I think it is ironic that Kristin O'Keefe who is quoted in this article as being "blindsided" had no problem signing a petition that supported building the school in the Rosemary Hills Park.

To say that the Kensington Park is "a highly popular and well-used community park" is quite a stretch. Other than the soccer games (which neighbors complain about, btw) and soccer practices (practices which may still be able to happen), it is always practically empty. There is another park nearby on Kensington Parkway. As a neighborhood resident, I'm excited by the prospect of a new school being built here in Rock Creek Hills.

We heard no compelling reason last night at the BOE meeting why a new school needs to be built on 'vacant land' (read 'parks'). The county is awash in excellent real estate agents and well-educated urban planners. A professional team can easily be hired to acquire appropriate land for a school which can then be cleared and reused, in the areas of greatest student density so kids can walk and families can be involved in the life of the new school. We have an obesity epidemic, and the BOE wants to remove parkland and bus more students, further reducing the opportunities for play and exercise? The BOE members clearly don't have the right advisors and background information to even begin to make such important decisions. The decision should not be between parks and schools. The goal should be to enhance our communities with both wonderful parks and excellent schools and make the county an even better place to live.

This crazy process has left me scratching my head. The County needs to have neighborhood liasions involved in the process. It's hard not to have the reaction of "Hell, no" when confronted with a decision made in a vacuum. My kids have used the park at Rock Creek Hills quite often - every day when they were smaller. Will the community see a feasibility study before it's voted on? Can more than one feasibility study be done at the same time, so that the decision isn't pushed on us? What ever happened to the democratic process?

The process was deeply flawed and biased on a number of levels that shock the conscious.
The site selection report, however, was released a few weeks ago.
The BOE has a right of reclamation on your park. You might not like it, but it exists. That is a hard fact.
Many have fought for more process at the BOE and failed. Good luck fighting that fight but it is endemic.

Just be prepared for more of the same. Once Leggitt gets control of the MNCPPC, there will be nothing to stop further removal and degradation of the park lands in the county. Each year Leggitt and the County Council remove funding from the MNCPPC and are now at the point where the budget is too low to maintain the programs at a level expected by the public. For decades a continued effort to dismantle the MNCPPC has been going on and previous attempts to officially bifurcate and dissolve the agency have failed, so now the strategy is to let it self destruct by removing it's funding. A death by a thousand blows.

After looking over the Site Selection Advisory Committee (SSAC) recommendation for B-CC Middle School dated March, 8 2011, I am more confused then ever. Why would they propose Leland Local Park (3.71 acres), former Rollingwood Elementary School (4.07 acres) and Grace Episcopal School (10.94 acres) as possible sites and then immediately throw them out because they were too small. Particularly when the Board of Education’s standard for a Middle school is 20 acres. Although I can believe finding 20 acres of “open” land in the B-CC cluster would be difficult if not impossible. But come on to even consider 4 acres when the set standard is 20 acres. And then to select for consideration a piece of property that was outside of the B-CC Cluster when the target are for identifying property was inside supposed to be inside the cluster. Then of course that was withdrawn for consideration because it fell outside the B-CC cluster. Was it just to make the list longer?

The whole process is irrational. They make the site selection decision without any data on the criteria, a hand-waving conversation on the choices and then make a nice little chart with + that don't really mean anything. This is no way to make a decision to site a multi-million dollar school that will be used for decades.

Valarie

Any other sites possible for a new feeder school for BCC, as the old Kenington JHS site is within Einstein's attendance boundary?
That would be more sensible given the attendance boundaries of Einstein HS ( also a former student of Einstein).

Well, I don't think Westland is in the BCC attendance boundary either, I think it is in the Walter Johnson boundary, so that won't do you any good. I read they refer to Rock Creek Hills as part of the northern boundary, and it does have a recall clause, and it was a junior high school not so long ago. The BOE should stop closing down schools, because it seems they eventually need them back. They need better long term planning. Leland Park was also a junior high school and definitely in the boundary.

