A bill that would waive a $23 million penalty levied against Montgomery County public schools passed with overwhelming support in the Maryland Senate on Friday.

The bill now moves to the Maryland House.

Continue reading at washingtonpost.com.

The Park would be located in Randolph Hills Local Park.

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This weekend, the Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration (SHA), working with the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (DOT), will shift westbound Randolph Road traffic to the newly opened westbound Montrose Parkway between Maple/Chapman avenues and “old” Old Georgetown Road.

Continue reading at Maryland State Highway Administration – Districts Page.

Residents in Randolph Hills, the neighborhood that has been most on board with the White Flint Sector Plan, are disappointed that significant community input to the plan has been passed over since it moved to the County Council for consideration.

via gazette.net.

Seven developers eager to remake the jumbled 420 acres around the White Flint Metro station in Montgomery County have flipped their usual script for winning the hearts and minds of politicians and residents.

via washingtonpost.com.

ROCKVILLE, Md., November 9, 2009—The Montgomery County Council will continue
its efforts to find out what issues most concern residents when it hosts a
Town Hall Meeting for the White Flint / Kensington / Garrett Park / North
Bethesda area on Wednesday, Nov. 18. The meeting at Tilden Middle School
will start at 8 p.m. A pre-meeting reception will begin at 7:30 p.m.

This will be the third Town Hall Meeting hosted by the Council in 2009. The
Council is composed of President Phil Andrews, Vice President Roger Berliner
and Councilmembers Marc Elrich, Valerie Ervin, Nancy Floreen, Mike Knapp,
George Leventhal, Nancy Navarro and Duchy Trachtenberg. The Council
previously held Town Hall Meetings this year in Germantown/Boyds and West
Gaithersburg/Darnestown areas. Most meetings have attracted more than 200
residents.

Tilden Middle School is located at 11211 Old Georgetown Road between the
Wildwood section of Bethesda and the southern area of Rockville, adjacent to
White Flint.

The meeting will allow residents to let the Councilmembers know how they
feel about specific issues and will allow them to ask questions of the
Councilmembers in an organized, but informal, setting.

Topics expected to be of interest include the proposed White Flint Sector
Plan, schools, public safety, traffic, growth, the County budget and taxes.

“In many ways, our County is facing one of its most difficult periods in a
very long time. We are all in this together and we want residents to tell us
about their most important concerns as we approach making important
decisions about growth in this area,” said Council President Andrews. “This
Council has made a priority of having better direct communication with
residents, and Town Hall Meetings have proven to be an excellent way to do
just that. For the citizens, these meetings provide a forum where they can
see their elected officials in a different format than a televised meeting
or through a news release.”

The meeting will be taped for later broadcast on County Cable Montgomery
(CCM—cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). Susan
Kenedy, a producer for the county station, will moderate the meeting.

For more information about the Town Hall Meeting or about the broadcast
times, call 240-777-7931.

Update: Councilmember Ervin had to cancel, so Councilmember Trachtenberg will be our guest speaker along with Councilmember Leventhal.

1. Call to Order – Matthew Tifford (8:00p-8:05p)
2. Guest Speakers: Introduction of Councilmembers Duchy Trachtenberg and George Leventhal (8:05p-8:10p)
   1. Duchy Trachtenberg (8:10p-8:20p)
   2. George Leventhal (8:20p-8:30p)
   3. Q&A (8:30p-8:50p)
3. Special Discussion: Membership Feedback and Priorities for Calendar Year 2010 (8:50p-9:50pm)
4. Standard Business and Reports (9:50p-10:00p)
   1. Approval of Meeting Minutes and Treasurers Report
   2. Committee Chair Reports (Time permitting)
      1. Membership
      2. Education
5. RCA Meeting Adjournment (10:00pm)

Please note: At the president’s discretion, discussion of old and new business is not on the agenda for this meeting. Any members wishing to bring new items to the Board should submit them electronically to info@randolphcivic.org or via the RCA Hotline.

Viers Mill Elementary School’s PTA meeting attendance is dismal. In a school whose students represent well over 30 nationalities and languages and whose families are generally low-income, many parents are too busy working, tossing together dinner or taking care of their children to attend, said Matthew Devan, principal of the Wheaton school.

But nine years after Devan developed a monthly Family Learning Night that combined free dinner (in the form of pizza), free child care (in the form of family activities with the teacher) and PTA meetings, parents’ involvement in the school and in their children’s work has risen drastically, he said.

via Gazette.net.