles counsel, Mr. Hughes, asserted that the housing and use of the back-up batteries are very safe and in full compliance with all applicable laws.See
Ex. 107. The latter point turned out to be debatable. Ms. Present brought out that T-Mobile has adopted a corporate policy of not complying with Montgomery Countys registration requirements for businesses that store hazardous materials, arguing that they should be considered exempt. Barbara Moore, Permit
Coordinator in the County's Office of Emergency Management, Hazardous Materials Use Permits (part of the County's Homeland Security Department) testified that that the County's Hazardous Materials Use Permit Regulation, Executive Regulation 17-03, first issued in 1991, imposes a reporting requirement on any commercial business that stores a total of five gallons or more of hazardous materials. Ms. Moore explained that a hazardous material is anything that is harmful to humans, plants, animals or aquatic life. The registration requires disclosure of the quantity of a
material stored at a site so that in the event of an emergency, first responders can assess the level of risk and determine how much equipment they need to wear and bring.

Ms. Moore explained that about 97 percent of the County's telecommunications facilities are in the high use category because they store batteries that contain sulfuric acid, which is considered an extremely hazardous substance under federal law. Montgomery County considers any business that stores ten pounds or more of a hazardous substance to be in the high use category.
Ms. Moore noted that a few telecommunications sites are SARA facilities under the federal Superfund Amendment and Reorganization At of 1986, which requires reporting at which requires reporting at the state level as well as to the County. Those facilities have 10,000 pounds or more of a hazardous substance, or 220 gallons or more of an extremely hazardous substance. The few SARA sites are located on buildings that are used for another purpose that involves hazardous materials, so that pushes the site into the higher category. Ms. Moore also noted that any business that may bring an emergency generator to its site for even one day is supposed to include the hazardous materials associated with that generator, such as fuel, on its hazardous materials inventory.

Ms. Moore testified that all of the cell phone carriers operating in Montgomery County have reported their hazardous materials storage and filed the required emergency plans, with the exception of T-Mobile. The emergency plan for a typical unmanned site is just to call 911, but the hazardous materials registration means that the County's HAZMAT team goes out and they know what's stored there. See Tr. Feb. 1 at 93. T-Mobile has approximately 155 cell phone sites in Montgomery County but has refused to register them as hazardous materials storage sites...

Cell tower appeal

Pictures show the base of the Daly Elementary School cell phone tower. The red arrow in the top picture points to the glowing numbers on the base unit. The Daly Elementary School monopole is located on the Daly ES playground.

MCPS Cyber-Café saved from budget axe!

MCPS Board to save revolutionary Video Conferencing Center and Cyber-Café for Administrators from budget axe!
(But don't tell students, it's not for them.)

At the February 22, 2010, Board of Education meeting the Board will approve (it's already on the Consent Agenda) a lease of office space at

"$19.50 per square foot with escalations of 2.5% annually."

Odd, seems that lease information is missing a crucial detail, doesn't it?

How many square feet are being leased?  If you were a Board member wouldn't you want to know that basic piece of information before you approved the lease? Apparently, not.

But for readers of this blog, here is the answer: 14,000 square feet.

14,000 x $19.50 = $273,000 per year with 2.5% "escalations"

What is this space used for? 
It has 4 high tech labs, 2 ultramodern classrooms, a revolutionary video conferencing center and a Cyber-Café!
Wow. Think what students will get out of that facility!

But wait, it's not for students. Sorry, they are still in classroom trailers!

Just remember in this tight budget year that even though your students' classroom teacher may be cut, your students' bus transportation may be ended, or your school's media assistant may disappear, this "revolutionary" facility for administrators will be leased for another 5 years!

Here are the details on the space that is the subject of the Board action:

Click here for the webpage for the MCPS Center for Technology Innovation.

Wasted school space - 10 years and counting

Imagine a 1,200 seat auditorium, 10,400 square feet of public school space left to rot.

That's exactly what happened in Montgomery County in 1999, the year that Blair High School moved to its new location in Silver Spring and Jerry Weast became MCPS' Superintendent. The old Blair High School was converted into two schools, but the 1,200 seat old Blair High School auditorium was shuttered and left to deteriorate.

Superintendent Jerry Weast and 10 years of Board of Education members have refused to make use of the space.  The cost? Originally it would have been closer to $1 million but now after years of neglect it would cost about the same as two artificial turf football fields.

It's easy to see what is a priority to Superintendent Weast and the Board of Education. You can read the 2006 Feasibility Report on the space, and take a look at the pictures from the report.

Remember that artificial turf is such a high priority to Superintendent Weast that MCPS is taking out a TEN YEAR LEASE to pay for the $1.2 million plastic grass at Walter Johnson High School.

But a 1,200 seat school auditorium for students? Not so much of a priority.

Here is today's update from the Gazette.

