What does tabling the SSIMS closure mean for the boundary options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it means Woodlin and Flora Singer kids get screwed, is what it means.

At least the current SSIMS families like it and wanted to stay... we will get sent against our will to a crumbling building with teachers who are constantly looking for other jobs and live through the last gasps of SSIMS when they finally decide to close it. All for the charade of "Board independence" and "community involvement" when they're clearly just going to close SSIMS anyway and just want to kick the decision down the road a little.

UGH. I love Sligo and was relieved that it looked like my younger could go there. No way I'm sending her to SSIMS--I really don't understand why a community is rallying around a dangerous building but I wish at least Woodlin & FS wouldn't get forced there.

They don’t want to lose their neighborhood school, which many students walk to. Walking to Eastern of Sligo won’t be an option. My kids didn’t go there (we were zoned for TPMS), but had many friends living just across the street who loved SSIMS. They have a school culture of walking and visiting DTSS, Sligo Creek parks, etc.

They also don’t want to be split up as a community. It causes unnecessary issues.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. The obvious solution seems to be to use one of the boundary options for HS, and pretty much leave middle-schoolers alone, at least in 2027-30.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, I predict 2027-2030 is going to be a huge mess comparable to the 2004-08 years. The question is whether there will be an overcorrection in the opposite direction afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I predict 2027-2030 is going to be a huge mess comparable to the 2004-08 years. The question is whether there will be an overcorrection in the opposite direction afterwards.

What was the mess of 2004-08?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t other families want to be at SSIMS? Is it because of the condition of the building? Because as PPs have said, Taylor is exaggerating that to make his argument for a holding school.

The fact is the school was on an upswing before this proposal landed. New principal that is very well liked, happy families, etc.

Woodlin and flora singer families should talk to current SSIMS families before making any judgements about the school. They are advocating to keep it open for a reason.

It is far away, would split up our ES, and seems likely to be closed in a few years anyway so we will then have to deal with teachers jumping ship in the last couple years . All of that on top of all the physical facilities issues. Plus we just like Sligo.

1000% this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it means Woodlin and Flora Singer kids get screwed, is what it means.

At least the current SSIMS families like it and wanted to stay... we will get sent against our will to a crumbling building with teachers who are constantly looking for other jobs and live through the last gasps of SSIMS when they finally decide to close it. All for the charade of "Board independence" and "community involvement" when they're clearly just going to close SSIMS anyway and just want to kick the decision down the road a little.

UGH. I love Sligo and was relieved that it looked like my younger could go there. No way I'm sending her to SSIMS--I really don't understand why a community is rallying around a dangerous building but I wish at least Woodlin & FS wouldn't get forced there.

They don’t want to lose their neighborhood school, which many students walk to. Walking to Eastern of Sligo won’t be an option. My kids didn’t go there (we were zoned for TPMS), but had many friends living just across the street who loved SSIMS. They have a school culture of walking and visiting DTSS, Sligo Creek parks, etc.

They also don’t want to be split up as a community. It causes unnecessary issues.

There are SSIMS families that feel that way but there are also some that think the building/school is a nightmare and weren't mad at all about it being closed down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah. The obvious solution seems to be to use one of the boundary options for HS, and pretty much leave middle-schoolers alone, at least in 2027-30.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t other families want to be at SSIMS? Is it because of the condition of the building? Because as PPs have said, Taylor is exaggerating that to make his argument for a holding school.

The fact is the school was on an upswing before this proposal landed. New principal that is very well liked, happy families, etc.

Woodlin and flora singer families should talk to current SSIMS families before making any judgements about the school. They are advocating to keep it open for a reason.

It is far away, would split up our ES, and seems likely to be closed in a few years anyway so we will then have to deal with teachers jumping ship in the last couple years . All of that on top of all the physical facilities issues. Plus we just like Sligo.

1000% this

I don’t think the SSIMS closure is a forgone conclusion, esp give board vote this week. Flora Singer and Woodlin families might want to consider joining the advocacy fight to keep it open in favor of a large scale renovation in place, rather than asking that their kids not be zoned there in 27-30. The money just isn’t going to be there in this CIP for this plan, and the arguments against two larger middle schools are strong ones. Plus, their kids will probably get zoned there anyway for the next few years so fighting to keep it open (and avoid staff departures) would benefit them too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t other families want to be at SSIMS? Is it because of the condition of the building? Because as PPs have said, Taylor is exaggerating that to make his argument for a holding school.

The fact is the school was on an upswing before this proposal landed. New principal that is very well liked, happy families, etc.

Woodlin and flora singer families should talk to current SSIMS families before making any judgements about the school. They are advocating to keep it open for a reason.

It is far away, would split up our ES, and seems likely to be closed in a few years anyway so we will then have to deal with teachers jumping ship in the last couple years . All of that on top of all the physical facilities issues. Plus we just like Sligo.

1000% this

I don’t think the SSIMS closure is a forgone conclusion, esp give board vote this week. Flora Singer and Woodlin families might want to consider joining the advocacy fight to keep it open in favor of a large scale renovation in place, rather than asking that their kids not be zoned there in 27-30. The money just isn’t going to be there in this CIP for this plan, and the arguments against two larger middle schools are strong ones. Plus, their kids will probably get zoned there anyway for the next few years so fighting to keep it open (and avoid staff departures) would benefit them too.

