BOE to pave over $790,000 in Athletic Fields

[Anonymous]

I think it is a bad idea to tear down a usable school building (Twain-Ewing) and turn it into a parking lot.
So: where to put the bus lot?
MCPS owns other school properties-why not sell Brickyard, for example, and use the money to buy something somewhere else? How about that empty huge lot on Shady Grove where the Sears-Home store (can't remember the name) used to be?
I don't think the kids in alternative ed should be moved around from pillar to post. Remember when MCPS closed Kingsley Wilderness? and when they touted how wonderful the "ewing center" would be for the kids?
The Ewing Center has athletic fields and actually an indoor pool. It has the space to really do some vocational skills training. Why move the kids to a smaller facility not accessible by public transportation (I've seen the kids waiting for the Ride On on 28).
That being said, I don't have any sympathy for the Aspen Hill folks who don't want "those kids" nearby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

sad, I know

I have a good friend in that area and another friend who sent her child to the private school.

I can't see how this move would benefit any of the stakeholders. Alternative Programs educates some challenging kids who need space and quite a few resources to assist them academically and emotionally. The building itself isn't set up to house potentially hundreds of kids (currently there are about 120 enrolled) in middle and high school.

Furthermore, while we don't like using NIMBY, this move will indeed affect property values. I certainly wouldn't want to live in an area near an alternative setting. These are students with severe emotional issues who either were asked to leave their traditional setting or who were PLACED there by the system itself. They arrive from all over the county. So imagine the number of buses pulling in and out each day. It's not as though those streets are wide enough to accommodate the buses.

I find it odd that the system spent hundreds of thousands renovating the Ewing building during Alt Program's redesign only to send the kids off to another setting that doesn't have the capacity to house the students and faculty. Something isn't quite right.

I hope the neighborhood can fight it.

If MCPS had "space" in Bethesda or Potomac, it certainly wouldn't be used to house Alternative Programs!

much luck to the community in fighting such a disastrous move

Your facts aren't right, in this case. The Washington Post article says that school officials said that the English Manor building would be renovated and expanded with $16.6 million in previously approved funding.

Also, this is school-owned property, currently being used as a school, which would continue to be used as a school. People might not want to live next to the alternative-education school, but you really shouldn't tell the school district that they can't use their own property for a school because you might get less money when you sell your house.

MCPS will obviously have to figure out a plan for getting the buses in and out, and if I were MCPS, I would certainly ask for neighborhood input on that.

(No, I don't live in Bethesda or Potomac. However, for what it's worth, MCPS was recently proposing to put a bus depot on MCPS property on Brickyard in Potomac. The Brickyard neighbors fought off the proposed soccer fields, which were the result of a shady process, but I don't have much sympathy for their idea that they get to tell MCPS what to do with MCPS property.)

MCPS' budget is frozen right now. New projects are not likely to be approved. Furthermore, the $16.6 million has to be approved by the County Council, and the CC isn't exactly friendly toward MCPS.

If you knew the history of Alt Programs, you'd know that for the past year, the EWING building was the facility in the budget that was up for redesign. Search through the memos. You'll find a 3-year phase in that addresses the academic and SEL needs of the students and identifies how the physical building would be remodeled to meet the needs of students. They painted, ordered new furniture, and added more technology - in addition to hiring new staff members through recruiting (as teachers were asked to reapply for their jobs). All of that cost not only money but time.

I hardly see how - after putting in that much effort - it's much more appropriate to ask for more MONEY to completely redesign an ELEMENTARY school building to fit the needs of challenging kids in grades 6-12.

Yes, we can tell MCPS what to do with its budget b/c we pay taxes. Why didn't they examine English Manor before they started the redesign?

This would be the SECOND redesign for Alt Programs. And that's not a waste of taxpayers' money???


http://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/9QXKBY502481/$file/2.6%20Amend%20FY2015-2020%20CIP%20Ewing%20Ctr.pdf

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP16BoardBook112114.pdf

$136,534, combined with $300,000 in realigned funds, to redesign Alternative Programs. These funds help provide more individualized instruction and support to students who have not been successful in traditional school settings;

http://news.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/staff-bulletin/budget-story/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is a bad idea to tear down a usable school building (Twain-Ewing) and turn it into a parking lot.
So: where to put the bus lot?
MCPS owns other school properties-why not sell Brickyard, for example, and use the money to buy something somewhere else? How about that empty huge lot on Shady Grove where the Sears-Home store (can't remember the name) used to be?
I don't think the kids in alternative ed should be moved around from pillar to post. Remember when MCPS closed Kingsley Wilderness? and when they touted how wonderful the "ewing center" would be for the kids?
The Ewing Center has athletic fields and actually an indoor pool. It has the space to really do some vocational skills training. Why move the kids to a smaller facility not accessible by public transportation (I've seen the kids waiting for the Ride On on 28).
That being said, I don't have any sympathy for the Aspen Hill folks who don't want "those kids" nearby.

