Light Bulb Exchange

Posted by andy | Sep 15, 2020

This fall, the County’s Residential Energy Program has partnered will local Senior Centers “Active Aging Week”. This is a collaborative effort with DEP and the county centers to celebrate the change in season...

Preserving Summer’s Bounty

Posted by andy | Jun 18, 2020

CKC Farming, a Silver-Spring based nonprofit land trust, invites you to fix an evening...

County Executive Urges Public to be Inclusive in Climate Change Efforts

Posted by Mike Diegel | Mar 5, 2020 | Montgomery County

County Executive Marc Elrich urged community leaders and environmental activists to open their platforms to more diverse voices at the Feb. 27 Climate Action Plan Town Hall and Open House. “We’ve got to do a better job engaging low income and vulnerable communities,” Elrich said. “I look around this room, and I got to say this looks like every climate environmental group I have ever been in.”

University to Consolidate Operations in Silver Spring

Posted by Mike Diegel | Jan 3, 2020 | Montgomery County

A Puerto Rico-based university will consolidate and expand its local offerings in the Inventa Towers in downtown Silver Spring. Ana G. Méndez University has agreed to lease 28,500 square feet of space in the former Discovery headquarters and plans a May 2020 opening, according to a press release from the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation.

School Boundaries: Subdivision Staging Policy

Posted by Mike Diegel | Sep 11, 2019 | Montgomery County

This is the last in a series of seven guest posts from Sunil Dasgupta on the discussions surrounding the possibility of changing the boundaries of Montgomery County’s public schools.

As yet, the school board and MCPS officials are not free of political pressures. As of early August 2019, the school board had delayed consideration and award of the consulting contract intended to investigate the boundary issue.

School Boundaries: Focusing on Process

Posted by Mike Diegel | Sep 10, 2019 | Montgomery County

This is the sixth in a series of seven guest posts from Sunil Dasgupta on the discussions surrounding the possibility of changing the boundaries of Montgomery County’s public schools.
While boundary change is likely to remain emotive however it is pursued, focusing on the process over the outcome could address the most trenchant opposition: a) periodic review and adjustment of boundaries, and b) an independent and binding review commission in charge of the process.

School Boundaries: A New Coalition?

Posted by Mike Diegel | Sep 9, 2019 | Montgomery County

The fifth in a series of seven guest posts from Sunil Dasgupta on the discussions surrounding the possibility of changing the boundaries of Montgomery County’s public schools.
So, are the current efforts to revisit boundary change evidence of an emerging new coalition? The clearest proponents of boundary change appear to be MCPS students themselves.

School Boundaries: Will the Money Talk?

Posted by Mike Diegel | Sep 6, 2019 | Montgomery County

This is the fourth in a series of seven guest posts from Sunil Dasgupta on the discussions surrounding the possibility of changing the boundaries of Montgomery County’s public schools.

Rachel Carson Elementary School has been a particularly egregious case demonstrating the need for boundary change. The school has been overcrowded by hundreds of students for over a decade, but the community has rejected boundary change that would reassign students to one of five other underenrolled schools within two miles.

School Boundaries: Stability, Choice, and the Achievement Gap

Posted by Mike Diegel | Sep 5, 2019 | Montgomery County

The following is the third in a series of seven guest posts from Sunil Dasgupta on the discussions surrounding the possibility of changing the boundaries of Montgomery County’s public schools.
Since the late 1990s, with enrollment numbers swinging back up, MCPS has built new schools in burgeoning upcounty areas, renovated and expanded old schools to accommodate more students, and reopened some that it had closed during the 1980s retrenchment.

School Boundaries: A Most Explosive Political Question

Posted by Mike Diegel | Sep 4, 2019 | Montgomery County

This article is the second in a series of seven guest posts from Sunil Dasgupta on the discussions surrounding the possibility of changing the boundaries of Montgomery County’s public schools.
Montgomery County’s population is not only principally center-left, but also highly educated and employed in professions requiring years of training and the accretion of intellectual capital. Not surprisingly, they have an absolute belief in the necessity of high-quality education in preparing their children for a globally competitive labor market.

Is a New Boundary Change Coalition Emerging in Montgomery County?

Posted by Mike Diegel | Sep 3, 2019 | Montgomery County

Editor’s Note: The following is the first in a series of seven guest posts from Sunil Dasgupta on the discussions surrounding the possibility of changing the boundaries of Montgomery County’s public schools.
Finally, after years of Montgomery County Public Schools resegregating and the achievement gap growing despite efforts to shrink it, the debate over school boundary change has come out into the open.