I don't think a large-scale renovation of SSIMS with students on site is feasible, given slide 22 of this, posted earlier in the thread:
vhttps://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.ns...P%20251104%20PPT.pdf

● The preliminary costs below reflect construction costs if staff/students are off-site.
● If the project was to be completed with staff/students on-site, the relocatables would
likely need to be craned over the bleachers ($$$).
● We would need to trench water lines to provide restrooms at the portables ($$$).
● The preliminary costs to renovate Silver Spring International MS (154,386 SF) and
Sligo Creek ES (87,744 SF):
○ If we budgeted for a SSIMS-only Major Capital Project:
■ If we started planning in FY 2027, there’s a preliminary estimate of $145M and
anticipated completion date of 2031
■ If we started planning in FY 2035, there’s a preliminary estimate of $215M and
anticipated completion date of 2039

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t other families want to be at SSIMS? Is it because of the condition of the building? Because as PPs have said, Taylor is exaggerating that to make his argument for a holding school.

The fact is the school was on an upswing before this proposal landed. New principal that is very well liked, happy families, etc.

Woodlin and flora singer families should talk to current SSIMS families before making any judgements about the school. They are advocating to keep it open for a reason.

It is far away, would split up our ES, and seems likely to be closed in a few years anyway so we will then have to deal with teachers jumping ship in the last couple years . All of that on top of all the physical facilities issues. Plus we just like Sligo.

1000% this

I don’t think the SSIMS closure is a forgone conclusion, esp give board vote this week. Flora Singer and Woodlin families might want to consider joining the advocacy fight to keep it open in favor of a large scale renovation in place, rather than asking that their kids not be zoned there in 27-30. The money just isn’t going to be there in this CIP for this plan, and the arguments against two larger middle schools are strong ones. Plus, their kids will probably get zoned there anyway for the next few years so fighting to keep it open (and avoid staff departures) would benefit them too.

Why should we get zoned there? You guys fought to keep the school, now fight to keep your own kids in it rather than sending ours there. We want to stay at Sligo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t other families want to be at SSIMS? Is it because of the condition of the building? Because as PPs have said, Taylor is exaggerating that to make his argument for a holding school.

The fact is the school was on an upswing before this proposal landed. New principal that is very well liked, happy families, etc.

Woodlin and flora singer families should talk to current SSIMS families before making any judgements about the school. They are advocating to keep it open for a reason.

It is far away, would split up our ES, and seems likely to be closed in a few years anyway so we will then have to deal with teachers jumping ship in the last couple years . All of that on top of all the physical facilities issues. Plus we just like Sligo.

1000% this

I don’t think the SSIMS closure is a forgone conclusion, esp give board vote this week. Flora Singer and Woodlin families might want to consider joining the advocacy fight to keep it open in favor of a large scale renovation in place, rather than asking that their kids not be zoned there in 27-30. The money just isn’t going to be there in this CIP for this plan, and the arguments against two larger middle schools are strong ones. Plus, their kids will probably get zoned there anyway for the next few years so fighting to keep it open (and avoid staff departures) would benefit them too.

Why should we get zoned there? You guys fought to keep the school, now fight to keep your own kids in it rather than sending ours there. We want to stay at Sligo.

PP here. I should add that I am more than glad to support you in advocating to keep SSIMS open for your kids and communities. But I do not want my kids to go there, and so if your advocacy does not also include keeping the SSIMS boundaries the same, I will be very frustrated and potentially inclined to support the closure of SSIMS if that's the only way I can get my youngest back to Sligo.

[Anonymous]

The current SSIMS parents have nothing to do with the boundaries. That’s a totally different discussion, and it’s odd that you think this group is advocating about which students go to SSIMS. They are advocating to keep the school open, as was the reality before the Oct 13 bombshell of the cip.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I should add, if you don’t want to be zoned to SSIMS in one of the options A-D you should say that in the survey response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The current SSIMS parents have nothing to do with the boundaries. That’s a totally different discussion, and it’s odd that you think this group is advocating about which students go to SSIMS. They are advocating to keep the school open, as was the reality before the Oct 13 bombshell of the cip.

Oh, come off it. Of course parents do not make any of these final decisions. But you advocated hard to keep SSIMS open, and you won, at least temporarily. The premise of your fight was that the SSIMS community wanted to keep going to SSIMS. If that is true, you need to keep fighting for all the SSIMS kids to keep going to SSIMS, which means keeping its current boundaries the same.

If you bail out now and figure that as long as DTSS families get to keep going to SSIMS then it doesn't matter who else is or isn't there, you will get a rude awakening in a couple years when no one else is standing with you to keep it open later on.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know: when WILL the decision be made? The resolution tabled it until… when?

Regardless, unless the decision is made NOT to close SSIMS —soon— I think changing the boundaries is super unfair to families. Imagine they decide in 2026 or early 2027 to close SSIMS but they already committed to Option B.