Silver Spring International

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stupid question, why don't they just tear down the structure and build a more modern one? Many area schools have been completely rebuilt. Recent one was Woodlin ES in Silver Spring. Do they only focus on ES, until overcrowding becomes an issue at a MS or HS - such as a new HS that will be near Walter Johnson HS in North (!) Bethesda/Rockville.

They don't really need to, as far as I understand. The bones of the building are fine. It's just sort of the wrong size and shape for a middle school and there was a plan to do a comprehensive fix that would have also relocated the elementary school that is co-located with the middle school right now.

However, belt tightening made the project smaller, and a botched rollout of the elementary school relocation panicked a bunch of families, so the plan got scratched and a smaller renovation is underway.

[Anonymous]

I went to SSIMS when it was originally Blair High School and there were a lot of problems with the building then, 25 years ago (mold, bad odors, plumbing). We went for an open house a
few months ago for our child for next year and it still had the same bad smell and the only thing different was the paint color. There are a lot of issues with the building itself (mold, falling ceiling tiles, asbestos, leaky pipes, etc). It should honestly be rebuilt in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stupid question, why don't they just tear down the structure and build a more modern one? Many area schools have been completely rebuilt. Recent one was Woodlin ES in Silver Spring. Do they only focus on ES, until overcrowding becomes an issue at a MS or HS - such as a new HS that will be near Walter Johnson HS in North (!) Bethesda/Rockville.

They don't really need to, as far as I understand. The bones of the building are fine. It's just sort of the wrong size and shape for a middle school and there was a plan to do a comprehensive fix that would have also relocated the elementary school that is co-located with the middle school right now.

However, belt tightening made the project smaller, and a botched rollout of the elementary school relocation panicked a bunch of families, so the plan got scratched and a smaller renovation is underway.

They deliberately did not consider options suggested that could actually have served the community instead of splitting them between yet another ancient building with inadequate refurbishments (Parkside) and one expanded to decimate playground space on already-minimal property that would be overcapacity from day 1 (HVES). "Botched" is accurate. "Panicked," indicating an irrational reaction, is not.

It seems they use that, "We'll give you this broken thing -- how's that? No good? Oh, well, I suppose we can't help you then." ploy to torpedo anything not in their preferred plan of action. Like that smaller renovation that doesn't come close to bringing the SSIMS facility up to the standard of any other middle school with recent improvement, pandemic exigencies notwithstanding (the plan was so even before Covid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stupid question, why don't they just tear down the structure and build a more modern one? Many area schools have been completely rebuilt. Recent one was Woodlin ES in Silver Spring. Do they only focus on ES, until overcrowding becomes an issue at a MS or HS - such as a new HS that will be near Walter Johnson HS in North (!) Bethesda/Rockville.

They don't really need to, as far as I understand. The bones of the building are fine. It's just sort of the wrong size and shape for a middle school and there was a plan to do a comprehensive fix that would have also relocated the elementary school that is co-located with the middle school right now.

However, belt tightening made the project smaller, and a botched rollout of the elementary school relocation panicked a bunch of families, so the plan got scratched and a smaller renovation is underway.

They deliberately did not consider options suggested that could actually have served the community instead of splitting them between yet another ancient building with inadequate refurbishments (Parkside) and one expanded to decimate playground space on already-minimal property that would be overcapacity from day 1 (HVES). "Botched" is accurate. "Panicked," indicating an irrational reaction, is not.

It seems they use that, "We'll give you this broken thing -- how's that? No good? Oh, well, I suppose we can't help you then." ploy to torpedo anything not in their preferred plan of action. Like that smaller renovation that doesn't come close to bringing the SSIMS facility up to the standard of any other middle school with recent improvement, pandemic exigencies notwithstanding (the plan was so even before Covid).

I'm the PP and a SCES parent, and I used "panicked" not to imply an irrational response but because the announcement was so sudden. Even as someone who pays attention at PTA meetings and on the neighborhood list, it seemed like the Parkside idea dropped out of the clear blue sky, and then was presented to the parent community as a fait accompli despite the fact that it would have required either the relocation of the French program (fine) or a boundary revision (also fine, but never explained).

[Anonymous]

What will be the nearest purple line stop from the school? Stop at Woodside and at Silver Spring metro transit center. Any others in between?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What will be the nearest purple line stop from the school? Stop at Woodside and at Silver Spring metro transit center. Any others in between?

There will be a stop right at Wayne Avenue and Dale Drive, next to the school.

https://www.purplelinemd.com/about-the-project/stations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will be the nearest purple line stop from the school? Stop at Woodside and at Silver Spring metro transit center. Any others in between?

