Representing the 1200 households North of East-West Highway, South of JonesBridge Road, East of Wisconsin Avenue and West of Columbia Country Club.

Neighborhood News

JAN/FEB 2009JAN/FEB 2009JAN/FEB 2009JAN/FEB 2009 WWW.EBCA.ORG WWW.EBCA.ORG WWW.EBCA.ORG WWW.EBCA.ORG

President’s NotebookPresident’s NotebookPresident’s NotebookPresident’s Notebook

By Ilaya Hopkins, President

We’re wrapping up the old,ringing in the new. The lastgeneral membership meeting of theyear followed our new tradition of hosting a cookie exchange beforethe meeting. We have some terrificbakers in the neighborhood andthose present got to sample thedelights. Tori Hall arranged tohave all the supplies there to maketrays for our local fire (ChevyChase, Bethesda and OldGeorgetown Road/Cedar Lane),police (District 2) and rescue (BCCRescue) squads. We owe these folksplenty so it is a nice opportunity tospread the holiday cheer.The business meeting was anupdate on current issues – education and the Purple Line inparticular. Minutes from themeeting are posted on our website,www.ebca.org. Our next EBCA general membership meeting willbe March 18th at the LynnbrookRecreation Center building onNewdale Road.Looking ahead, 2009 has a lot of promise. EBCA will continue tofollow issues of importance in ourcommunity such as elementaryschool assignments, decisions onthe Purple Line, the fate of theLynnbrook Recreation Center andthe transportation infrastructurearound National Naval MedicalCenter, home of the new WalterReed National Military MedicalCenter. We will hold elections forEBCA officer positions at the May20th meeting. If you have interestin any area of communityleadership, let us know by sendingan email or posting it on the EBCA message board. In addition tohaving everyone pay their dues, wewelcome input and involvementfrom as many residents as possible.If you love to plan events thatare important to our community,we need you on the SocialCommittee. Traditionally, eventsinclude the Community Yard Sale,Labor Day Picnic, HalloweenParade, happy hours and othersocial gatherings. The possibilitiesare many! It is a fun way to get toknow your neighbors and getinvolved in the community. Formore information, contactpresident@ebca.org.Our Neighborhood News needs afew good neighbors to help withcontent and production. If you havea few hours to spare and areinterested in helping with this vitallink to our neighbors, pleasecontact president@ebca.org ornewsletter@ebca.org.Thanks to you all for ongoingsupport. Here’s wishing everyone aHappy New Year!

ElementarySchoolChoice

By Monica Hayes, Education Chair

In September, EBCA mailedsurveys to 1280 households in ourcommunity to ensure we couldrepresent the community’s viewson elementary school options forour neighborhood. The survey wasalso available at three parks andwas distributed at neighborhoodevents, including the Halloweenparade. Flyers were posted, andreminders were included in theEBCA newsletter and email list,and it was available on the EBCA website during September andOctober. As of October 31st wereceived 315 responses.East Bethesda is very fortunatethat all four elementary schoolsour children attend are excellent,and community residents showedsupport for each of these schools inthe survey. However, as you cansee below, less than 3% of our

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Coming Up Next

General Membership MeetingWednesday, March 18th, 8 p.m.Lynnbrook Recreation Center

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Neighborhood News

J/F 2009

East Bethesda CitizensAssociation, Inc.PO Box 41020Bethesda, MD 20824www.ebca.org

Neighborhood News

Jay Briar, Editornewsletter@ebca.orgSponsorship, Vacantsponsorship@ebca.orgIlaya Hopkins, PresidentDavid Saltzman, 1st Vice PresidentTori Hall, 2nd Vice President A.B. Carneal, Recording SecretaryJack Hayes, TreasurerDan Fox, Immediate Past President Andy O’Hare, Crescent TrailMonica Hayes, EducationRebecca Fayed , MembershipEleanor Rice, NIH LiaisonKevin Kraus, Parks & PlaygroundsSocial Events, Vacant

Carmen Abrams & Dorian Patchin, Website

Leslie Weber, Welcome Packets

School TransferSchool TransferSchool TransferSchool TransferSeason UnderwaySeason UnderwaySeason UnderwaySeason Underway

