BOE Member Calls for Transparency
UPDATE: The BOE voted Wednesday evening to award a lease for Lincoln A Elementary School to the Boys and Girls Club of Frederick County by a vote of 6 -1. More on the vote coming up.
[CORRECTIONS BELOW]
Proposals for Lincoln A Elementary School raises red flags for Board of Education's Colleen Cusimano
Outspoken Board of Education member Colleen Cusimano is used to pushback on her comments and questions, so was unfazed when the BOE was taken to task for not making a decision on July 12 on what to do with an empty school. Her commitment, she said, is to the taxpayers, and that means ensuring that decision-making is transparent to the public.
And, to Cusimano, who said she will not be seeking another term in 2018, the process to choose a new tenant for Lincoln A Elementary School has been anything but open.
“I do have some suspicions and want to get them out there,” Cusimano, pictured above, said in an interview.
The Boys and Girls Club and the Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School made presentations to the BOE in their quest to become new tenants for the school on July 12. The school, a 20,000-square-foot building on Madison Street, was replaced by the renovated Lincoln “B” Elementary School in 2012, and most recently housed YMCA’s Headstart, and FCPS offices.
FCPS cannot afford to do necessary renovations on the school and sought a partner to subsidize the cost. The estimate for the upgrade is $444,342. MVMPCS plans include a two-story addition and other upgrades to accommodate 350 students. The renovation is estimated at $1.8 million, and MVMPCS has a 20-year financing commitment to pay for the construction.
The Boys and Girls Club proposes a two-phased renovation. The first phase, estimated at $607,500 focuses on interior renovations and upgrades as outlined by FCPS, with FCPS paying $352,350, or 58 percent of the cost, and the Boys and Girls Club paying the remaining $255,150. The second phase includes adding a gymnasium, landscaping and an exterior facelift at a cost of $4.1 million. The club anticipates raising $3.5 million through a capital campaign.
Frederick County Public Schools’ superintendent and administrators steered the BOE to the Boys and Girls Club proposal, and FCPS administrators worked with the nonprofit to incorporate FCPS programs, SUCCESS and Child Find, into its plan. Child Find identifies, evaluates and provides services to children from birth to age 21 who are suspected of having a disability. Child Find, a state-mandated program, is currently housed at FCPS’ Hayward Road location. SUCCESS helps disabled students ages 18 to 21 meet their individual and vocational goals, and is currently located in Walkersville. FCPS also operates an employee training program in the same building.
The vote on July 12, however, was split. After nearly four hours, including and a kick in the pants by a Boys and Girls board member, terse exchanges between some BOE members and Superintendent Terry Alban, Ph.D, and each other, the vote was tied. The BOE will revisit the proposals at its meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 9.
Just prior to the vote, Dean Rose, a member of the board of directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Frederick County, was clearly frustrated with the BOE after nearly four hours of testimony and discussion that raised more questions than it answered. “If your goal was to wear both parties down by a war of attrition, congrats,” he told BOE members. Rose pushed members to make a decision, scolding them to make a decision sooner rather than later.
BOE Vice President Elizabeth Barrett, who took FCPS staff to task for letting the Boys and Girls Club speak for them, said she supports SUCCESS moving to Lincoln from its current location in Walkersville, but expected to hear more about the benefits of relocation. “I appreciate the comments from you, sir. We’ve been sitting here for 3 1/2 hours talking about something worth more than our stipend for three hours in order to make thoughtful decisions,” she said.
Barrett said in an interview that if SUCCESS staff had given a presentation with the Boys and Girls Club as partner, the vote may have had a different outcome. “The Boys and Girls Club talk about how they can work with SUCCESS, but it has to be the other way around for me. There’s a process, a proprietary thing. I really want FCPS to be the owner of the space and have a partner. That is how I need it framed. It has to do with understanding how this fits with the goals of our special education programs,” she said.
Following the July 12 meeting, Barrett sent a lengthy, detailed list of questions to FCPS administrators, primarily asking how the relocation of the SUCCESS program will benefit its 43 students. FCPS provided an 82-page response, consisting primarily of previously published materials, including FCPS’ strategic plans for SUCCESS.
One of Barrett’s questions was how the move to Lincoln A would improve achievement and outcomes for SUCCESS students. In response, FCPS highlighted access to public transportation and proximity to the community. The response from FCPS also references information presented at the Feb. 8 BOE meeting where FCPS staff outlined a proposal for the programs.
Cusimano’s major concern about relocating SUCCESS and Child Find is that the financial investment by FCPS may not be sufficient to relocate services. Although the Boys and Girls Club is growing, she doesn’t believe they are growing at a pace to allow them to make the multi-million dollar investment. The charter school, however, has a lending opportunity, Cusimano said, “that is a reality and not an idea.”
“They [the Boys and Girls Club] expect us to invest $400,000 and they pay no rent, and major improvements would not be made until they do their capital campaign,” she said. Young countered that the Boys and Girls Club would pay rent and that the charter school would not. Both proposals include rent for the space.
The choice between the nonprofit and the public charter school was already made by some BOE members and FCPS Superintendent Terry Alban, Ph.D months before proposals were presented, Cusimano alleged. She believes the impetus for the choice to relocate SUCCESS is simply to give FCPS more room at the Walkersville facility for employee training.
BOE President Brad Young, Cusimano said, called each BOE member prior to the July 12 meeting to encourage votes for the Boys and Girls Club. Young, according to Cusimano, said that donors were waiting in the wings to support the Boys and Girls Club’s proposal, and their support could be lost if the BOE delayed the vote.
Young agreed that Superintendent Alban wants the Walkersville location to be dedicated to staff training, but denied that he was rallying votes for the Boys and Girls Club. He was simply trying to get an idea if there was a consensus before the meeting, he said. “If there’s no consensus, I hate spending eight hours wasting everyone’s time,” he said.
If FCPS had no use for the school, the charter school would be first in line to get the building, Young said. “If we give it up, we may not have the opportunity again,” he said. He added that FCPS would work hard to find the charter school another suitable location.
Cusimano also takes issue with the idea that moving SUCCESS and Child Find would not result in additional costs for the programs, as reported by FCPS staff. In 2012 when SUCCESS considered moving into the building, staff reported that the move would cost $250,000 in additional staffing, she said. “Now, there’s no written plan at all for either of the relocations,” she said.
The staff support is not necessary, according to Young. If there is a need for janitorial staff, he said, “it wouldn’t be that much.”
But Cusimano isn’t comfortable not knowing the details of the relocation in advance, and echoes Barrett’s concern that there’s not enough specificity about the relocation plans to make such a weighty decision. FCPS Deputy Superintendent Dave Markoe, she said, referred to ‘the plan that was on his desk in a folder.’ Are we supposed to just take his word for it that it is an awesome plan?”
Another point of contention for Cusimano is that the Boys and Girls Club said it couldn’t partner with the charter school because it needed 17,000 square feet of the 20,000 square-foot building. Young said the club doesn’t require that much space, and that ideally all the programs could find a new home in the vacant school. A local architect told him recently, Young said, that the building could be renovated to accommodate everyone. Young said the idea was worth exploring.
The BOE meets tonight at 6 p.m. at the FCPS Central Office Building at 191 S. East St.
Disclosure: Katherine Heerbrandt served on the MVMCPS governance board from 2014 – 2015, but was not part of any relocation discussions during that time.
CORRECTION: BOE Members Ken Kerr and Mike Bunitsky were not among the BOE members President Young called prior to the July 12 meeting.
