[Convened 2:00, at Elwood Smith Comm. Ctr.]

At this meeting we heard from Principal Carrasco from Richard Montgomery High School, Jennie Kimball from the City Manager's Office, voted on three resolutions and organized a stream cleanup to occur on April 19.

 

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(Principal Carrasco was invited since we have issues related to demolition of the old high school, plans for a new synthetic turf football field and the use of that field.)

 

Mr. Carrasco said that RM has 2000 students and 240 staff.  They have an open lunch policy, which nearby fast food outlets support, but which also helps in managing the school since it allows clubs to meet during lunch, and kids to get help from teachers or do some homework.  Without open lunch, the kids would have several, shorter lunch periods that wouldn't allow clubs to meet since not all kids would be available at the same time.

 

Demolition of old RM has already begun and will proceed for the next 6 to 8 weeks.  The building will be demolished with machinery rather than an implosion.  In response to a citizen question, Mr. Carrasco said he will follow up with the hauling company to be sure that trucks leaving the site with debris will have the covers in place.  He also that if any one sees a truck leaving without the cover properly in place, get the tag number and give his office a call  at 301-610-8000
and they will follow up.

 

The new RM is a state of the art facility with electronics that allow much greater ease in bringing AV connections into the classroom.  RM's demographics have changed in the 5 years since Mr. Carrasco took on the job as principal.  It went from 68% white to 42%, and the poverty rate of student families has doubled.  Yet in the same period performance measures have still climbed, being rated as high as 11th nationwide.  While the academic rigor is high overall, it is a struggle to reach some students.  Mr. Carrasco stated a desire to build a sports based curriculum to teach journalism through the lens of sports, statistics through sports and such.  He noted that far more people are interested in sports than play as athletes. 

 

A grass field can only be used about once a week for athletic games, and one rainy game can leave the field in poor condition for the rest of the season.  Synthetic turf can be used without regard to the health of the turf.  He noted that we are now in the fourth generation of synthetic turf, that it is far better than the astroturf  that was introduced decades ago.  It holds water run off so that it doesn't act as an impervious surface.  To see a sample locally, people can check out the field at Georgetown Prep.  A professional soccer team is kicking in the extra money to allow synthetic turf to be used, and in return will hold 14 games per year at RM on Saturdays starting around 5:00 pm as well as twice a week practice from 6:00 to 8:30 pm.  The game will end by 9:00. Mr. Carrasco asked how many people were aware that a pro soccer team has already been using the RM field in the past.  Only one person in attendance knew.  He said h e anticipates a similar impact in the future - that most people would be completely unaffected.  Most of the parking will be at RM, overflow will be directed to nearby parking garages and many attendees will come by metro.  He hopes that the relationship with the pro team will help to establish the sport curriculum that he believes will engage a segment of the students that is currently hard to reach.  There will be a running track separate from the football field so that runners won't be blocked by events at the football field.

 

Mr. Carrasco responded to questions which lead to more information such as:  Parking costs students $40 a year and gives them a tool for controlling irresponsible driving by students.  If you see a student driving irresponsibly, give his office a call with the tag number and they will see that they are reminded of proper driving etiquette.

 

While RM doesn't have bicycle parking yet, two multi-bike racks are on order and will be installed in front in an area covered from the weather.

 

Tutor volunteers from the community are welcome to help out on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 2:30 to 3:30. English and math are the two areas of greatest need.

 

Jennie Kimball then spoke on behalf of the City of Rockville, providing a number of updates summarized below.

 

There will be a session on "How to organize community events on April 29 at 7:00 pm at the Senior Center. 

 

The City is recruiting for an Asian Pacific American Taskforce.  See http://www.rockvillemd.gov/news/2008/03-march/03-24-08.htm

 

Rockville Police have a number of new web based reporting mechanisms:

The graffiti tipline and all forms are anonymous.  The following online forms and tipline are now available:

Abandoned Vehicle Report
www.rockvillemd.gov/residents/police/forms/avform.htm. Report an abandoned vehicle within City limits.

Animal Control Request
www.rockvillemd.gov/e-gov/animal.htm. Use this to make a request, report a problem or comment concerning animals within the City limits.

Graffiti Report
www.rockvillemd.gov/residents/police/forms/graffiti.html. Use this form to report any graffiti observed in the City of Rockville.

If telephoning is more convenient, people can call 240-31-48477 (TIPS) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to report graffiti.

Anonymous Narcotics Reports
www.rockvillemd.gov/residents/police/forms/narcotics.html. Report narcotics activity here. Information provided will help the Rockville City Police Department respond more quickly and effectively.

Witness Report in Traffic Enforcement (W.R.I.T.E.)
www.rockvillemd.gov/residents/police/forms/write.html. The Rockville City Police Department has initiated a program in which a citizen can report a vehicle for minor violations by filling out and submitting the information using the W.R.I.T.E. form.

Jennie also brought a number of flyers highlighting city services such as Youth and Family services, and a Neighborhood Toolkit with a boatload of information about City services.

We then discussed and voted on three neighborhood resolutions.  The resolutions are posted at http://www.rocknet.org/community/Hungerford/pages/0308Resolutions.htm

The resolution to request picnic tables at the Granary shelter in Dawson Farm Park passed after being amended to request a charcoal grill as well.  Discussion was wide ranging and touched on the history of why we don't have picnic tables already - the townhome community next to the park opposed it for fear of drawing the wrong element.  That opposition appears to no longer exist, based on an exchange of phone messages with their leader.  We discussed the same issue and decided that the wrong element will come or not without regard to the availability of picnic tables.  But putting in picnic tables would open up positive possibilities.  We also noted that if it didn't work out we could ask that they be removed later.

The resolution to put the tennis and basketball court lights on a timer so that they would only be on when they were in use passed after being amended to drop the last sentence regarding feeding a meter to turn on the lights, and after clarifying that the intention wasn't to extend the hours that the lights could be on, but rather to ensure that during the hours that they are currently on that they would be activated by users so that they would only be on when in use.

The resolution to express community support for a mailbox at W. Edmonston and Wootton did not pass.  Discussion pointed out nearby mailboxes, the fact that letter carriers will pick up at your house and that the suggested location wasn't central within Hungerford. 

We discussed a stream cleanup and stream adoption.  We decided to hold a cleanup on April 19 at 9:00 in the morning starting at the intersection of W. Edmonston and Ritchie and working our way up to Dawson Farm Park.  We decided to revisit the issue of adopting the stream after the cleanup.  Adopting the stream would commit us to holding two cleanups per year.  Mr. Carrasco offered to provide student labor via kids doing community service in lieu of detention, and one resident suggested drawing students by offering student service learning hours.  Which reminds me of the "Simpsons" episode where Principal Skinner rewards the honors students with an archaelogical dig, while conversely punishing the detention kids with an archaelogical dig...

Then we moved on to new business and discussed some problems with the listserv and mentioned that if we do anymore of those "Hungerford Resolves" newsletters, we will need to take a few advertisements, just business card size, to pay for the additional costs. 

Finally we broke up into groups to discuss Traffic, Community Events, Environment and Community Garden.

Carl Henn

HCA President