| Advocate for more building capacity at BE to address our increasing student enrollment. |
As you know, our school has been dealing with overcrowding issues and while our administration and our staff have worked very hard to mitigate issues caused by our increasing school enrollment, there is only so much they can do when we have no more space for additional classrooms.
Several years ago, Bethesda Elementary was part of a boundary study that was supposed to decrease our student enrollment so that we would no longer be at capacity. We currently house 645 students in a building built to hold 561 students. Furthermore, after the rezoning in the most recent boundary study, MCPS removed 2 portable classrooms from our school campus. Portables that we very much needed even after the rezoning occurred. This year, many of our grade level classrooms are reaching high 20’s – 30 students per homeroom classroom and we have no more physical classrooms to accommodate additional teachers to decrease classroom sizes. Our school is a wonderful, diverse, and inclusive space and it is unique from other MCPS schools in our surrounding area as 1) we are in the heart of downtown Bethesda where rapid muti-family development is adding a surge of student enrollment year to year, 2) We have a very high student mobility rate that lead to late and unpredictable student enrollment and 3) multiple programs and students who require intensive resources. We know we need more classrooms and we need them now.
We are urgently advocating with MCPS to add portables so we can address this issue immediately, 2 of which MCPS recently removed. We need an immediate plan that will address the rapid influx of students that will come to BE with multiple high rise residential building at or very near completion. Furthermore, we ask that funds be added back into the MCPS Capital Improvement Program to add back the school building addition that would not only increase classroom sizes but also expand space such as our cafeteria so we can better serve our ever expanding student population. While MCPS enrollment is down, BE enrollment is up beyond what was projected and our school mobility rate of 25% requires our school to have more classrooms available as our enrollment can rapidly increase.
Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) will be meeting November 21st to make a decision on the MCPS Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and we want to make sure our voices are heard before they make crucial budget decisions for the upcoming school years.
We have been meeting with our BOE representative, attending meetings with the Montgomery County Council, attending MCPS Buildings and Facilities hearings, and am now asking you, a BE parent, to also lend your voice to our advocacy. It is important that MCPS and the BOE hear from the student families directly also. Please consider emailing the BOE and MCPS Superintendent to let them know that we, as BE parents, are concerned about the lack of space and the effects of overcrowding are having on BE. Contact information provided below. We urgently need more classroom spaces so all our students can be effectively supported.
| You can find a copy of the testimonies on behalf of BE at the BOE Buildings & Facilities hearings here: Nov 4th Hearing (Starts at 1:38:50 – Cathy Stocker, MCCPTA Area VP for BCC/Whitman/Walter Johnson & BCC Cluster Coordinator) Nov 6th Hearing (Starts at 1:22:15 – Kelley Flynn, BE PTA Treasurer, BE PTA Past President) Here is a copy of the email I am sending to the BOE & MCPS. You can make your own copy and send it to the BOE and the Superintendent below or you can write your own letter. Please add your own family’s stories so those who are making the budget decisions can understand how it affects our students. Here is more information about the Montgomery County Board of Education and their role in MCPS, our school system. Who you can email to voice your concerns: Montgomery County Board of Education: Ms. Karla Silvestre, President, At-Large, [email protected] Ms. Lynne Harris, Vice President, At-Large, [email protected] Ms. Brenda Wolff, District 5, [email protected] Ms. Graciela Rivera-Oven, District 1, [email protected] Mrs. Shebra Evans, District 4, [email protected] Ms. Julie Yang, District 3, [email protected] Mrs. Rebecca Smokdrowski, District 2, [email protected] Mr. Praneel Suvarna, Student Member, [email protected] MCPS Superintendent Dr. Taylor Thomas, [email protected] |