Save Rock Creek Hills Park? Well, we sure tried!: The myth of the "former school site", part II.

Friday, May 6, 2011

The myth of the "former school site", part II.

The otherwise fine article by Sarah Gantz and Andrew Ujifusa in Wednesday's Gazette is marred by this occurrence of the myth of the "former school site":

"The county can reclaim the Rock Creek Hills park, which it sold to M-NCPPC in 1990, if needed for a school because it originally housed a school, Kensington Junior High."

That is incorrect. Rock Creek Hills Park never "housed a school".

The site that housed Kensington Junior High now houses the Kensington Park retirement community.

Rock Creek Hills Park was KJH's playfield. It didn't "house" a school; it was the playfield behind the school.

Remember:

"former school site" = site of the Kensington Park retirement community.
"former school field" = site of Rock Creek Hills Park.

The distinction is important, because what the Board of Education resolved to do would not really be "putting a new school where an old school was". [Which sounds pretty good, right?]. Rather, the Board wants to build a middle school complex on the former school's playing field, which is now a cherished neighborhood park that provides the setting for the homes of hundreds of seniors living on the site that once "housed" Kensington Junior High .

Late edit [5/7/2011]: We have discovered that some of the information in this post is incorrect. A clarification is available. We apologize for the error, and we hope that it does not diminish your support for our park.

Later edit [5/14/2011]: Please see the annotated aerial photos posted on 5/13.

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Who Said That?

"When the [Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission] developed [Rock Creek Hills Park] in the early 1990s they accepted funds from the Program Open Space. This is a program managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to distribute funds from the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to preserve open space. The use of Program Open Space funds was inconsistent with the reclamation terms of the transfer agreement under which the M-NCPPC took title to the property. This was the case since use of these funds places restrictions on future public use of parks, in contradiction with the terms of the original transfer agreement..."
– Dr. Joshua Starr, Superintendent, Montgomery County Public Schools.

From the MCPS Site Selection Advisory Committee Minority Reports:

The B-CC High School NAACP Parents' Council wrote that they "... cannot support the recommendation to build the new middle school in a potentially racially divisive and socially isolating location. ... We, therefore, ask the Superintendent and the Board of Education to decline to adopt Rock Creek Hills Local Park as the site for the new middle school."

The Lyttonsville Civic Association wrote that "...MCPS staff set inappropriate boundaries for discussion... ...MCPS staff cut off discussion to insist that a vote be taken before the committee had finished considering all their options. Staff ... made procedural rulings that affected the ability of some representatives to speak freely. Some representatives voiced concerns that they were being led to a predetermined conclusion."

Ms. Brooke Farquhar (Parks Department) wrote: "Costs were not thoroughly evaluated in the process and misinformation may have prejudiced the votes of committee members.... The process lacked a robust analysis. The potential sites should have been analyzed more thoroughly, based on detailed information that would allow consistent comparison across the sites."

Mr. Frederick V. Boyd (Planning Board) wrote: "[T]he rating process used for selecting sites did not provide a real opportunity to consider the community character and quality of life consequences of choosing a candidate site. ... [D]escriptions appear to have been written to enable easier consideration of some public sites..."