Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 21:34     Subject: BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
Anonymous wrote:I never thought I would see a "not in my back yard" reaction to a school. All I can say is wow.


Cue violins and feign indignation. Please. These are established neighborhoods, and people are talking about ripping out our green space. Kids, and adults, need parks to experience what little environment is left in this hodgepodge of development we have down county.
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 21:27     Subject: BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
I never thought I would see a "not in my back yard" reaction to a school. All I can say is wow.
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 21:23     Subject: BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
I think as MC residents, we need to understand how agencies think. What they say in public is as good an indicator as anything. I want to remind everyone of a quote from the Chief Operating Officer of MCPS.

At the MCPS Board of Education meeting on May 23, 2011, when the BOE voted to proceed with feasibility study of Rock Creek Hills as the site of the BCC Middle School #2, several members of the board expressed dismay over the school system’s working relationship with Parks. One month earlier, they had been caught off guard by M-NCPPC Chair Francoise M. Carrier’s April 27 letter to the Board of Education officially opposing the use of parkland for the construction of new schools in Montgomery County. Larry A. Bowers, the Chief Operating Officer of MCPS, said to the Board members “We’re going to need all parks”.

I was there that night and I can say that Mr. Bowers gave this directive with annoyance but without any second thoughts. This man is more than an employee of the school system. As the longtime COO, he dictates how MCPS thinks and operates.

This is where we are. As residents, we need to recognize this as a new time of cooperation and accountability for all government agencies. Wishful thinking or a challenge?
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 21:23     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
Anonymous wrote:
OK, well, at least you're making me laugh out loud. So you get a thank you from me and extra points for that!

Seriously, I hope this isn't turning into another hot potato toss. This is the danger of not have some kind of weighting of criteria and a quantitative scale. I'm not saying you couldn't game the system, but people actually would have to rank sites. It might mitigate the feeling some people have that they're neighborhood is getting set up.


But your post sounds way too grownup and sensible. Yes, it does look like another hot potato, what community wants to lose their park? How can you start judging what park is more deserving than another to be spared of construction and loss of green space?





I know; it's kind of like Sophie's Choice meets An Inconvenient Truth after a doobie. Still, if people aren't going to demand that parks are off the table, i.e., that the county must purchase a site, then the only way to make this work is to rank these sites against a common scale. During the first meeting, someone asked why they aren't weighting the criteria, and I think the response amounted to, "It's too hard." Gee, don't we use weighted criteria to buy things, like fighter jets? How hard could this be?

Now if I were a conspiracy theorist, I might think that the real reason they don't want to weight and rank criteria is that with weighting and ranking they can't control the outcome. Could they be that nefarious?
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 21:16     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:


That person did not represent "the NCC community" (actually Chevy Chase Valley) and was quickly corrected by the member who does .


Well, who does she represent then, and why did she say it?


Great question, who did she represent? I understand that EBCA is also starting to worry...that they might actually be considered as a realistic school site...They have scheduled a vote on Feb 15th whether MCPS can use MCPS property to build a middle school. Meeting to take place in BCC Cafeteria on the 15th.

Many communities are concerned.




Wait...a vote whether MCPS can use its _own_ property? If MCPS is already there, what's the vote? What am I missing?


Some not very clever sarcasm. They are voting as to whether the community ass'n should have a position about the possibility of locating the new middle school there.
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 21:12     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:


That person did not represent "the NCC community" (actually Chevy Chase Valley) and was quickly corrected by the member who does .


Well, who does she represent then, and why did she say it?


Great question, who did she represent? I understand that EBCA is also starting to worry...that they might actually be considered as a realistic school site...They have scheduled a vote on Feb 15th whether MCPS can use MCPS property to build a middle school. Meeting to take place in BCC Cafeteria on the 15th.

Many communities are concerned.




Wait...a vote whether MCPS can use its _own_ property? If MCPS is already there, what's the vote? What am I missing?
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 21:07     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
OK, well, at least you're making me laugh out loud. So you get a thank you from me and extra points for that!

Seriously, I hope this isn't turning into another hot potato toss. This is the danger of not have some kind of weighting of criteria and a quantitative scale. I'm not saying you couldn't game the system, but people actually would have to rank sites. It might mitigate the feeling some people have that they're neighborhood is getting set up.


But your post sounds way too grownup and sensible. Yes, it does look like another hot potato, what community wants to lose their park? How can you start judging what park is more deserving than another to be spared of construction and loss of green space?



Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 20:57     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
Anonymous wrote:


That person did not represent "the NCC community" (actually Chevy Chase Valley) and was quickly corrected by the member who does .


Well, who does she represent then, and why did she say it?


Great question, who did she represent? I understand that EBCA is also starting to worry...that they might actually be considered as a realistic school site...They have scheduled a vote on Feb 15th whether MCPS can use MCPS property to build a middle school. Meeting to take place in BCC Cafeteria on the 15th.

Many communities are concerned.


Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 20:54     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
Anonymous wrote:
To say that reps are "gunning" for any location is irresponsible.


but accurate.


Just remember you heard it here first!


OK, well, at least you're making me laugh out loud. So you get a thank you from me and extra points for that!

Seriously, I hope this isn't turning into another hot potato toss. This is the danger of not have some kind of weighting of criteria and a quantitative scale. I'm not saying you couldn't game the system, but people actually would have to rank sites. It might mitigate the feeling some people have that they're neighborhood is getting set up.
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 20:48     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
Anonymous wrote:


That person did not represent "the NCC community" (actually Chevy Chase Valley) and was quickly corrected by the member who does .


Well, who does she represent then, and why did she say it?
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 20:47     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
To say that reps are "gunning" for any location is irresponsible.


but accurate.


Just remember you heard it here first!
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 20:42     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
Anonymous wrote:
To say that reps are "gunning" for any location is irresponsible.


but accurate.


Is this the DC Urban Children site?
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 20:15     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
Again, I'm not seeing this at all. The most vocal reps that I've noticed have been a) against RCHP without any particular site picked out instead; or b) in favor of building an additional facility at Westland.


Yeah, I was there I saw that. The rep from NCC quickly corrected that. But, there is a movement afoot. The thinking is, NCC is so large, and no community will complain.

But, there is a movement among a group of SSAC representatives to site the school in NCC Park. Obviously, it will be made public soon.

Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 19:10     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
NCC may have a problem because, in the first meeting, someone from that community said that the NCC community supports the placement of the school in that site.


That person did not represent "the NCC community" (actually Chevy Chase Valley) and was quickly corrected by the member who does.

To say that reps are "gunning" for any location is irresponsible.

but accurate.


Again, I'm not seeing this at all. The most vocal reps that I've noticed have been a) against RCHP without any particular site picked out instead; or b) in favor of building an additional facility at Westland.
Anonymous
Post 02/06/2012 18:43     Subject: Re:BCC Middle School Site Selction number 2 - 2012 version -
To say that reps are "gunning" for any location is irresponsible.


but accurate.