Author: Chao Wu

Chao Wu Maryland State Delegate, D9 ( Howard and Montgomery Counties)

Voice Your Concern About APFO

2 Comments

I went to an APFO seminar organized by Brent Loveless, Judy Fisher Gorge and many others at the Miller Library tonight. There are two Howard County Bills (CB 60 and CB 61) related to APFO. Considering so much anxiety created by the current HCPSS school redistricting, concerned parents should write or testify in front of the county council and county executive. I am providing a sample email you can modify accordingly.

If you don’t want your kids to be redistricted again in five years, you should ask them to tighten APFO.

If you don’t want your tax to be raised by the county government, you should ask them to tighten the APFO.

If you don’t want your service to be downgraded by the county government, you should ask them to tighten the APFO.

To: County Executive Email: akittleman@howardcountymd.gov
All County Council Email: councilmail@howardcountymd.gov

Sample Letter:

Dear County Executive and County Council:

We have concerns on the current county bills CB 60 and CB61. I would like these two bills consider the following items:

  1. Set school capacity limit at 100%.
  2. Include high schools in the school capacity limit test
  3. Mitigation effort should begin when a school reaches 95% capacity
  4. No reduction to the current wait time for housing allocations or school tests
  5. APFO needs to be reviewed frequently, maybe every five year.
  6. Count medium and low income housing units in the yearly total housing limit . Right now, yearly limit is 2000, but 15% of MLIH is not counted to that limit. That means the total number will be 2300.

The next county council meeting is on September 11. Be sure to send out your email before than or sign up to testify there. We want to have a well regulated and planned housing development in our county.

Busy Fall Agendas (The Villager 2017-09)

Busy Fall Agendas

By Dr. Chao Wu,  This article is published on The Villager of River Hill, September 2017 issue.

The fall is a busy time for everyone, including the River Hill Community Association (RHCA) and Columbia Association (CA). In September, the River Hill Board of Directors (RHBOD) will host a public forum related to school redistricting. There are two proposals in front of the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) superintendent: One is from the HCPSS 2017 Feasibility Study and the other one has been developed by the Area Attendance Committee. The proposals have different impacts on Clarksville Elementary School, Pointers Run Elementary School, Clarksville Middle School, River Hill High School and Atholton High School. The RHBOD wants to use this public forum to channel residents’ redistricting concerns. The RHBOD is holding another meeting with residents in September to explore the potential for a community playground or updated tot lots in the village. The CA Board Operations Committee has finalized agendas for meetings this fall. Here are some highlights:

September:

1. Community Stakeholders provide input for consideration for the FY 2019 and FY 2020 draft budgets.
2. Analyze Village Financials.
3. Discuss Lakefront core design guidelines.
4. Discuss FY 2018 1st quarter financial report (May, June and July 2017). This report will provide the board members with some understanding of the implementation of the new membership structure and pricing.
5. Discuss assessment share committee final report and recommendations.

October:

1. Work on major capital projects, new initiatives and community stakeholder requests, for the proposed FY 2019 and Conditional FY 2020 budgets.
2. Review CA dashboard.
3. Discuss and vote on the Paris Climate Accord, encouraging other entities and our residents to reduce carbon footprints.

November:

1. Meet with Howard County Department of Zoning to discuss New Town Zoning.
2. Overview of CA Open Space and Facilities Services Department.

Chao Wu, Ph.D.
 River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and Columbia Association Board of Directors
 Email: chaowu2016@gmail.com Website: http://www.chaowu.org
 Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.

Beijing Acrobatic Show on 2017-9-22

The Howard County Chinese School (HCCS) / Cultural Center(H4C) is hosting an exciting show by the world famous China National Acrobatic Troupe from Beijing together with some renowned DC area /Howard County artists and groups at Glenelg High School on September 22, 2017, 7: 30PM.

Online ticket sale is

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/autumn-night-exuberance-tickets-37559688038?aff=utm_source%3Deb_email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dnew_event_email&utm_term=eventname_text

Feedback from Dunloggin Community on AAC Redistricting Proposal

1 Comment

Dear Dr. Wu, “School attendance areas should promote a sense of community in both the geographic place (e.g., neighborhood) and the promotion of a student from each school level through the consideration of: b. Areas that are made up of contiguous communities or neighborhoods.” (Policy 6010 IV.B.2.b).

The proposed AAC plan dated August 15, 2017 will negatively affect the Dunloggin neighborhood by separating “islands” of students from their peers. The Dunloggin population has made a long-term commitment both socially and financially to promote a sense of family and community. The proposed plan will drive a wedge in the efforts committed to maintain the Dunloggin neighborhood by separating groups of the population with no consideration of geographic boundaries nor community definition. The “Polygons” as drawn seem to accomplish the opposite of promoting community and instead divide areas with no discernible consideration to neighborhood. This plan will quash the community we have worked to maintain by alienating neighbors and will remove any sense of school loyalty and comradery by dividing students. Our community has been given no input as to the reasons for decisions that impact decades of commitment.