There will be a stop right at Wayne Avenue and Dale Drive, next to the school.

https://www.purplelinemd.com/about-the-project/stations

That's close. McPS should have rebuilt the schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What will be the nearest purple line stop from the school? Stop at Woodside and at Silver Spring metro transit center. Any others in between?

Wayne & Dale. Right at the front door. Proximity to that with the external field house was the primary reason MCPS decided to resurrect the construction project plans from a few years earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stupid question, why don't they just tear down the structure and build a more modern one? Many area schools have been completely rebuilt. Recent one was Woodlin ES in Silver Spring. Do they only focus on ES, until overcrowding becomes an issue at a MS or HS - such as a new HS that will be near Walter Johnson HS in North (!) Bethesda/Rockville.

They don't really need to, as far as I understand. The bones of the building are fine. It's just sort of the wrong size and shape for a middle school and there was a plan to do a comprehensive fix that would have also relocated the elementary school that is co-located with the middle school right now.

However, belt tightening made the project smaller, and a botched rollout of the elementary school relocation panicked a bunch of families, so the plan got scratched and a smaller renovation is underway.

They deliberately did not consider options suggested that could actually have served the community instead of splitting them between yet another ancient building with inadequate refurbishments (Parkside) and one expanded to decimate playground space on already-minimal property that would be overcapacity from day 1 (HVES). "Botched" is accurate. "Panicked," indicating an irrational reaction, is not.

It seems they use that, "We'll give you this broken thing -- how's that? No good? Oh, well, I suppose we can't help you then." ploy to torpedo anything not in their preferred plan of action. Like that smaller renovation that doesn't come close to bringing the SSIMS facility up to the standard of any other middle school with recent improvement, pandemic exigencies notwithstanding (the plan was so even before Covid).

I'm the PP and a SCES parent, and I used "panicked" not to imply an irrational response but because the announcement was so sudden. Even as someone who pays attention at PTA meetings and on the neighborhood list, it seemed like the Parkside idea dropped out of the clear blue sky, and then was presented to the parent community as a fait accompli despite the fact that it would have required either the relocation of the French program (fine) or a boundary revision (also fine, but never explained).

Understood. Apologies for any misinterpretation of "panicked." I think the other aspects -- another limited renovation for the area (delivering conditions below other projects), additional crowding at HVES, etc./the things that tended to hint, "We don't really want to be bothered to bring you something equtable," -- were worse than an immersion program move or boundary changes.

[Anonymous]

Does SSI still have dance or no?

If all middle schools have dance studios (they do), why doesnt every middle school offer dance?

Moving to MCPS has been the worst choice for us by FAR.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is in the French immersion program at SSIMS and is very happy there. They only spend about half the day in French there as opposed to whole day in elementary school but I think it’s a nice balance at this point.

[Anonymous]

In case anyone is interested in knowing how bad SSIMS is right now- I am literally planning to take a loan from my retirement to send my kids private rather than go there! If your kid is anything but a perfect student this place will chew them up- disengaged teacher( but not all) , lots of drugs use, lots of violent kids, many kids sit on phones all day in classes. We are at SCES and everyone who can avoid SSIMS does!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is interested in knowing how bad SSIMS is right now- I am literally planning to take a loan from my retirement to send my kids private rather than go there! If your kid is anything but a perfect student this place will chew them up- disengaged teacher( but not all) , lots of drugs use, lots of violent kids, many kids sit on phones all day in classes. We are at SCES and everyone who can avoid SSIMS does!!

Details needed. What has your specific kid’s experience been?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is interested in knowing how bad SSIMS is right now- I am literally planning to take a loan from my retirement to send my kids private rather than go there! If your kid is anything but a perfect student this place will chew them up- disengaged teacher( but not all) , lots of drugs use, lots of violent kids, many kids sit on phones all day in classes. We are at SCES and everyone who can avoid SSIMS does!!

Details needed. What has your specific kid’s experience been?

They're reporting rumor and innuendo. Their kids are at SCES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is interested in knowing how bad SSIMS is right now- I am literally planning to take a loan from my retirement to send my kids private rather than go there! If your kid is anything but a perfect student this place will chew them up- disengaged teacher( but not all) , lots of drugs use, lots of violent kids, many kids sit on phones all day in classes. We are at SCES and everyone who can avoid SSIMS does!!

This is nonsense. We came from SCES and now at SSIMS (6th) and 90% of the people we knew at SCES continued to SSIMS. We could have “avoided” it by going to our home school (we are immersion) but did not. We can afford private but don’t do that either. According to families with older kids SSIMS is very much improved under the new principal. I’m not saying it’s amazing but we are content.