MCPS Unveils Possible Layouts for New Middle School in Kensington

Montgomery County Public Schools released three possible designs for the planned middle school in Kensington at a meeting Wednesday, and residents continued to question the efficacy of the plan and the openness of the project.

About 30 people turned up at to hear from MCPS representatives and Samaha Associates, the firm conducting a feasibility study for the school. The school is slated to be built on what is now .

In the first proposed design, the school features a three-story main building with drop-off lanes off Saul Road and bus access from Haverhill Drive.

In option two, the main building is segmented into one-, two- and three-story wings, with buses coming in on Saul and parents and staff entering through Haverhill.

Option three, the least popular among neighbors at the meeting, puts the bus and car entrances next to one another off of Haverhill. This design would eliminate on-street parking on residential Haverhill, said Paul Falkenbury, who represented Samaha Associates at the meeting.

All of the designs feature classroom space for about 1,000 students, combination soccer-baseball fields and 110 parking spaces.  

The designs are hardly set in stone, said Dennis Cross, project manager with MCPS. Each option is intended to spur discussion and get feedback from residents, he said.

Residents in the Rock Creek Hills area continue to voice their opposition to the plan, and many at Wednesday's meeting questioned MCPS's handling of the project.

"This is a disaster waiting to happen," said Cathy Fink, of the Rock Creek Hills Citizens' Association. Her organization to halt the feasibility study process and will press on with its efforts to stop the construction of the school, she said.

"There's no question we're going to continue to fight this," Fink said. "We're not willing to call it a done deal until it's a done deal."

Jim Pekar, who posts on SaveRockCreekHillsPark.org, said Samaha Associates' handling of in Potomac does not bode well for the Kensington middle school. A street-facing retaining wall at that school has upset some neighbors, including members of the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County.

Pekar also requested the roster and minutes of the MCPS committee that chose Samaha for the project, and Cross said he would provide those at the next meeting, along with a written statement detailing how Samaha has no conflicts of interest in the project.

The is scheduled for July 13 at 7 p.m. in the choral room of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.