In the AAC meeting, held August 15, 2017, scenario 15 was rejected but, since scenario 15 is not easily accessible, it is not clear what was rejected and why. Discussion of the survey results suggested that Dunloggin would continue to remain at Centennial and the statement of “gerrymandering” was used to describe the division of Dunloggin. Our community is in agreement, gerrymandering is evident – boundaries have been manipulated to create a jagged border with little consideration for the neighbors affected. However, our input with regard to these decisions appears to have been dismissed in the plan. 250 characters in a survey is not sufficient to represent input and the phone number provided (410.313.7184) for feedback is not accepting messages – the mailbox is full leading one to believe it is ignored. When the short surveys were compiled, the consensus was NOT to divide the community but this is not reflected in the most recent version of the polygon map. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely,

Pete Notti 410-241-3838

Dr. Michelle Carlson Notti

Redistricting is not a prerequisite for state funding for new school construction

1 Comment

From numerous previous conversations, I was told that the Maryland State will not grant funding to HCPSS for new school construction until HCPSS school redistricting is done. Today I know from two sources that this information is not correct.

So we need push both HCPSS and the county government to work together, decide a location, secure the funding, and begin to construct new schools asap. It takes several years for the whole process and we cannot wait any time longer.

Source 1: from HCPSS

From office Planning’s Renee Kamen: having open capacity in other parts of county does not preclude us from qualifying for state funding for a new high school.

Source 2: from Howard County PTAC.

State Funding and Utilization

State Funding and Utilization

The Interagency Committee on School Construction is the agency that local school systems appeal to for state funding. The IAC recommendations are then presented to the Board of Public Works for approval. I spoke with the Executive Director of the Public School Construction program, Robert Gorrell and asked whether having available capacity at other schools precludes the school system from receiving state funding (do we have to wait for redistricting before we can start the process for a new high school?). Mr Gorrell was extremely helpful. Though it is extremely important, having underutilized schools is just one of many factors taken into account; the levels at which schools are overcrowded is also considered.

The IAC Procedures Manual states that enrollment projections of the subject and adjacent schools must show that the school will be at least 50 percent occupied at the completion of the project and fully utilized within seven years of the date of project submission (Ducketts Lane was at capacity when it opened..)

The manual also states that the majority of the enrollment for a proposed new school should be in the attendance area at the time of proposal. Click on link for entire online procedure manual or see below for the relevant passages. -Vicky Cutroneo PTACHC President http://www.pscp.state.md.us/APG/FIN%20Original%20APG%20Revised%206-6-17.pdf 1.

The majority of the enrollment for a proposed new school should be in the attendance area at the time of proposal. Nearby schools of the same type or grade structure as the proposed new school (elementary, middle, high) should be projected to be fully utilized or overcrowded within seven (7) years of the September 30 prior to the date of submission of the CIP request, and the proposed facility should be projected to be at least 50% utilized at the time of opening.

EVALUATION AND APPROVAL OF PROJECT REQUESTS A. General Projects will generally be evaluated on the basis of past and projected enrollments, not only at the school in question, but at adjacent or nearby schools, and on consistency with the EFMP. Projects for additional capacity may not be recommended for planning approval or funding where adequate capacity is available at adjacent schools. See Section 102.4.B.2. and 102.4.B.4.b. In most cases, enrollment projections of the subject and adjacent schools must show that the school will be at least 50% occupied at the completion of the project and will be fully utilized within seven years of the date of project submission. School facility planners are encouraged to work with planning and zoning officials to develop and use school land banking procedures so that an inventory of future prospective school sites are maintained in each jurisdiction is areas targeted for growth. It is important that future school sites are situated within neighborhood and that the sites be educationally suitable. Emphasis should be given to acquisition of future school sites associated with major subdivision approvals and municipal annexations. Consideration should also be given to school sites in existing communities where appropriate, such as in areas targeted for redevelopment.

Some thoughts on AAC redistricting proposal

9 Comments

The AAC is still taking comments from the residents, but I am not sure how exactly certain comments are evaluated. Last night Polygon 147 (newly developed Centennial Overlook and 50 years old Woodland and Oak Hill) definitely showed up strong in the meeting room and their presence moved them back to Centennial High. Originally their neighborhood was moved to Wilde Lake High School.

I talked to several really concerned parent groups on the parking lot and here are my thoughts.

1) Walkers should stay walkers. Busing them away is wrong. We can move kids in many ways, but when HCPSS is short of funding, extra bus service will cost much more. Walkers are one of the core parts of a school district. Tearing that feelings of belongings apart is totally unnecessary and wrong.

2) Maintaining contiguous neighborhood’s stability is very important.

3) Now many over capacity schools are back to 100%. This actually creates new capacity for new housing developments there again. So those current over capacity schools will be filled up quickly again. Then what is the purpose of this redistricting?

