Race to the bottom!

Last night the "facility advisory committee", part of the "feasibility study" for the B-CC middle school 2, met for the first time. The meeting took place in B-CC High School's choral room, which is decorated with inspirational posters, including this one:

("Never settle for less than your best.")

However, it seems that settling for less than the best is what MCPS is in a hurry to do.

Community members expressed concerns that the small size of Rock Creek Hills Park would mean that a middle school built on its site would lack equitable facilities, especially for outdoor sports, when compared to Westland middle school's nearly 26-acre campus. Here is MCPS Project Manager Dennis Cross explaining minimum standards for outdoor recreation:

And, here is MCPS Senior Facility Planner Deborah Szyfer:

In B-CC's choral room, an MCPS facility, children from communities throughout the B-CC cluster are encouraged: "Never settle for less than your best." So, why is MCPS now rushing to build these kids' younger brothers and sisters a school that would be inequitable because of the inadequacies of the site? Why race to the bottom?

We'll say it again: We believe that schools should be designed to accommodate the needs, abilities, and aspirations of children – not to accommodate site deficiencies.