Gazette, Curtain Closing on Old Blair Auditorium Project

Parents organize to fight for prized programs | Washington Examiner

Parents organize to fight for prized programs Washington Examiner

..."It's very important for the council to think about who's not at the table, but who also has a lot at stake," Andrews said. "The people working three jobs,
for example, or groups that traditionally aren't organized because of a lack of resources, or time, or maybe because their interests are much more general."

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Parents-organize-to-fight-for-prized-programs-82118877.html#ixzz0d9nmpfK4


Really Councilmember Andrews?
Where was your concern for the "others" when you sat back and approved the school system making tens of millions of dollars in purchases without bids or contracts?
What about the $133 million plus in leases that the school system has taken out to keep the county in debt for years? Didn't the State Audit cite concerns on this issue?
What about the funds that the school system takes in from outside sources but never brings to the Council for appropriation? Didn't you say this was a "serious mistake"?
What about the 1,400 credit cards floating around the public school system? How are they being used? Didn't the State Audit bring these cards up as a concern?  

Would these proposed cuts be necessary if the Council was exercising any oversight over the school system's budget?

Education Week's Digital Directions: Whiteboards' Impact on Teaching Seen as Uneven

Education Week's Digital Directions: Whiteboards' Impact on Teaching Seen as Uneven

But should we have spent over $13 million dollars on them?

And do MCPS teachers feel that they have gotten sufficient training on how to use them?

State Audit: Board needs a Policy

In a January 2009 Audit of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), the Maryland State Office of Legislative Audits recommended that:

"MCPS should adopt formal policies governing long-term obligations and cash management."

What did that recommendation mean? It meant that the Board of Education should establish policies to govern when leases are used, how much should be purchased using leases (how much of budget), and what type of investments should be used when cash is available.

In your own home these decisions would sound like this, "Should we buy a new car or used, should we pay cash or borrow money, should we put our money in a savings account or buy a lottery ticket?"

The bottom line is that the MCPS Board of Education does not have policies in place for governing these type of long-term debts or investments, and the State Auditor thinks they should.

This is of particular importance as Superintendent Weast is now increasing the annual lease payments, and expanding the use of leases to Promethean Boards and the artificial turf field for Walter Johnson High School.

In January, the MCPS Board of Education increased the amount of the master lease agreement to $133 million without any discussion.

Maybe it is time for a policy to address the ever increasing long term debt of MCPS?

Here is what the State Audit said:

Capital Lease and Cash Management Policies Need
to Be Established

MCPS had not adopted a policy to govern its use of long-term lease
obligations to finance operations. Long-term liability levels and their
related annual costs are important obligations that must be
managed within available resources. An effective policy should
provide guidelines to ensure MCPS manages its long-term liabilities
accordingly. By law, MCPS is not authorized to issue bonds or
similar debt instruments to finance capital or operational needs.
However, MCPS used a capital leases to purchase equipment such
as buses and computer hardware. According to MCPS audited
financial statements, capital lease payments through 2012 had a
present value of $45.9 million at June 30, 2007, with $19.5 million
due within one year.

Although MCPS had cash management policies for areas such as
the pension trust and student activity funds, it did not have a policy
for investing excess cash from routine operations. Cash and
investments from governmental activities totaled $50.2 million as
of June 30, 2007. The notes to the fiscal year 2007 audited
financial statements indicate that MCPS’ deposits had been
sufficiently collateralized so that the deposits were not subject to
custodial or credit risk.

Policies to govern the use of long-term obligations to finance
operations and manage cash and investments are recommended by
the Government Finance Officers Association.

MCPS spends beyond their authority and the community's means

Leases are a terrible way for Montgomery County Public Schools to fund its capital expenditures. Based on a review of official MCPS board minutes and other documents, it is clear that MCPS is making widespread use of financial leases as a vehicle to finance current purchases. The use of this methodology has exploded in recent years. We lease our high tech blackboards (Promethean Boards), and we recently learned that MCPS is considering leasing the Artificial Turf they plan to lay down at Walter Johnson High School. Leasing the cover on a field we own, as if it were something we can take back to the dealership!

Surely you remember that old ‘rule’; 3 ways to buy a car - pay cash, take out a loan, or lease it. Every expert on the planet will tell you that Leasing is the most expensive way to drive a car, unless you are a corporation and there is some tax advantage (MCPS is not such an entity). Want to save money? Pay cash! Simple and true.

For example, in a recent board action we see that via these leases we, the taxpayers of Montgomery County, are effectively paying 3.5% interest on our technology leases and 3.8% on our vehicle leases. But the yield curve for Montgomery County municipal bonds going out five years is approximately 2.5%. Bottom line is Jerry Weast and our Board of Education are saddling us with an interest rate at least 1% higher for these items than we need to pay.

Beyond the millions of dollars wasted, Weast and the MCPS Board of Education are using this process to sidestep Maryland laws covering fiscal responsibility, in that they are making these purchases without the approval of the Montgomery County fiscal authority (by law – our County Council). They are spending money, $13 million in the case of the Promethean Boards, without an approved appropriation. The facts are that they are leasing them, leaving us to pay for this over five years, and paying 1% higher interest rate then necessary.

