amazing letter to the editor from a MCPS parent about closing Sligo & SSIMS

[Anonymous]

As a teacher with ties to that neighborhood, I really would love to advocate for saving the schools, but I imagine the retaliation would be harsh.

[Anonymous]

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I think the strongest argument here is the one about larger MS environments needing a _lot_ of thought in order to fend off as many negative impacts as possible. We should be thinking constantly of the students and their ability to thrive.

But the buildings themselves are still a challenge.

I've worked in environments where good money is thrown after bad facilities, and it's tough, but lines have to be drawn. If the building itself isn't right for a permanent school facility, and a permanent school facility is what is needed/desired, ideally the building should be completely overhauled or razed and rebuilt. If that's not in the cards, decommissioning it as anything more than a holding school _may_ be a hard but reasonable decision from a resource perspective, at least for the time being.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher with ties to that neighborhood, I really would love to advocate for saving the schools, but I imagine the retaliation would be harsh.

Retaliation against you personally or retaliation against the entire schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher with ties to that neighborhood, I really would love to advocate for saving the schools, but I imagine the retaliation would be harsh.

Teachers at both schools are already advocating to keep them open. Not sure what retaliation you fear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That could be. Though Mcps hates to give up their land. If this goes through, I’d prefer a development there to a holding school. Im concerned they are going to let the property just fall apart and it will sit vacant for years (like what happened to northwood before they reopened it).

Developers and businesses in dtss need to get involved in this fight to keep the schools open. Aside from the many many valid concerns raised in the article, this plan is horrible for the business community in ss.

BOE is a lost cause. Maybe the county council can step in to stop this.

If that land is developed, where will the children who live there going to go to school? With Eastern and Sligo Middle being expanded to accept SSIMS students, there won't be much room there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed. This plan is so full of holes it’s crazy. I’m trying to figure out what the real motivation behind the plan is, bc it can’t simply be about the condition of the building and the need for holding schools.

In August Mcps released the smaller renovation plan for eastern, then by October this whole thing rolls out. It seems possible that threw this thing together in just a couple weeks. Why?

Totally agree. The whole thing is mind boggling.

I know MCPS is claiming they are going to keep that land in their portfolio but maybe they want to sell it to developers for the big bucks after they use it as a holding school? It is walkable to the silver spring metro, right on Sligo creek trail, and will be steps from a purple line stop…

I bet Taylor will offload it before even using it for a holding school. MCPS used to care about keeping property, all Taylor cares about is money and making himself look good. He'll be a "hero" if he can partially fund a future budget year by selling the land.

The land is not Taylor's to sell.

Would council have to approve the sale of just the board? If it's just the BOE consider it sold. That weak group will do whatever he tells them to.

The land reverts to county control if MCPS foregoes use of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed. This plan is so full of holes it’s crazy. I’m trying to figure out what the real motivation behind the plan is, bc it can’t simply be about the condition of the building and the need for holding schools.

In August Mcps released the smaller renovation plan for eastern, then by October this whole thing rolls out. It seems possible that threw this thing together in just a couple weeks. Why?

This superintendent makes decisions in short order, and his explanations don’t always make sense. He answers to no one.

SEOP

Standard Essie Operating Procedure

Go look at her other surprise plans that have blown up.

Not just Essie, the board has a chief of staff that really just tries to ensure that the board does what Essie and Taylor want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That could be. Though Mcps hates to give up their land. If this goes through, I’d prefer a development there to a holding school. Im concerned they are going to let the property just fall apart and it will sit vacant for years (like what happened to northwood before they reopened it).

Developers and businesses in dtss need to get involved in this fight to keep the schools open. Aside from the many many valid concerns raised in the article, this plan is horrible for the business community in ss.

BOE is a lost cause. Maybe the county council can step in to stop this.

If that land is developed, where will the children who live there going to go to school? With Eastern and Sligo Middle being expanded to accept SSIMS students, there won't be much room there.

Enrollment is declining. There will be school closures around the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That could be. Though Mcps hates to give up their land. If this goes through, I’d prefer a development there to a holding school. Im concerned they are going to let the property just fall apart and it will sit vacant for years (like what happened to northwood before they reopened it).

Developers and businesses in dtss need to get involved in this fight to keep the schools open. Aside from the many many valid concerns raised in the article, this plan is horrible for the business community in ss.

