Save Rock Creek Hills Park? Well, we sure tried!: $46,485,000 for 944?

Saturday, October 29, 2011

$46,485,000 for 944?

Yesterday our Superintendent of Schools recommended that our Board of Education propose to our County Council that a middle school for for 944 students be built, at an estimated cost of $46,485,000.00, on the site of Rock Creek Hills Park.

No other information is available, because the "feasibility study" report for the project has not been released, including in draft form.

As considerable uncertainty exists regarding the availability of the site, such a proposal would not be prudent.

Rock Creek Hills Park fails to meet essentially all of the Board of Education's official criteria for middle school sites; building there would be unreasonably expensive, fail to provide parity with existing middle schools, and violate respect for the rule of law.

Before voting on the Superintendent's recommendation, the Board will hold hearings on November 10th & 14th; persons wishing to testify should call 301-279-3617 beginning 9:00 AM this Monday (October 31st).

If the Board approves the recommendation, the proposal would go to the County Council, which will hold hearings before their vote in the Spring.

An appeal to the State Board of Education, filed by the Rock Creek Hills Citizens' Association, is pending; the Association recently voted (96% to 4%) to continue opposition to this plan, by all reasonable means.

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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..."