By Monica Hayes, Education Chair

Parents wishing to transfer theirchildren from their assigned publicschool for the 2009-2010 schoolyear may apply to do so betweenFebruary 1st and April 1st.Students in Montgomery CountyPublic Schools are assigned basedon their place of residence or inaccordance with an IndividualizedEducation Program (IEP) and areexpected to attend their assignedschool.Changes, however, from oneschool to another are permitted forstudents who are exempt or whoare granted a change of schoolassignment based upon uniquehardship. East Bethesda’s assignedtrack for elementary school isRosemary Hills Primary School (akindergarten through second gradeschool) for kindergarten throughsecond grade, and BethesdaElementary (a kindergartenthrough fifth grade school) forgrades three through five. EastBethesda’s assigned secondaryschools are Westland MiddleSchool and Bethesda-Chevy ChaseHigh School.Montgomery County PublicSchool (MCPS) has rescinded theagreement made in 2000 with ourcommunity that had allowed spaceavailable flexible transfer optionsfor elementary school assignments.However, MCPS clarified that inaddition to geographicassignments, any studentattending Rosemary HillsElementary School has a choice of matriculation to the assignedpaired school or to another of thepaired schools in the cluster. TheBoard initiated this option in 1983when it acted to establish schoolpairings. EBCA residents whowould like to request their childattend either North Chevy Chaseor Chevy Chase ElementarySchools in third grade shouldcontact Rosemary HillsElementary School for informationon accessing those options. Parentswho would like to request transfersto Bethesda Elementary, or otherschool transfer options, may do sousing the standard MCPS transferprocess.MCPS student transferinformation can be found on theMCPS website at:www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/transfer.shtm.Parents requesting siblingtransfers to Bethesda Elementaryshould also refer to Supplement A of the MCPS FY 2010 CapitalImprovements Program forrestrictions on this option.Supplement A is posted on theEBCA website Local Educationpage and can be found on theMCPS website at:www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/PDF/CIP10SupplementA.pdf.

School Choice

community prefers our assignedschool track of Rosemary Hills K-2then Bethesda ES 3-5. This is notsurprising, as virtually all EastBethesda residents havetraditionally taken advantaged of the flexible transfer options,formerly available in the 2000agreement between MontgomeryCounty Public Schools and ourcommunity. The survey alsoshowed that an overwhelmingmajority of respondents, about67%, prefer Bethesda ES fromkindergarten to 5th grade as theassigned school track for ourcommunity.Kenneth Tercyak, aneighborhood resident withtraining in population science andsurvey methods, led the surveydata entry, analysis and reportingeffort. Ken and his staff alsodeveloped an “EBCA School Assessment Survey Final Report”which is available on the EBCA website, www.ebca.org. Ken willsummarize the survey findings forour community at the March 18thgeneral membership meeting.

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Neighborhood News

J/F 2009

3/1/093/1/09

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On December 4th, a group of East Bethesda mothersplanted over 100 flowering bulbs at Lynnbrook Park inmemory of Marianne and Caroline Duffy, former long-time residents of East Bethesda who died in a caraccident last February. The mothers chose to rememberthe Duffys at Lynnbrook Park because their familieshad played at the playground so often with the Duffys.The daffodils and anemones are self-propagating andshould multiply over the years. The bulbs were plantedon the bank facing the intersection of Newdale Roadand Lynbrook Drive, in an area somewhat protectedfrom mowing and foot traffic. Two memorial benchesare planned for the grounds of Blessed SacramentElementary School, where Caroline Duffy attended, aswell as a luminary event at the school on February 18thand a memorial mass on February 22th, both open toall friends and neighbors of the Duffys.

Marianne & CarolineDuffy Remembered

By Tori Hall, Vice President

EBCA Holiday EBCA Holiday EBCA Holiday EBCA Holiday Cookie Exchange Cookie Exchange Cookie Exchange Cookie Exchange

Neighbors shared their holiday treats in December, just before the general membershipmeeting.