Investigation Finds Flaws in Order of Montgomery County Public Schools Renovations

Montgomery County Public Schools will rearrange the order in which its schools are renovated or expanded after an internal investigation showed the district may have botched how it drew up the old list.

Some schools might be rebuilt or gutted years earlier than expected; some years later...

 http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Investigation-Finds-Flaws-in-Order-of-Montgomery-County-Public-Schools-Renovations-319126381.html

Starr says claim that MCPS lets maintenance slide is "baseless"

Sorry Superintendent Starr, parents, guardians and students know better.  Listen to the public that comes before the Board of Education every year.  Diverting millions of dollars of Capital funds to salaries and technology takes its toll on building maintenance.  

School officials seek building funds from skeptical Hogan http://t.co/wtjtW3Oniw  allegation in here about our maintenance is baseless
— Joshua Starr (@mcpssuper) January 29, 2015

Franchot: MCPS officials there have an attitude of “icy indifference to school maintenance.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) told public school officials on Wednesday that they should maintain the facilities they already have and not expect a rush of state funds to replace aging structures.
“Look, we’re sitting in a building right now that was built in 1772,” said Hogan while meeting in an ornately decorated reception room in the Maryland State House. “It seems to be working pretty well for us, and it’s very well maintained. We’re not building a new statehouse every 15 or 20 years.”
Hogan’s comments came at the annual “beg-a-thon,” when public school officials are given 10 minutes to explain to the Maryland Board of Public Works — a three-member board that approves most major state expenditures — why their construction projects deserve state funding...

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/as-school-districts-seek-construction-funds-hogan-stresses-preventive-maintenance/2015/01/28/e7673b00-a72e-11e4-a2b2-776095f393b2_story.html

4 More No Bid Crumb Rubber Plastic Football Fields on Order for MCPS. That's $5.2 Million Diverted from School Maintenance Needs

One ton of crumb rubber.  Each field gets 120 tons of crumb rubber.

MCPS loves their no bid, crumb rubber, plastic grass football fields!

They love them so much they buy them without Board of Education votes, without competitive bids and without RFPs.  Why shop when you can have a vendor that you just love?  (Oh, and a vendor whose lobbyist was Roger Berliner's former law firm.)   

On Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at 1 PM a BOE committee will discuss the artificial turf football fields that are already on order.  It turns out that Wheaton, Seneca Valley, BCC and Poolesville High Schools are already getting MCPS paid for artificial turf football fields. Churchill? Sorry, your field is in litigation and you don't get a MCPS paid for field anyway. 

How did the BOE decide which high schools get a taxpayer paid for no bid, crumb rubber field and which one's have to find a "partner"  and do their own fundraising?

When did the BOE vote to automatically include a no bid, plastic grass field at every high school modernization?

When did the BOE decide that no bid, crumb rubber plastic grass football fields were more important than routine school maintenance?  

Any schools with crumbling ceilings, leaky roofs, dangerous hallways, inaccessible buildings, deteriorating classroom trailers, broken lockers, unusable classrooms, mold, or unsecured walkways?  Sorry, those repairs can just wait. MCPS needs $5.2 million for plastic grass filled with ground up, used truck tires that only lasts a few years and then has to be replaced.

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MCPS no bid, crumb rubber, plastic grass football field projects already in planning, design, and construction process.

Wheaton/Edison HS (FY 2018 Completion)

Seneca Valley HS (Completion 2020)

Bethesda Chevy Chase HS

Poolesville HS (FY 2017 planning, FY 2023 Completion)

   Artificial Turf Program 11182014 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland