Where will new Sligo Creek ES be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor should assert dominance by building a replacement elementary on Silver Spring Intermediate Park or buy the old John Nevins school just south of Carroll, which conveniently for sale right now. Then carve up the Takoma/Piney Branch ES catchment. Split the Takoma Park electorate, enjoy the infighting and meltdown.

HVES might have some interesting changes coming in the future, but I don't see ESes within the City of Takoma Park having any changes made. Perhaps we can claw back the $12 million in recreational facilities (pool/HS-size gym) currently planned in the new Piney Branch ES to pay for critically needed HVAC replacements elsewhere in the county.

+1 … unless Taylor chooses intermediate park, nolte, the Georgia Ave location, etc. If any of those are getting a new elementary, I think the Takoma Park homes zoned for Piney Branch ES north of Piney Branch road would be fair game given proximity to the new school or redrawn lines for ESS and others. But I tend to agree with others that the new location being Parkside is a fait accompli.

Why does everyone think it's going to be Parkside? Do people have knowledgeable inside sources from MCPS pointing towards this, or is it just your speculation what MCPS will be most likely to pick based on your guesses about their interests and priorities?

Yes, there are knowledgeable inside sources pointing towards Parkside. No public discussion on this from MCPS because a site selection "process" must legally take place first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Others might have inside info. All speculation here though. Seems to me like the least bad option. It’s in the current Sligo Creek ES zone, wouldn’t involve taking over/eliminating a beloved existing park, isn’t on the other side of the beltway, isn’t currently occupied by a different Montgomery County agency, etc.

But screw all that - make Takoma Park pay for its misdeeds. If they want a pool and nearby holding school that badly, put the school at Intermediate Park and then eat a big chunk of Takoma/Piney Branch ES’s zone that includes everything east of Philadelphia and north of Carroll, push ESS borders north to absorb a portion of Sligo Creek ES’s former zone, and watch the fireworks.

Would love to see Takoma Park scramble for what it would no doubt identify as "equity." LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't PBES just be at the Grosvenor holding school, like several other DCC schools have been?

What, and make those delicate flowers bus more than 10 minutes away? Are you kidding??

Seriously though, I think most folks know PBES is a grade 3-5 school so we are not even talking about the youngest kids here. Woodlin (K-5) had to bus to Grosvenor for 2 years. The plan for Highland View is to bus them up to Fairland. How about we let Highland View use SCES for their holding school?

Can't Highland View kids walk to SCES? Why does PBES get it as a holding school and not them?

[Anonymous]

If enrollment is dropping, and they're going to be redoing all the ES boundaries in a couple years anyway, why do they even need to build a new SCES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Others might have inside info. All speculation here though. Seems to me like the least bad option. It’s in the current Sligo Creek ES zone, wouldn’t involve taking over/eliminating a beloved existing park, isn’t on the other side of the beltway, isn’t currently occupied by a different Montgomery County agency, etc.

But screw all that - make Takoma Park pay for its misdeeds. If they want a pool and nearby holding school that badly, put the school at Intermediate Park and then eat a big chunk of Takoma/Piney Branch ES’s zone that includes everything east of Philadelphia and north of Carroll, push ESS borders north to absorb a portion of Sligo Creek ES’s former zone, and watch the fireworks.

Would love to see Takoma Park scramble for what it would no doubt identify as "equity." LOL.

They’re shameless. And that’s why you take the historic district away from Piney Branch ES. The inequity of making [checks notes] the whitest, richest Takoma Park residents attend a school two blocks North of Piney Branch road!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't PBES just be at the Grosvenor holding school, like several other DCC schools have been?

What, and make those delicate flowers bus more than 10 minutes away? Are you kidding??

Seriously though, I think most folks know PBES is a grade 3-5 school so we are not even talking about the youngest kids here. Woodlin (K-5) had to bus to Grosvenor for 2 years. The plan for Highland View is to bus them up to Fairland. How about we let Highland View use SCES for their holding school?

Can't Highland View kids walk to SCES? Why does PBES get it as a holding school and not them?

PBES got SCES because 200 PBES parents wrote Taylor an angry letter about how unfair it was that their children would have to travel too far (in their minds) on a bus to a holding school.

[Anonymous]

Great post from a parent asking some key questions:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/11/19/five-reasons-mcpss-plan-for-silver-spring-doesnt-add-up/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that it’s an insult and can confirm that the DTSS community is trying to fight it. But it’s hard when we don’t have a mayor or board members or council members who support us, the way that the City of TP does.

For example, at last nights hearing, the TP mayor lauded the plan to shut down SCES/SSIMS to creat holding schools for Piney Branch (and others). That was pretty depressing. I’m sympathetic to wanting down county holding schools to avoid bussing kids 40 mins away, but dismantling diverse, urban, walkable schools that kids currently attend is the wrong way to go about this.

