Testimony at the County Council

Thank you for having me here tonight. My name is Amanda Waugh, I am the co-President of the Rock Creek Forest PTA and am here to lend my voice in support of full funding for the Capital Improvement Plan.

Many of you are familiar with Rock Creek Forest, but for those who are not, let me tell you a little about our school. We have approximately 500 students in our two programs, the home school English Academy and the county wide Spanish Immersion magnet program.
Our facility is what I call 40 by 40. We are roughly 40% over capacity and 40 years since our last modernization.

Rock Creek Forest was built in 1950 and last modernized in 1971. Our facility designed for 372 kids and currently serves 501. I want to draw your attention to that number. We were built for 372 and hold 501. That puts us at 139% capacity. We have six portables and expect to need eight next year. The most in our cluster.

As I said, it has been almost 40 years since Rock Creek Forest was last modernized. That is older than the parents of many rock creek forest students, but more importantly, it means we struggle to meet the needs of 21st century kids in a building designed before cassette tapes were widely used.

At any given time up to 25% of our students are being taught in a portable. Our lunches are served not only in the APR but also on the stage. One out of 5 students at RCF is on FARMS and we have the highest percentage of students receiving ESOL services in the cluster.

I have sat in meetings with teachers where the thermostat read over 80 degrees at other times teachers have recorded temperatures as low as 56 degrees because the heat is either on or not.

The roof leaks at times, the front of the school floods and freezes in a rain or snow, rooms are either stifling hot or freezing cold, paint bubbles off the walls due to moisture, windows cannot be tightly closed and insects are common and every little space is used for something, closets have been repurposed for offices.

Our buses back up nearly to East West Highway, since in 1970 we served walkers, but now, with our immersion program drawing from across the county, we receive 10 buses every day.

So what do we do? First of all, we are in line to receive planning funds in this round of funding, so please pass the CIP. Second, recognize that this is a long range commitment, we need planning funds in this cycle, but we will need building funds in the next cycle. Third, realize that as tight as money is right now, interest rates present an historic opportunity to lock in bonds at low rates, constructions costs have decreased and building schools puts people to work.

Finally, I want to make sure you are aware of the double bind of Rock Creek Forest. Even when you fund this CIP, we will still have huge capacity issues until the new building is complete in 2015. Our overcrowding should push us to the top of the addition queue, but due to our pending modernization, we are not eligible for an addition. It is critical, for the kids who are in a school that is 40% beyond its capacity, that you move the process forward.

Having drawn your attention to that, I want to assure you that we, at Rock Creek Forest, are reaching out to our state legislators and Governor O’Malley with letters and emails to request that funding for the county’s capital needs is adequate.

We have waited long enough. Please make sure that the children of Rock Creek Forest get the attention they need. Thank you.