Recent experiences with Silver Spring International

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why SSIMS will never be fixed. Imagine this school existing in Bethesda. It would not. Because parents would complain! The fact that kids adapt doesn’t make it ok!

Burning Tree parents in Bethesda have been complaining about their building for years. Still crappy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the crux of the issue. Some areas of the county get totally refurbished buildings; others get bandaids.

I would say some buildings get refurbished, others get bandaids. But you can find both crappy buildings and new buildings in all areas of the county.

Show us a school building in western MoCo that is equivalent to Eastern MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the crux of the issue. Some areas of the county get totally refurbished buildings; others get bandaids.

I would say some buildings get refurbished, others get bandaids. But you can find both crappy buildings and new buildings in all areas of the county.

Show us a school building in western MoCo that is equivalent to Eastern MS.

Wootton

[Anonymous]

Interesting that the discussion here centers around the building when I feel like the teachers/ administration should be more to blame. Surely a great principal supported by great teachers and a strong PTA can over come any building?

We have two close friends whose kids attended SSIMS and later had serious drug problems, which parents believe was linked to a friends (student) suicide at SSIMS in 2020. I am not saying the building is linked to the suicide. It does seem the school/ staff is not equipped to take care of the kids!

My friend (kid with issues who attended SSIMS) told me recently “whatever you do don’t ever send your kids to SSIMS”. This really freaked us out. In the present market we can’t afford to move so are looking for private options!

It’s so sad - this is an expensive area to live in with highly educated neighbors and lots of resources. Surely decent schools are something people can expect!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's next to a Purple Line stop. Which is under construction.

your kid will be long gone

[Anonymous]

What are the chances SSIMS will get some extra cash for renovations from this tax increase?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances SSIMS will get some extra cash for renovations from this tax increase?

I mean, a lot of the projects that have been put off would be solved with increased funding. Eastern and SSIMS both have actual plans at the ready, but have not been approved for funding yet because every cycle the Board looks at the list of priorities and something else ends up in front of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances SSIMS will get some extra cash for renovations from this tax increase?

I mean, a lot of the projects that have been put off would be solved with increased funding. Eastern and SSIMS both have actual plans at the ready, but have not been approved for funding yet because every cycle the Board looks at the list of priorities and something else ends up in front of them.

Long history of expansions ahead of renovations. Sucks for schools needing renovations without growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances SSIMS will get some extra cash for renovations from this tax increase?

I mean, a lot of the projects that have been put off would be solved with increased funding. Eastern and SSIMS both have actual plans at the ready, but have not been approved for funding yet because every cycle the Board looks at the list of priorities and something else ends up in front of them.

That funding is earmarked for more CO admin positions, anti-racist audits, "leader in me" training, set-asides for the Kid's Museum, and electric school buses. The last place it is going is to renovate a DCC school or hire teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances SSIMS will get some extra cash for renovations from this tax increase?

I mean, a lot of the projects that have been put off would be solved with increased funding. Eastern and SSIMS both have actual plans at the ready, but have not been approved for funding yet because every cycle the Board looks at the list of priorities and something else ends up in front of them.

That funding is earmarked for more CO admin positions, anti-racist audits, "leader in me" training, set-asides for the Kid's Museum, and electric school buses. The last place it is going is to renovate a DCC school or hire teachers.

The operating budget is a separate entity from the capital budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances SSIMS will get some extra cash for renovations from this tax increase?

I mean, a lot of the projects that have been put off would be solved with increased funding. Eastern and SSIMS both have actual plans at the ready, but have not been approved for funding yet because every cycle the Board looks at the list of priorities and something else ends up in front of them.

I know SSIMS has plans at the ready, but what are the plans for Eastern? They aren't included here:

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/construction/project/projects/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the discussion here centers around the building when I feel like the teachers/ administration should be more to blame. Surely a great principal supported by great teachers and a strong PTA can over come any building?

We have two close friends whose kids attended SSIMS and later had serious drug problems, which parents believe was linked to a friends (student) suicide at SSIMS in 2020. I am not saying the building is linked to the suicide. It does seem the school/ staff is not equipped to take care of the kids!

My friend (kid with issues who attended SSIMS) told me recently “whatever you do don’t ever send your kids to SSIMS”. This really freaked us out. In the present market we can’t afford to move so are looking for private options!

It’s so sad - this is an expensive area to live in with highly educated neighbors and lots of resources. Surely decent schools are something people can expect!

It strikes me as extraordinarily unfair to blame staff for a suicide that happened a) at the beginning of a global pandemic
b) while kids were being taught remotely

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances SSIMS will get some extra cash for renovations from this tax increase?

I mean, a lot of the projects that have been put off would be solved with increased funding. Eastern and SSIMS both have actual plans at the ready, but have not been approved for funding yet because every cycle the Board looks at the list of priorities and something else ends up in front of them.

That funding is earmarked for more CO admin positions, anti-racist audits, "leader in me" training, set-asides for the Kid's Museum, and electric school buses. The last place it is going is to renovate a DCC school or hire teachers.

The operating budget is a separate entity from the capital budget.

The trolls and private schools parents don't know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances SSIMS will get some extra cash for renovations from this tax increase?

I mean, a lot of the projects that have been put off would be solved with increased funding. Eastern and SSIMS both have actual plans at the ready, but have not been approved for funding yet because every cycle the Board looks at the list of priorities and something else ends up in front of them.

That funding is earmarked for more CO admin positions, anti-racist audits, "leader in me" training, set-asides for the Kid's Museum, and electric school buses. The last place it is going is to renovate a DCC school or hire teachers.

The operating budget is a separate entity from the capital budget.

Money is fungible, and the budgets can be moved around, accordingly. Sure, admin cites multiple funding sources and politicals like to make brownie points by delivering school-targeted taxes, but, in the end, the two pots of $ come from the same source, and the difference between operational and capital is fuzzy enough to shift on the margins between the two by recategorizing aspects of projects.

Not saying that there shouldn't be funding or more of it (or that the various example expenditures are poor choices), just that the budgets aren't really all that separate form the perspective of getting enough funding when considering the context of this thread. For example, increased taxes targeted for the capital budget can be offset by general obligation reductions by the County Council, with those funds going, say, to pet projects (or to the MCPS operating budget); it may never really make a difference for a place like SSIMS (or Eastern) if MCPS/the BOE/the County Council are inclined to focus elsewhere, and, given the story over the past several years, I would doubt that SSIMS gets anything more than that which is absolutely necessary & convenient during the current project and for a long time afterwards. It won't be brought up to a facility standard similar to new or recently-remodeled schools elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, the chaos, kids roaming the hallways, weed, and overall "vibe" y'all are describing is no different from what my 7th grader attributes to Julius West. I hear stories that are very similar about unruly behavior, lack of respect for authority figures, rules, etc.

The trick is for your kid to figure out how to navigate all of that and thrive, and for parents to see when it's NOT working for their kids and intervene.