New CC Middle School

[Anonymous]

Now that MoCo has proposed building a new middle school in Chevy Chase to including grade 6 students from CC/NCC and relieve overcrowding at Westland, how is Westland planning to manage the overenrollment which is expected to spike starting next year? Didn't they just complete a building addition?

The recommendation and enrollment are at http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/pdf/BCC_Superintendents_Recommendation_on_Roundtable_Oct_15.pdf

[Anonymous]

Ugh. Thanks for sharing this. So bummed that they didn't recommend a new ES for the Chevy Chase cluster, even though this report shows Rosemary Hills is operating WAY above capacity.

[Anonymous]

This is so far from being done, Weast totally punted on this and checked out. The soonest a middle school would be built is 2020 and that is if it gets in the CIP for 2013-2018.

Remember folks, it all comes down to $$$ and who you vote for in the council election in a few weeks matters. They want to cut education and fund programs that have no return on the investment. Education does, educated people do not rely on hand outs as much as those who don't have an education.

The current council needs to go

[Anonymous]

Well they are proposing expansions for RH and NCC aren't they?

Where does the 2020 date come from? I thought I had heard 2016 or 2018 was the earliest?

Also when you say "the current council has to go" who specifically do you recommend voting for? That Republican who says he'll never vote to raise taxes?

[Anonymous]

I'm very interested in this subject but don't have much information. I've been surprised at how little discussion there has been on the Rosemary Hill PTA listserv. Does anyone know what the implications would be for kids who are currently at or en route to CC/NCC? A new middle school sounds lovely but I'd like to know what the solutions are for handling the size issue over the next decade.

[Anonymous]

We had someone from the Superintendent's office speak at our school a few weeks ago. He talked about the new MS, saying it would serve NCC, CC, RCF and Bethesda Elem. He seemed optimistic about the board passing it, the big hold up is location. Obviously land in the Bethesda to SS area is scarce and expensive so if they can get land easily it could conceviably happen in 5-6 years. If not, could be a lot longer.

[Anonymous]

It's my understanding, based on speaking with the community superintendent's office, that the MS is going to happen. The timeframe they gave was 4-6 years but they have to negotiate for a site. The debate is whether they may need to build a more urban campus. For example, Leland Community Center is one place under consideration but that's only 3 acres. The building would of course be multi-story, but building classroom space isn't the hard part. The big question is, what to do about athletic fields?

[Anonymous]

I'm curious about the Gwendolyn Coffield Center site. Would be a great spot for a middle school since it's on 17 acres. I heard there was a MS off Brookeville Rd in SS. Apparently MCPS got rid of it along with a number of other school properties back in the late seventies when enrollment took a temporary downturn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had someone from the Superintendent's office speak at our school a few weeks ago. He talked about the new MS, saying it would serve NCC, CC, RCF and Bethesda Elem. He seemed optimistic about the board passing it, the big hold up is location. Obviously land in the Bethesda to SS area is scarce and expensive so if they can get land easily it could conceviably happen in 5-6 years. If not, could be a lot longer.

I am so sick of hearing about lower MoCo overcrowding. If they would just open HALF of the schools they had in the 70s (when population was much LESS) we would be in great shape. Just think of all the schools we would have:

Leland Community Center in Chevy Chase
Whittier Woods (Kenwood Child Care Bldg) in Bethesda
Lynbrook bldg in Downtown Bethesda
Clara Barton on MacArthur Blvd
Waldorf school bld on Sangamore Rd
Ivymount bldg on Seven Locks
Arylawn Y bdlg in Bethesda
Beth Country Day bldg in Bethesda
Woods Academy Bldg in Bethesda
Potomac Community Ctr bldg in Potomac
Concord School (now mcps offices) in Bethesda
The Post Office offices in Bethesda/Potomac (on Democracy)
The French school? bldg in Bethesda (behind st jane dechantal)
Radnor elementary..now a holding school Bethesda
Grovesnor elementary...now a holding school Bethesda
Housing Opportunities Commision Bldg in Kensington on Detrick Ave
Lycee Rochambeau bldg in Chevy Chase


I'm sure there are others. Its a sin that our schools are bursting at the seams and the county has given up so many resources in such a short sighted manner

[Anonymous]

Most of Whittier Woods is part of Whitman.

I wonder what the cost/benefit is of maintaining those buildings for 30 years vs finding space now. I have no concept of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of Whittier Woods is part of Whitman.

I wonder what the cost/benefit is of maintaining those buildings for 30 years vs finding space now. I have no concept of that.

If they were leased out,there would be no cost to maintaining them as the tenents do that. I don't know how many of these buildings were sold off vs. leased though. The land must be very valuable, I would think,

[Anonymous]

They leased out Lynbrook, and from what I've heard at this point they'd need to build a new building to reopen a school there (but they do have the land, and seems like they could put a MS there).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They leased out Lynbrook, and from what I've heard at this point they'd need to build a new building to reopen a school there (but they do have the land, and seems like they could put a MS there).

All of these buildings are leased out or even sold. But its my understanding that mcps has been very careful in writing their leases so that they can reclaim a property w/in a short period of time (a few years?) Of course none of these building are currently adequate for a middle school. What they need is the land so find a property with the land requirement needed and give notice to the tenents. the old concord school (where there used to be gymboree) has a fabulous amount of land. as does lynbrook and the old fernwood school. mcps has the properties and land available. they should stop wasting so much $$ on unneeded staff positions and admin and open more damn schools. there is no excuse for the overcrowding, trailerss and expanding to megasize (>400 students) of mcps elementary schools. i can't understand why the public accepts this. all studies point to small classes and individual attention (hard to do in a huge school) as the single best way to improve learning and test scores. I'll take a small class and tight school community over a fancy science lab any day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They leased out Lynbrook, and from what I've heard at this point they'd need to build a new building to reopen a school there (but they do have the land, and seems like they could put a MS there).

All of these buildings are leased out or even sold. But its my understanding that mcps has been very careful in writing their leases so that they can reclaim a property w/in a short period of time (a few years?) Of course none of these building are currently adequate for a middle school. What they need is the land so find a property with the land requirement needed and give notice to the tenents. the old concord school (where there used to be gymboree) has a fabulous amount of land. as does lynbrook and the old fernwood school. mcps has the properties and land available. they should stop wasting so much $$ on unneeded staff positions and admin and open more damn schools. there is no excuse for the overcrowding, trailerss and expanding to megasize (>400 students) of mcps elementary schools. i can't understand why the public accepts this. all studies point to small classes and individual attention (hard to do in a huge school) as the single best way to improve learning and test scores. I'll take a small class and tight school community over a fancy science lab any day.

In my zealous and passionate typing of this post, I failed to proofread. Sorry for the errors!

[Anonymous]

A very involved neighbor told me once that it would cost more to bring (most of) these buildings up to code than it would to get a new site or totally rebuild, especially once you factor in the income they get from leasing them to other entities.