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Testimony of Amanda Waugh, Past President and Current Advocacy Chair, Rock Creek Forest ES

November 10, 2010

My name is Amanda Waugh and I am speaking tonight on behalf of the Rock Creek Forest PTA about the

proposed new middle school which will serve our cluster.

As a community, we recognize the toll overcrowding takes on a school community. This year alone Rock

Creek Forest went from 140% capacity to 160% due to an enormous jump in enrollment from 500 to

almost 560. So we sympathize with the concerns of our sister schools about the potential for

overcrowding at Westland should the 6th

grades from North Chevy Chase and Chevy Chase move to

Westland.

And while we are sympathetic to the concerns voiced by our sister schools, we also have some concerns

to share about the process by which this proposal was begun.

Our understanding is that this proposal grew out of community roundtable meetings over the winter

and spring to discuss the issues surrounding serving the 6th

grade in NCC and Chevy Chase ES. We

recognize that this was an organic process in which ideas were batted around freely. However, I mustemphasize, we are very unhappy that our community was never brought into the discussion when it

became evident that a new middle school was a likely proposal.

As Rock Creek Forest is sandwiched between NCC and Chevy Chase, it is most likely that we would end

up in the new school. Our community has not had the opportunity to discuss our thoughts or concerns

and to be brought up to speed on the proposed changes.

Furthermore, we as a community are very worried that these changes could result in a delay in our

modernization which is in the very early stages of the planning process and for which we have waited 40

years.

We worry about this because money is very tight as we all know and a new middle school will be quite

expensive. We would like the reassurance of MCPS that our modernization will not be delayed any

longer and we would like to know where the additional funding will come from for this new school.

As you may remember when I spoke about the modernization last year, I used the phrase 40 by 40 to

describe our situation: 40 years since a renovation and 40 percent over capacity. We are now 40 by 60.

Please remember our community as you deliberate.

With the limited time we have had to examine Dr. Weasts proposal, we wonder where this school will

be placed? This area is very congested, there are few to no parcels that meet the MCPS guidelines for a

middle school and therefore it is hard to picture that the students at this new school would have an

equivalent experience to that of current Westland students.

We are concerned that operating, CIP and articulation concerns have become mixed and not adequately

analyzed before beginning this process.

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Of course we seek your assurance that this new school come to pass, it would also participate in the

middle years program and have a similarly high quality staff and administration that has made Westland

the outstanding school it is.

We would like to point out that the racial and socioeconomic differences between the eastern and

western portions of our catchment area are clear and ask that you be mindful of maintaining diversity at

Westland when and if any change takes place.

Finally, we would like to know more about the demographic studies used by MCPS to show that the

current peaks in enrollment are a long term trend and not a short term blip caused by a struggling

economy.

So on behalf of the executive committee of the Rock Creek Forest PTA, I ask that you consider the

following:

Please table this vote until the entire cluster community can be included in the initial process, our

communities need an opportunity to learn about what a new school might mean and what its impact

would have before we can even take a position on it.

Barring that, we respectfully request that the oversight in the early stages of this process not continue

and that all parties affected be included in the process from this moment forward.

Thank you.