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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The sports practice schedule is also crazy. Kids will get bused all over the county for practices. Then they will be brought back to Woodward after practice. Then a different bus will take them back to their neighborhood. With rush hour traffic, kids will spend a lot of time on various buses. Seth Adams and his crew just dropped this bombshell last week[/quote]

That's Jeff Sullivan you'll want to direct your anger toward.[/quote]

Animosity toward Seth Adams in this situation is misplaced. He is the only project manager at MCPS who has earned my respect over the years. I do not believe he held his current (higher) position in 2019 when this plan was first hatched. He gets the buildings built, but don't blame him for the failure in communication about the practical impact on the Northwood community. There was never a time when the sports fields were going to be ready, and the Auditorium situation rests squarely on this current budget cycle. If someone has $$$$ sitting around, discuss donating it to build the auditorium.[/quote]

Seth was in charge of this back then.  He ran the whole capital improvements bit.  Just not yet all of facilities.[/quote]

He was director of the Division of Construction back then, not Associate Superintendent for the Office of Facilities Management, the post he currently holds and to which he was promoted on May 25, 2023.  The earliest impacts on the Northwood community are in August.  Personally, I think more communication should have started 6 months out in February, but I think a lot of CO energy was zapped by the Superintendent investigation and they did not have the budget nailed down regarding the Auditorium situation.  Many moving parts.  Communication problems up and down the chain.[/quote]

I'm not sure if/where you draw a distinction, unless you are just reporting the proper title [b](I said he was running capital improvements where you note Director of Construction -- tomAto/tomAHto[/b]).  He definitely was shaping the whole Woodward-Northwood thing well prior to initial BOE approvals.  Agree about moving parts and MCPS comms problems.[/quote]

DP. Capital Planning is one division, Construction is another, both within Facilities Management.[/quote]

Think of Capital Planning, at least then, as more financial management/accounting.  Definitely involved in feasibility, site selection, etc., but more the 30,000-foot level.  Broader.

Think of Construction (was or became "Planning and Construction" -- not sure when -- indicating a fuller scope), again, at least then, as more engineering/project management.  The technical approach, configuration options, scheduling, etc., for a capital improvement.  More focused, and also involved in the evaluation of facility conditions, given the nature of their personnel's expertise.

They needed to work together, of course, with considerations of the one dictating limits on the other, and vice versa.  And they had to work with other central offices, like transportation, as things progressed.  School administrations, too, of course, though there was variable effectiveness in each administrator's advocacy for their community and definite, if unclear, limits as to that which they could influence.

And it is, ultimately, on Jack Smith and Monifa McKnight -- the buck stopped there.  Intimating, however, that Seth wasn't responsible for some of the things folks are voicing about Woodward and Northwood because he was the Division Director for Construction (instead of Capital Planning or in charge of all of Facilities back at the inception of ) misrepresents his role.

His facility with communication also saw him more often the lead with stakeholders where there was overlap, and was, I expect, among the reasons for his eventual selection to lead the whole department.  That year-past promotion was titular (Director to Associate Superintendent, but both of Facilities; probably to rank him more appropriately in relation to his administrative peers and provide a salary bump), as he'd been in charge of all of Facilities for a while before that.[/quote]

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