Board of Education Approves Construction of Middle School in Kensington (VIDEO)
The Montgomery County Board of Education unanimously approved on Aug. 20 construction of a middle school in Kensington.
According to school officials, the project cost $48 million is could begin as soon as mid-September with an expected opening day of August 2017.
In this MyMCMedia Extra, BOE Vice President Michael Durso said, “We are moving to the point of finalizing all of the work needed for the groundbreaking and beginning of construction for the BCC middle school. … We’ve had significant community input.”
According to a news release, the school will be built at the site of Rock Creek Hills Local Park- previously owned by the Board of Education- and former location of Kensington Junior High School, which closed in 1979. The board transferred the land to the county with the provision that it could be reclaimed if the land was ever needed for a school. The property was subsequently transferred to the Maryland-National Park and Planning Commission in 1990 for use as a park. The Rock Creek Hills site was the overwhelming recommendation of the Site Selection Advisory Committee that reviewed 38 possible locations for the new middle school.
Thank Goodness – the long wait is finally over. Many of us are thrilled about th e middle school being built in that location on land that is only allowed to be utilized 2/3 of the year per park regs.
Chris – interesting application of the “highest and best use” philosophy. (sorry, I can’t get “caps” to turn off)
But did you know that:
1) rather than being unavailable 1/3 of the time due to Park and Planning interest in protecting the fields from overuse, it will be unavailable 2/3 of the time, due to MCPS restricting use during school hours.
2) The existing site is actually 1/3 smaller than when it was last a middle school (retirement home built on the best part of the site)
3) The existing fields will be further reduced by 1/3 to accommodate the bus parking
4) The future fields are 1/3 less than MCPS standard requirement (since the site is considerably smaller than MCPS requirement), which will result in damage due to overuse (see #1)
5) This project will destroy two very popular and heavily used regulation size soccer fields (which are regularly used by BCC High School teams), without replacement
6) An alternate site (the last of two evaluated amongst the 38 considered in the site selection “process”) still remains available less than three miles away, which could not only accommodate the entire program of the school, but also preserve the existing park.
“Highest and best use” for whom, one may ask?
it was actually two proceSseS, an extensive lobbying effort by opponents litigation, and yet it was determined to be Best use. It can now be used 100 percent of the time. Maybe even by the rchca for its meetings. Since two of my kids are spending 1.5 to 2 hours a daY commuting bY bus to westland, my third can now have a pleasant 10 minute walk to schOol and be able to use the gym on weekends. ThaT is Highest snd best use.
Just wondering, has construction begun? Is the opening still projected for Aug. 2017? If so, my son will be in the first class.