Thanks MCPS, really appreciate your help in these difficult financial times.

Not.

Bob Astrove

Another $43.2 million in leases = one minute of Board time

On April 15th, this blog contained a review of the leases entered into by the MCPS Board of Education. It turned out that the bulk of the leasing agreements had been executed during the two year term of Board of Education President Nancy Navarro, from December 2006-December 2008. The two year total for leases was over $88,720,855.

Continuing the pattern that had been established during President Navarro's term, in January of this year President Shirley Brandman lead the Board of Education to approve a lease funding agreement that paled in comparison to the prior two years. A lease agreement for $133,022,753 was approved by the Board of Education without discussion. According to the memorandum from Superintendent Weast, MCPS wanted an additional $43.2 million in lease funding for the FY 09 and FY 10 years.

Watch the Board of Education approve this mammoth increase in lease funding on January 13th here. Don't worry, it won't take much of your time. The item starts at 4:16 and is over by 4:17. That's right - one minute of time to incur $133 million in long term debt funding.

The MCPS Board of Education members were apparently so accustomed to approving leases over the last two years, that they didn't even blink an eye at the thought of committing Montgomery County taxpayers to $133 million in debt in January of 2009.

Below is the memorandum from Superintendent Weast on this lease funding agreement.
4.4.1 Master Lease

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Navarro Board: $88 million in lease commitments

As MCPS Board of Education President, Nancy Navarro lead the Board to approve leases totaling $88,720,855. The leases commit MCPS to lease payments in some instances through the year 2014.

Run a search for the word "lease" in the MCPS Board of Education minutes archive to find out how many leases the MCPS Board of Education has ever approved. Why is this of interest? Last fall, Montgomery County citizens learned that 3,300 Promethean Boards were appearing in public school classrooms, and it turned out that at least 2,600 of them were purchased on a 4 year lease. That meant that the boards were in classrooms, but weren't paid for, and taxpayers were on the hook for 3 more years of payments at $3.3 million per year.

A search of the word "lease" in Board minutes turns up 38 instances when the Board of Education has approved the leasing of MCPS equipment. 30 of those 38 leases were approved by the Navarro led Board of Education from December 2006 to December 2008, for a total lease commitment of over $88 million. 25 of those leases have terms of 4 years or longer.

The terms of the leases are not disclosed and it is not known if Ms. Navarro actually signed any of the leases as required by her position. What we do know is that she did not sign the $5 million per year for 4 years Dell lease for 2,600 Promethean Boards, even though the Board President and the Superintendent were the only people authorized by the Board to execute these documents.

Can the Board of Education incur long term debt? Why the sudden explosion in lease commitments during Nancy Navarro's two year term as Board of Education President? Do these long term debts need to be approved by the Montgomery County Council as the appropriation authority?

Below is the list of leases approved by the MCPS Board of Education during President Navarro's term. Source: MCPS Board of Education minutes.
NavarroBoardLeases

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Irate about e-Rate

"Show us the Money," the County Council said.
"We hear you earned some rebate cash, and the County budget's in the Red
We want to know how much you got and what you spent it on
So give us the list by the end of the month, and tell us where it's gone."

The committee wanted information by a certain date
A report by MCPS on all their money from e-Rate
But alas, the deadline passed, and now the report is late
Can't you see 'em smirking: "we'll just make the Council wait"

You see, the Council has appropriation authority
So when Jerry gets the money, that money isn't "free"
He has to ask the County Council when and how to spend it.
But no matter what the law is, MCPS tries to bend it.

So hold on to your wallets, folks, the lease payment’s coming due
The e-Rate money’s short this year, so we’ll just raise a tax or two
But never fear, we've got whiteboards here, who cares about long-term debts?
This is Montgomery County: Jerry will spend all that he gets.

Pres. Navarro didn't sign lease

As reported here, Superintendent Weast is not going to be able to make the FY 10 lease payment on the 2,600 Promethean Boards ordered and delivered in June of 2008 as planned.

How was a lease executed without the funding needed to support the payments?

In Maryland, procurements by a state agency are governed by the State Procurement Regulations. Procurements over $25,000 are to be approved by the Board of Education according to MCPS Policy, MCPS Regulations and the MCPS Procurement Manual.

The Promethean lease(see page 4) called for a signature of the Board of Education as lessee. The Board President is responsible for signing contracts and other documents on behalf of the Board according to the Board of Education Handbook (page 6). The Board of Education President on June 16, 2008 was Nancy Navarro. However, the box that is labeled for the signature of the Board of Education on the lease does not show Board President Navarro's signature.

Why didn't Board of Education President Navarro sign the 4 year lease for $3.3 million per year, for 2,600 Promethean Boards in June of 2008?