The pool is in such bad shape that it cannot renovated. Unless you've been inside the building, you have no room to talk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is a bad idea to tear down a usable school building (Twain-Ewing) and turn it into a parking lot.
So: where to put the bus lot?
MCPS owns other school properties-why not sell Brickyard, for example, and use the money to buy something somewhere else? How about that empty huge lot on Shady Grove where the Sears-Home store (can't remember the name) used to be?
I don't think the kids in alternative ed should be moved around from pillar to post. Remember when MCPS closed Kingsley Wilderness? and when they touted how wonderful the "ewing center" would be for the kids?
The Ewing Center has athletic fields and actually an indoor pool. It has the space to really do some vocational skills training. Why move the kids to a smaller facility not accessible by public transportation (I've seen the kids waiting for the Ride On on 28).
That being said, I don't have any sympathy for the Aspen Hill folks who don't want "those kids" nearby.

Sears owns it, Gaithersburg annexed it, it's also close to the Shady Grove Metro station, and I'm guessing that everybody has plans for developing a much more intense and revenue-producing land use than a school bus depot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

MCPS' budget is frozen right now. New projects are not likely to be approved. Furthermore, the $16.6 million has to be approved by the County Council, and the CC isn't exactly friendly toward MCPS.

The MCPS operating budget is frozen. The capital budget is not frozen. And the County Council has already approved the $16.6 million -- for improving the Blair Ewing Center; it's just that MCPS now wants to spend the (already-approved) money to renovate and expand English Manor ES instead.

http://montgomerycountymd.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=6&event_id=1700&meta_id=74616

[Anonymous]

Yes, been in the Twain-Ewing building. Why does MCPS let things fall into disrepair? It wasn't that long ago that they were bussing the kids from Rock Terrace to Twain to use that pool (instead of walking across the street).
Only if someone somewhere starts actually thinking creatively about the bus lot will a new or different solution be found. But I guess we can't depend on the same people who let the Twain facility fall into disrepair to come up with any solution other than the one that they pulled out of their *hat* at the last minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, been in the Twain-Ewing building. Why does MCPS let things fall into disrepair? It wasn't that long ago that they were bussing the kids from Rock Terrace to Twain to use that pool (instead of walking across the street).
Only if someone somewhere starts actually thinking creatively about the bus lot will a new or different solution be found. But I guess we can't depend on the same people who let the Twain facility fall into disrepair to come up with any solution other than the one that they pulled out of their *hat* at the last minute.

How long ago was it?

And maybe you could tell us what MCPS should have not paid for, in order to pay for repair upkeep of the pool. Please be more specific than "eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse" or "cut administrative positions".

I'm all in favor of "someone somewhere" to think of alternative locations for the bus depot, though. How about you doing it? The people in the neighborhood in Aspen Hill would surely be grateful, since "Alternative Site X is better for a bus depot than the Twain-Ewing site" will probably work better as an argument than "We don't want the alternative school in our neighborhood because it's bad for our property values".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, been in the Twain-Ewing building. Why does MCPS let things fall into disrepair? It wasn't that long ago that they were bussing the kids from Rock Terrace to Twain to use that pool (instead of walking across the street).
Only if someone somewhere starts actually thinking creatively about the bus lot will a new or different solution be found. But I guess we can't depend on the same people who let the Twain facility fall into disrepair to come up with any solution other than the one that they pulled out of their *hat* at the last minute.

How long ago was it?

And maybe you could tell us what MCPS should have not paid for, in order to pay for repair upkeep of the pool. Please be more specific than "eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse" or "cut administrative positions".

I'm all in favor of "someone somewhere" to think of alternative locations for the bus depot, though. How about you doing it? The people in the neighborhood in Aspen Hill would surely be grateful, since "Alternative Site X is better for a bus depot than the Twain-Ewing site" will probably work better as an argument than "We don't want the alternative school in our neighborhood because it's bad for our property values".

Not the PP, but is that realistic? MoCo spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on feasibility studies to determine if a particular location is viable for a specific purpose, etc. You expect a random person living in the county to know the ins and outs of how that's decided?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, been in the Twain-Ewing building. Why does MCPS let things fall into disrepair? It wasn't that long ago that they were bussing the kids from Rock Terrace to Twain to use that pool (instead of walking across the street).
Only if someone somewhere starts actually thinking creatively about the bus lot will a new or different solution be found. But I guess we can't depend on the same people who let the Twain facility fall into disrepair to come up with any solution other than the one that they pulled out of their *hat* at the last minute.

How long ago was it?

