The Montgomery County school board is hitting the reset button on its selection of a new middle school site for the Bethesda-Chevy Chase cluster.
“I truly believe that the site selection process for this project was conducted in accordance with the board of education’s regulations and policies,” Superintendent Joshua Starr said in a memo. “But, there are enough questions and concerns lingering that the site selection process should be conducted again.”
Where to begin? In April, MCPS backed off its original school site choice after parents, county parks officials, and County Exec Ike Leggett himself said no way, Jose. The parks department said Rosemary Hills-Lyttonsville Local Park was never the schools’ to take, and expressed “serious concerns about the overall MCPS site selection process.”
Onto choice No. 2: Rock Creek Hills Park.
In May, The Washington Examiner reported that the community surrounding Rock Creek Hills Park was shocked to discover the park was even in the running for a school site. Parents threw around words like “ashamed” and “broken.” School Board President Chris Barclay said it was a fact of life — too many kids, we have to build a school.
A Facebook group popped up.
In July, school officials acknowledged they made need to change the selection process.
In September, Maryland’s independent ethics board ruled that the Montgomery school board broke open meetings laws when they chose Rock Creek Hills Park as the new school site.
So here we are now. The school board is going to start over, but Starr says they will still be on track to complete a new middle school for B-CC by August 2017. Key takeaways from his memo:
- It’s not just a matter of angry residents: “At this point I am concerned that we may not have the support of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) — that is critical to having the property transferred back to the Board of Education — and of the County Council — who we need to fund construction of the school.”
- There’s also a little legal matter that hasn’t seen much sun. The park used to be a school site, but when the parks and planning commission developed the site, they took funds from the Program Open Space, a state organization: “… use of these funds places restrictions on future public use of the parks, in contradiction with the terms of the original transfer.”
- As for the actual site selection, Starr says he has been “carefully considering the chronology of events,” and doesn’t believe the process was erred. He also thinks the site is a feasible space for park, saying open space can be preserved well.
So let’s see what the school board comes up with this time.
