Dear Clarksburg Cluster parents & guardians,

We request your presence during the upcoming Capital Improvements Program (CIP) public hearings on Feb. 9th (Thursday).  This time, we will be testifying to the Montgomery County Council regarding FY 2013 Capital Budget and FY2013-2018 CIP.  Montgomery County Council is the governing body that has the power and authority to allocate funds to MCPS to finance all new school constructions, building modernizations plus compliance and maintenance projects for the following fiscal year and the next 6 years.

Back in November 2011, we testified to the MCPS Board of Education (BOE) asking to please keep all our 3 CIP projects on schedule due to the significant growth in our area.  We certainly can NOT afford any further delays.  With 480% growth in our area from 2000 to 2010 (according to the 2010 US Census data), we need our new elementary school (ES) and middle school (MS) along with the addition to our high school (HS).

• The new Clarkbsurg Village ES #1 scheduled to open August 2014 will mainly relieve overcrowding at Little Bennett ES which is currently 31% over capacity. More importantly, by the year before the new school opens, Little Bennett ES is projected to be 51% over capacity. 
  

• The addition to the Clarksburg HS scheduled to be completed by Fall 2015 is to increase program capacity from 1566 students to 1971 (26% increase).  Clarksburg HS is already 21% over capacity and by 2014, it is projected to be 25% over capacity. 
  

• The new Clarksburg/Damascus Middle School scheduled to open by August 2016, is expected to relieve overcrowding at Rocky Hill MS, currently at 5% over capacity but by 2015 it is projected to be 27% over capacity.

In addition, we assume that you want the best learning environment for your child to reach his potential and to be successful in college and beyond.  So if these 3 CIP projects stay on schedule,

• The unnecessary stress our children go through due to overcrowding in their school is reduced and we know, they will have a better chance of learning and achieving more.
• Our children will no longer need to have lunch periods starting at 10:45 AM and ending by 1:45 PM.
• The playground space and/or basketball courts will become available once again.
• Every student in middle school or high school will have a locker.

Whether your child currently attends Little Bennett ES or not, these CIP projects will affect your family especially if you intend to stay in this area in the next 5 years because your child will probably attend Rocky Hill MS or the new middle school and will eventually go to Clarksburg HS.

Therefore, we urgently ask for your support because your attendance will have a huge impact on our council members. If not, they will think only a few care. If you come, all you need to do is stand when our cluster is called to testify. Please come dressed in Clarksburg High School's colors - Carolina blue or dark blue so we can be identified collectively. 

Again the following are the details regarding this hearing:

What: Montgomery County Council CIP Testimony
When: Thursday, February 9th. It starts at 7:00PM but we expect to be called around 8:00PM so please plan to arrive by 7:30PM to find parking and seats inside the hearing room.
Where: County Council building, located at 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850.

Thank you in advance for your support and participation.  We hope to see you there!

Regards,

Janet Sanchez
Todd Powell
Seenu Suvarna
MCCPTA Clarksburg Cluster Coordinators