And maybe you could tell us what MCPS should have not paid for, in order to pay for repair upkeep of the pool. Please be more specific than "eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse" or "cut administrative positions".

I'm all in favor of "someone somewhere" to think of alternative locations for the bus depot, though. How about you doing it? The people in the neighborhood in Aspen Hill would surely be grateful, since "Alternative Site X is better for a bus depot than the Twain-Ewing site" will probably work better as an argument than "We don't want the alternative school in our neighborhood because it's bad for our property values".

Not the PP, but is that realistic? MoCo spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on feasibility studies to determine if a particular location is viable for a specific purpose, etc. You expect a random person living in the county to know the ins and outs of how that's decided?

No, I expect somebody who criticizes MCPS as a bunch of fools who can't do anything right to propose possible alternative locations that are better. If MCPS is a bunch of fools who can't do anything right, that shouldn't be such a hard task, right?

[Anonymous]

I gave you a suggestion: sell the valuable brickyard property to a developer. Take that money and go buy a suitable space for the bus lot.

And as for Twain upkeep $, Go take a look at what is known In the community as the Taj Mahal (Paint Branch HS), and see whether you think they could have been a little more economical and still had enough to maintain another facility.

Or we can just let the current BOE and administration do it their way, and never advocate for any change, because sadly it rarely seems to make any difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I gave you a suggestion: sell the valuable brickyard property to a developer. Take that money and go buy a suitable space for the bus lot.

And as for Twain upkeep $, Go take a look at what is known In the community as the Taj Mahal (Paint Branch HS), and see whether you think they could have been a little more economical and still had enough to maintain another facility.

Or we can just let the current BOE and administration do it their way, and never advocate for any change, because sadly it rarely seems to make any difference.

That's a funding suggestion, not a location suggestion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moving Alt Programs to Aspen Hill will kill that community on so many levels.

The county spent quite a bit renovating Ewing Center during Alt's redesign, only to move the school to what was once an elementary school in Aspen Hill.

bad move

Unfortunately the community associations (Aspen Hill Civic Association and the AH Homeowners Group) were NOT made aware of the plans until late in the process. There's a website currently discussing the issue: http://www.saveenglishmanor.org/

There is actually a charter school (School for Tomorrow - http://www.sftedu.org/our-school/) currently renting out that building and they were not made aware of the plans either.

Let's face reality. Aspen hill is not a desirable part of the county to live in.
Those days are long gone. Perry HS was demolished, and it's not a great place to live.

Why shouldn't MCPS reuse a building they own.

As for mark twain it's been closed since 2008.
Again why not move the bus depot to MCPS property

Makes perfect sence.

[Anonymous]

Let's face reality. Aspen hill is not a desirable part of the county to live in.
Those days are long gone. Perry HS was demolished, and it's not a great place to live.

Why shouldn't MCPS reuse a building they own.

As for mark twain it's been closed since 2008.
Again why not move the bus depot to MCPS property

Makes perfect sence.


too bad you can't

aspen hill is great area to live

peary hs was not demolished! drive by and see!

mcps doesn't own english manor. not their building

mark twain is now ewing center and is in constant use daily

bus depot won't fit on ewing property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moving Alt Programs to Aspen Hill will kill that community on so many levels.

The county spent quite a bit renovating Ewing Center during Alt's redesign, only to move the school to what was once an elementary school in Aspen Hill.

bad move

Unfortunately the community associations (Aspen Hill Civic Association and the AH Homeowners Group) were NOT made aware of the plans until late in the process. There's a website currently discussing the issue: http://www.saveenglishmanor.org/

There is actually a charter school (School for Tomorrow - http://www.sftedu.org/our-school/) currently renting out that building and they were not made aware of the plans either.

Let's face reality. Aspen hill is not a desirable part of the county to live in.
Those days are long gone. Perry HS was demolished, and it's not a great place to live.

Why shouldn't MCPS reuse a building they own.

As for mark twain it's been closed since 2008.
Again why not move the bus depot to MCPS property

Makes perfect sence.

"Why shouldn't MCPS use property they own?" is a question that applies exactly as much in Potomac as in Aspen Hill.

By the way, here is a presentation from 2013 from the staff work group to the County Council on the school bus depots. If you want to suggest an alternative site (or sites) to MCPS, you can find out here what the necessary site characteristics are, what sites they've already considered, what alternatives they've considered, and so on.

http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/council/pdf/agenda/cm/2013/130211/20130211_ED1.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

too bad you can't

aspen hill is great area to live

peary hs was not demolished! drive by and see!

mcps doesn't own english manor. not their building

mark twain is now ewing center and is in constant use daily

bus depot won't fit on ewing property.

You're correct that MCPS doesn't own English Manor. Montgomery County does.

But I wonder why you think that the bus depot won't fit on the Twain/Ewing property.