BOE is a lost cause. Maybe the county council can step in to stop this.

If that land is developed, where will the children who live there going to go to school? With Eastern and Sligo Middle being expanded to accept SSIMS students, there won't be much room there.

Enrollment is declining. There will be school closures around the county.

This closure has nothing to do with declining enrollment. Taylor is proposing a massive renovation of Sligo MS and an expanded rebuild of Eastern to make space at both schools for displaced SSIMS students. Read the article this thread started with, it explains everything. The proposal would spend $281 million to free up SSIMS and SCES as holding schools.

Yes enrollment is declining but they are doing this too quickly to use that declining enrollment strategically to create holding schools. That’s part of what makes this plan so wasteful and poorly thought out.

[Anonymous]

there's a piece in 'the black& white' Walt Whitman HS student paper re:ssims

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That could be. Though Mcps hates to give up their land. If this goes through, I’d prefer a development there to a holding school. Im concerned they are going to let the property just fall apart and it will sit vacant for years (like what happened to northwood before they reopened it).

Developers and businesses in dtss need to get involved in this fight to keep the schools open. Aside from the many many valid concerns raised in the article, this plan is horrible for the business community in ss.

BOE is a lost cause. Maybe the county council can step in to stop this.

If that land is developed, where will the children who live there going to go to school? With Eastern and Sligo Middle being expanded to accept SSIMS students, there won't be much room there.

Enrollment is declining. There will be school closures around the county.

This closure has nothing to do with declining enrollment. Taylor is proposing a massive renovation of Sligo MS and an expanded rebuild of Eastern to make space at both schools for displaced SSIMS students. Read the article this thread started with, it explains everything. The proposal would spend $281 million to free up SSIMS and SCES as holding schools.

Yes enrollment is declining but they are doing this too quickly to use that declining enrollment strategically to create holding schools. That’s part of what makes this plan so wasteful and poorly thought out.

Mold?
TOo close to purple line? What were they thinking building the line that close, it was always then the plan to close ssims and sces?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That could be. Though Mcps hates to give up their land. If this goes through, I’d prefer a development there to a holding school. Im concerned they are going to let the property just fall apart and it will sit vacant for years (like what happened to northwood before they reopened it).

Developers and businesses in dtss need to get involved in this fight to keep the schools open. Aside from the many many valid concerns raised in the article, this plan is horrible for the business community in ss.

BOE is a lost cause. Maybe the county council can step in to stop this.

If that land is developed, where will the children who live there going to go to school? With Eastern and Sligo Middle being expanded to accept SSIMS students, there won't be much room there.

Enrollment is declining. There will be school closures around the county.

This closure has nothing to do with declining enrollment. Taylor is proposing a massive renovation of Sligo MS and an expanded rebuild of Eastern to make space at both schools for displaced SSIMS students. Read the article this thread started with, it explains everything. The proposal would spend $281 million to free up SSIMS and SCES as holding schools.

Yes enrollment is declining but they are doing this too quickly to use that declining enrollment strategically to create holding schools. That’s part of what makes this plan so wasteful and poorly thought out.

Mold?
TOo close to purple line? What were they thinking building the line that close, it was always then the plan to close ssims and sces?

The idea that these schools are too close to public transportation is utterly ridiculous. As others have pointed out, SSIMS and SCES are in walkable neighborhoods and close to downtown. We need them where they are.

[Anonymous]

Taylor's proposal for "Approval of a Condensed Process for School Closure Procedures for Silver Spring International Middle School" is to be voted on by the board on Thursday:

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DP6QG868D2AD/$file/Apprv%20Process%20Closure%20Procedures%20Silver%20Spring%20Intl%20MS.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taylor's proposal for "Approval of a Condensed Process for School Closure Procedures for Silver Spring International Middle School" is to be voted on by the board on Thursday:

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DP6QG868D2AD/$file/Apprv%20Process%20Closure%20Procedures%20Silver%20Spring%20Intl%20MS.pdf

Where is the actual condensed schedule he is proposing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor's proposal for "Approval of a Condensed Process for School Closure Procedures for Silver Spring International Middle School" is to be voted on by the board on Thursday:

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DP6QG868D2AD/$file/Apprv%20Process%20Closure%20Procedures%20Silver%20Spring%20Intl%20MS.pdf

Where is the actual condensed schedule he is proposing?

Good question!