I agree. East SS has so many apartment buildings - and a renter probably won’t get invested in local civics - they’ll move if they don’t like things.
Property owners have a stake in the matter. (West county - nearly entirely SFH has strong voice).

Losing Nolte to development would be awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great post from a parent asking some key questions:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/11/19/five-reasons-mcpss-plan-for-silver-spring-doesnt-add-up/

+1

This is very well-researched and compelling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great post from a parent asking some key questions:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/11/19/five-reasons-mcpss-plan-for-silver-spring-doesnt-add-up/

+1

This is very well-researched and compelling.

+1000 great article

Why are board members comfortable voting yes on the CIP when Taylor has not been able to produce ANY evidence that they explored alternatives? I don’t understand how ANY board members think it is acceptable to make one community sacrifice like this without any evidence that it’s the best or only way forward. It’s fiscally and morally irresponsible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great post from a parent asking some key questions:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/11/19/five-reasons-mcpss-plan-for-silver-spring-doesnt-add-up/

+1

This is very well-researched and compelling.

+1000 great article

Why are board members comfortable voting yes on the CIP when Taylor has not been able to produce ANY evidence that they explored alternatives? I don’t understand how ANY board members think it is acceptable to make one community sacrifice like this without any evidence that it’s the best or only way forward. It’s fiscally and morally irresponsible.

Taylor keeps saying that voting yes now is just the first step in the process, not the final decision, and they don't have to make the final decision until the spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great post from a parent asking some key questions:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/11/19/five-reasons-mcpss-plan-for-silver-spring-doesnt-add-up/

+1

This is very well-researched and compelling.

+1000 great article

Why are board members comfortable voting yes on the CIP when Taylor has not been able to produce ANY evidence that they explored alternatives? I don’t understand how ANY board members think it is acceptable to make one community sacrifice like this without any evidence that it’s the best or only way forward. It’s fiscally and morally irresponsible.

Taylor keeps saying that voting yes now is just the first step in the process, not the final decision, and they don't have to make the final decision until the spring.

Doesn’t the vote narrow their options going forward though?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great post from a parent asking some key questions:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/11/19/five-reasons-mcpss-plan-for-silver-spring-doesnt-add-up/

+1

This is very well-researched and compelling.

+1000 great article

Why are board members comfortable voting yes on the CIP when Taylor has not been able to produce ANY evidence that they explored alternatives? I don’t understand how ANY board members think it is acceptable to make one community sacrifice like this without any evidence that it’s the best or only way forward. It’s fiscally and morally irresponsible.

Taylor keeps saying that voting yes now is just the first step in the process, not the final decision, and they don't have to make the final decision until the spring.

I get that and maybe it’s true for SSIMS (although I have serious doubts) but seems to be a loophole for SCES “relocation”. If approved, the CIP has MCPS going right into site selection for SCES (without discussion/ community engagement about whether it should move). This has been pointed out to board members and the ones who have responded have essentially said “yes we realize that” and seem fine with it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great post from a parent asking some key questions:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/11/19/five-reasons-mcpss-plan-for-silver-spring-doesnt-add-up/

+1

This is very well-researched and compelling.

+1000 great article

Why are board members comfortable voting yes on the CIP when Taylor has not been able to produce ANY evidence that they explored alternatives? I don’t understand how ANY board members think it is acceptable to make one community sacrifice like this without any evidence that it’s the best or only way forward. It’s fiscally and morally irresponsible.

Taylor keeps saying that voting yes now is just the first step in the process, not the final decision, and they don't have to make the final decision until the spring.

I get that and maybe it’s true for SSIMS (although I have serious doubts) but seems to be a loophole for SCES “relocation”. If approved, the CIP has MCPS going right into site selection for SCES (without discussion/ community engagement about whether it should move). This has been pointed out to board members and the ones who have responded have essentially said “yes we realize that” and seem fine with it!

Does the site selection process lock them into moving SCES? I thought it just identifies which site will be used if they vote yes, which would then not be used if they vote no? Honestly probably a good thing for everyone to know what the new site would be and the implications of that when making the final decision, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great post from a parent asking some key questions:

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/11/19/five-reasons-mcpss-plan-for-silver-spring-doesnt-add-up/

+1

This is very well-researched and compelling.

+1000 great article

Why are board members comfortable voting yes on the CIP when Taylor has not been able to produce ANY evidence that they explored alternatives? I don’t understand how ANY board members think it is acceptable to make one community sacrifice like this without any evidence that it’s the best or only way forward. It’s fiscally and morally irresponsible.

Taylor keeps saying that voting yes now is just the first step in the process, not the final decision, and they don't have to make the final decision until the spring.

Doesn’t the vote narrow their options going forward though?

Yes. And the board members know it but the handful that care about this an all are using it as a convenient excuse to vote yes (my opinion).