"students ... deserve a school which provides parity with Westland" [Testimony at tonight's Board of Ed meeting]

[Testimony by Mr. Hill Carter of Kensington, at the June 27th meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Education]

The students and tax payers on the northern side of the B-CC Cluster deserve a school which provides parity with Westland Middle School.

• Westland resides on a 25 Acre site – Rock Creek Hills Parks resides on a 13.3 Acre site almost 50% smaller.
• The initial designs from Feasibility Study Meeting show a school which needs a 20 Acres site crammed into a 13.3 acre site.
• Two options presented actually showed the school buses having to drive through the basketball courts because of the limited size of the site.
• The proposed school will not provide parity with what is provided for the students at Westland Middle School.
• The BOE and the county should not make a $40 Million 30 year mistake by building on the wrong site

The Site Selection Report was seriously flawed and there is still time to correct this mistake:

• Several viable options were not considered and several options were dismissed due to flawed logic.
• The Land Company is planning to redevelop 380 acres at Chevy Chase Lake
• To our knowledge:

• This site was not even considered
• No one on the Site Selection committee spoke with the Land Company
• 20 acres could still be purchased to build a school which provides parity with Westland.

• There was a viable site just outside of the cluster which was not considered (Kensington Elementary).
• There was no consideration of turning North Chevy Chase Elementary into the new middle school.
• The Site Selection rejected another site which could support a 20 acre due to flawed logic:

The site was rejected due to concerns relative to BRAC Traffic

The report did not consider or even mention all the traffic enhancements which will be made as a result of BRAC realignment.

• The difficult topography of the Rock Creek Hills Site will add significant cost to the construction of a school.
• These funds could be redirected to purchasing a more suitable site.
• Rock Creeks Hill was provided only 4 hours notice prior to the decision to build the new school in the RCH Park.
• Rock Creek Hills has not been given our due process.
• The County should not be taking park sites to construct school, they should buy new sites or reuse existing sites.

The Rock Creek Hills Park site is too small and building there will:

• Create a school which does not provide parity with Westland Middle School.
• Destroy a park and facilities highly valued by the neighborhood.

The students and tax payers on the northern side of the B-CC Cluster deserve a school which provides parity with Westland Middle School.

Reopen the Site Selection Process and correct this mistake before you make $40 Million 30 year mistake by building on the wrong site.