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

JUNE 2010JUNE 2010JUNE 2010JUNE 2010 WWW.EBCA.ORG WWW.EBCA.ORG WWW.EBCA.ORG WWW.EBCA.ORG

President’s Notebook

By Greg Volz, President

General Membership MeetingWednesday, June 2nd, 7:00 p.m.NEW LOCATIONB-CC High School Cafeteria4301 East-West Highway

Elections & School Update

We are embarking on a newchallenge for the East BethesdaCitizens Association. As many of you have learned by now, theMontgomery County Council, in itsinfinite wisdom, decided to closeour Lynbrook Recreation Centereffective in April to help trim thebudget. I believe I heard it willsave the county $16,000 annuallyin a budget of $4,000,000,000. Thatis like giving up an occasionalStarbucks latte to help pay for amansion. This is the samecommunity center where we holdour meetings, the Halloweenparade and Labor Day picnic, notto mention the numerous birthdayparties, playdates and specialevents that were held at thisfacility.Despite the email and letter-writing campaign and multiplesuggestions for alternative ways tokeep the community center openfor the benefit of our community,the County Council felt giving upthe Starbucks latte was the rightthing to do. I kind of get the feelingthe community center will go theway of the trash-can-removal-from-the-park debacle. We obviouslyneed to make a little more noise (orsqueak more since the squeakywheel clearly gets the grease) toget the County Council’s attention.I suggest you make your voiceheard. A great way to do this is toattend the upcoming MontgomeryCounty District 1 candidate forumon June 1st at the LawtonCommunity Recreation Center,4301 Willow Lane, Checvy Chase.The event will begin at 7 p.m. witha meet and greet at 6:30.Scheduled to attend are currentDistrict 1 Councilmember RogerBerline and for EBCA Presidentand District 1 candidate IlayaHopkins..The closure of our communitycenter has forced us to postponeour May general membership

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The Bethesda-Chevy Chase (B-CC) cluster Roundtable approachesto relieve elementary schoolovercrowding were discussed at apublic information meeting atBethesda Elementary School onThursday, May 27th. EastBethesda residents are encouragedto let Montgomery County PublicSchools (MCPS) know this is anissue of importance to ourcommunity.In addition, a summary of theRoundtable report and adescription of next steps in theMCPS process will be provided atthe June 2nd EBCA Generalmembership meeting to be held atthe B-CC High School cafeteria.Roundtable approaches underdiscussion include:

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Moving 6

grades at NorthChevy Chase and/or ChevyChase Elementary Schools toWestland Middle School. Thiswould not require a boundarystudy and could be implementedas soon as August 2011.

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Establishing a boundary studyfor East Bethesda (andPaddington Square) to examineelementary schools assignments.

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PossiblePossiblePossiblePossibleSchoolSchoolSchoolSchoolChangesChangesChangesChanges

By Monica Hayes,Education Chair

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Neighborhood News

June 2010

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

Neighborhood News

Jay Briar, Editornewsletter@ebca.orgSponsorship, Vacantsponsorship@ebca.orgGreg Volz, PresidentKevin Kraus, 1st Vice PresidentRebecca Fayed, 2nd Vice President A.B. Carneal, Recording SecretaryJack Hayes, TreasurerIlaya Hopkins, Past President Andy O’Hare, Crescent TrailMonica Hayes, EducationEleanor Rice, NIH LiaisonCarmen Abrams, WebsiteDorian Patchin, WebsiteLeslie Weber, Welcome PacketsMembership, Vacant

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meeting and election of officers forthe next year. The new date andlocation of the meeting will be June2nd at the Bethesda-Chevy ChaseHigh School cafeteria. We willbegin the meeting an hour earlierat 7 p.m. We are still acceptingnominations for the EBCA officersfor the next fiscal year beginningJuly 1, and you may e-mail yournominations to Kelly Cunninghamat klcnn68@yahoo.com.Thanks again to the continuedsupport of our sponsors: SmithThomas Smith general contractors,BCC Total Body Salon, MarcieSandalow with Evers & Co. RealEstate, New Generation School of Music, and Hughes Landscapingand Supply. In these difficulteconomic times, their sustainedsupport helps us to remain in touchwith you. We also thank all of thehouseholds who have contributedmembership dues to EBCA thisyear, and encourage everyone elseto write a check this month byusing the coupon on the back of thenewsletter. The names of our paidmembers are printed inside.I look forward to seeing everyoneat the June 2nd generalmembership meeting and elections!

Tree Coupons

Homeowners who buy a treevalued at $75 or more can receivea $25 coupon from theMontgomery County PlanningDepartment. For information onwhich selected trees and countynurseries are included in the"Leaves for Neighborhoods"visit www.montgomeryplanning.org/events/leaves.The East Bethesda Garden Clubmeets at 7:30 on the secondTuesday of each month. Guestswelcome. For more informationabout EBCA, contact Nancy at301-656-8754.

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Neighborhood News

June 2010

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Additions for B-CC cluster Elementary schools.

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Opening a new elementary and/or middle school in theB-CC Cluster. These would require boundary studies. After reviewing input from the B-CC Roundtableprocess, the MCPS Superintendent will prepare arecommendation for the Board of Education (BOE) for theFY 2012 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) that isreleased in late October 2010. The BOE will conductpublic hearings and take action in late November.Boundary studies could follow in winter 2010 forinclusion in the FY 2012 CIP, or fall 2011 for the FY 2013CIP. The implementation of reassignments may need towait until additions (earliest completion August 2014) ornew schools (earliest completion August 2016) are fundedand built.More information, links to MCPS B-CC Clusterplanning activities, and tips for advocacy can be found onour website, www.ebca.org, on the Local Education page.If you have questions, please contact EBCA EducationChair Monica Hayes by email at education@ebca.org.

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Schools Update

Currently...All students in East Bethesda attend:

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Westland Middle School and then

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Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.Rosemary Hills PS:About 45% of 2nd graders at Rosemary Hillsattend North Chevy Chase Elementary in the3rd grade; about 45% attend Chevy ChaseElementary in the 3rd grade; and about 10%attend Bethesda Elementary in 3rd grade.

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North Chevy Chase and ChevyChase are 3rd through 6th gradeschools.

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Bethesda is a K through 5th gradeschool.Bethesda ES: About 75% of BethesdaElementary 5th graders attend WestlandMiddle School in the 6th grade; about 25%attend Pyle Middle School in the Walt Whitman Cluster for 6th grade.