Board of Education OKs New Middle School Site Selection

Montgomery County Public Schools will redo the site-selection process for the controversial second Bethesda-Chevy Chase cluster middle school, the Board of Education voted Thursday.

Following , the board voted unanimously to rescind its initial selection of  and reconsider where to build a 944-student middle school.

Starr's recommendation came after continued protests from neighbors and concerns that MCPS may not be able to reclaim the park.

The revised site-selection process will involve representatives from county and local governments, in addition to PTA members and neighbors. MCPS will recruit members of the new site-selection committee in December, Starr said, and they will start debating locations in January.

"I'm confident that these representatives, along with our staff, will leave no stone unturned as they review candidate sites," he said.

Starr in a memo earlier this month.

The superintendent stressed that restarting the process will not delay the school's planned August 2017 open date, which he said is necessary to accommodate enrollment growth in the cluster.

While the school is no longer slated to be built on Rock Creek Hills Park, that site is still on the table, along with the nine others proposed in April's .

In the months since the board chose Rock Creek Hills, neighbors have accused MCPS of failing to involve the community and ignoring transparency. Many opponents of the school have said the park site is too small and hilly to house an adequate school.

Since Starr announced his plan to revisit the site selection, neighbors have expressed optimism that they'll be heard this time around.