With obesity a national epidemic for both adults and children, this is no time for the county to reallocate park space that residents of all ages are using to exercise and recreate to keep well. The Rock Creek Hills park is used from sun-up to sun-down. The morning bootcampers and walkers start their day there and are soon followed by the Kensington Park residents taking their morning constitution; the tots can be seen on the play equipment prior to their afternoon naps when the after school soccer players appear. In addition to providing free space to exercise and move, parks also contribute hugely to a neighborhood's sense of community. The Rock Creek Hills park is home to an annual Halloween Parade, Mother's Day concert, Thanksgiving football games, and provides many other opportunities for congregating and socializing. Happy and healthy communities benefit the county on so many levels. I hope that the BOE and other county leaders will recognize the unmatchable benefits that neighborhood parks provide, and consider other land options to build the new middle school.

The park is NOT located in the Einstein cluster, but in the B-CC cluster, just to clarify. I live in Rock Creek Hills, and I think it would be nice to not have my kids take a 30 minute bus ride to and from middle school everyday. I don't think that park is very heavily used compared to other parks in this area. I never go there, and there is plenty of parkland along Rock Creek. And, honestly, with NIMBYism and fears about property values, what community is EVER going to say, "why, yes, what an excellent idea, let's put the middle school in my back yard!" The fact is, we need a new middle school, it has to go somewhere, and I don't think you're going to find a better solution than this.

of course it is about nimbyism

i totally agree with verbatim

there is a good size park literally across the street on kensington parkway

Having followed now the whole RCH Middle School 2 debate for the past few weeks, I have to agree, that it is just as Verbatim said, pure and simple NIMBYism, with a smattering of other more unattractive isms.
The site selection report was available for everyone's disapproval long before the RCH's community became up in arms, if they really believed all the things they now claim to stand for...They should have objected to the whole process a heck of a lot earlier...

Tom, the site selection report was made public and available to everyone in the cluster, including RCH after a freedom of information request was made on March 29th. The full report appeared on various neighborhood list serves as well as BCC cluster list serves on, I believe, April 13. Every community had access to the report at that time. In fact, a call went out on the NCC list serve to drum up support for the SSAC's findings because they had gotten wind that there was considerable community opposition in Rosemary Hills to the proposed construction. While you are correct that neither community was represented on the SSAC, there were unfortunately more than a few in the RCH community who not only knew about the site selection committee's report, but supported it, going so far as to sign a petition to put the school in the RHL park, those folks are now screaming the loudest and publicly posting their protests. I wonder, in addition to adding their names to the petition, how many actually went so far as to write the BOE in support of the school in RHL park, and now have also written letters of disapproval of the school in RCH? I'm sorry, but these actions = NIMBY to me, OK for someone else's back yard but not in mine.

Tom, We can certainly agree that the first place NIMBY award goes to the folks on the SSAC, and perhaps a special shout out to the mayor of the Town of Somerset, Jeffery Slavin for his comment that, "someone will have to be inconvenienced".

But check it out for yourself: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/IsupportRHLMS/signatures/1

In future, I would hope that all communities will work together to oppose the tyranny of the BoE

OK, Jess, it’s not fair to make me burst out laughing in the middle of a serious conference call so that everyone on the call thinks I’m crazy. That special shout-out was priceless!!! Thanks for making my day. I clicked on the link. Sigh. I see what you’re saying. What a legacy for the BOE, pitting citizens against each other and braking trust with the community. FYI, I listened to the entire 4/28 BOE meeting discussion, and I was stunned. It was clear to me that they were trying to roll RHL, and good for that community for standing up and pushing back. Unfortunately, they rolled us, instead. Lessons have to be learned here, and the first should be to make sure that our neighborhoods liaison with each other so that these jokers can’t pull a stunt like this again. As for “someone will have to be inconvenienced,” check-out the SSAC description for Norwood Park and compare it with a map. It almost screams what wasn’t said, i.e., “but it ain’t gonna be us!” Take Care-Tom

Tom, Were you at the BoE meeting tonight? Did you sign up to comment? I don't what to make of it. But you can bet the developers are driving the bus, and the wheels are going round and round.
Glad I gave you a laugh.

Please go to www.BrickyardCoalition.org ~ we're dealing with similar problems!