4) Strong APFO is needed to avoid future redistricting chaos again. Show up in front of the County Council on September 11. Wear Yellow. The mess should stop now.

a) Reduce APFO capacity from 115% to 100%.

b) Remove the three year probation period. Right now if a project fails the APFO test at the first try, it will pass automatically without a second test after waiting for three years. This is the loophole.

c) Increase the developer fee.

 

I am now a 2018 Howard County Board of Education Candidate

I am now a 2018 Howard County Board of Education Candidate. I filed my candidacy form Monday afternoon. I believe with our parents and kids, school teachers and staff, and our diverse communities, we can provide one of the best education experiences for our children. I am here to listen to your voice and concern and share your joy and your kids achievement. Vote for Dr. Wu, to work for you. 🙂

ChaoWu Candidate Filing on MD Election website

22nd Annual Holland Awards Dinner for Howard County Food Bank on Oct 19 2017

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22nd Annual Holland Awards Dinner for Howard County Food Bank on Oct 19 2017

As you may know, the Howard County Food Bank opened its new location in late 2016. The new state-of-the-art facility is already serving 20% more families than it did in its previous, smaller location. With more warehouse space, the new site is currently providing much-needed groceries at a rate of 27,000 customers served annually.

This year, Community Action Council of Howard County (CAC) will honor the work of Senator Guy Guzzone and Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman at its 22nd Annual Holland Awards Dinner. Both individuals were instrumental in the opening of the new Food Bank.

This prestigious Awards Dinner brings together leaders in business, government, nonprofit and religious sectors and raises funds to allow Community Action Council to continue its mission of helping people change their lives. The dinner will be held on Thursday, October 19, 2017 at the Turf Valley Resort from 6-9 p.m. Tickets are $100 per individual or $900 for a table of 10.

More info: https://www.cac-hc.org/

Please contact me at HollandAwards@gmail.com if you would like more information about the CAC, the Howard County Food Bank or the Holland Awards Dinner.

2017 August-Sept CA Schedule

Aug 14        Ice Rink reopens

Aug 16        Volunteering Made Easy seminar         6:00 PM

Aug 21        BOC meeting                                       7:30 PM

Aug 31        Walking Tour KC (Huntington Pool)     10:00 AM

Sept 5         Swim Center reopens

Sept 9         50th Birthday Color Columbia Plein Air Paint Out 8:30 AM

Sept 13       Columbia at 50 Film; HCC  (Must register)     6:00 PM

Sept 14       CA Board Work Session            7:30 PM

Sept 14       Walking Tour Harper’s Choice (Hobbits Glen Pool) 10:00 AM

Sept 18       Audit Committee meeting           7:30 PM

Sept 23       Bike About; Lake Elkhorn            9:30 AM

Sept 28       CA Board meeting                       7:30 PM

Some River Hill Redistricting History

From David E. Thalheimer, Clarksville Happenings of Facebook. It is very informative.

Back to the Future (of Redistricting): I wanted to provide a little historical perspective on the current redistricting proposals and discuss the current proposals. The HCPSS presented a Feasibility Study and the AAC is in the process of drafting their own proposal, which will be presented to the Superintendent. The Superintendent will then have his staff prepare a final recommendation to the Board. The Board will look at this recommendation, but may decide to start all over again.

For those who remember, there was a comparable high school redistricting in 2002 that moved many students from the west to the east and was very contentious for the residents of Clarksville/River Hill and the surrounding area. Glenelg HS had water and septic issues that required a reduction in capacity, so many students were redistricted to RHHS. However, because the population of River Hill was experiencing a huge amount of growth at the same time and could not handle the influx of Glenelg students, a large portion of the neighborhood was redistricted from RHHS to Atholton and Reservoir. In 2005, the new Marriotts Ridge HS was built, which then required further redistricting. The new school drew students from RHHS, Centennial, Glenelg, and Mount Hebron.

Now, 16 years later, the pendulum has swung back due to over-capacity in the east and the need for a new high school to handle the growth.

However, until the new high school site is located and funded, we will not be able to design a solid redistricting plan that does not need to be changed within a few years. So, I think that redistricting this year may be premature as it may result in further dislocations. The Board first needs to finalize the plan for a new high school. If you are interested, please see these redistricting news articles from 2002: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2002-01-31/news/0201310073_1_river-hill-clarksville-hill-high and 2005: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-11-24/news/0411240472_1_hebron-high-mount-hebron-river-hill-high

Updated School Redistricting for River Hill Area

3 Comments

This new plan was presented by the Area Attendance Committee. I extracted the data from the map from the school website: http://www.hcpss.org/school-planning/aac-process/. The presented result is very difficult to comprehend, for example, how many kids are moved, how their metrics is changing.

All numbers below are polygon numbers.

Clarksville Elementary School:

  • Accepting: 177, 1177, 141, 141, 142, 140 from Swanfield ES

Pointers Run Elementary School:

  • Accepting: 127 from Clemens Crossing ES
  • Accepting 112,2112, 1112 from Fulton ES
  • Sending 1189, 189. 1192, 118, 2114 to Dayton Oaks ES

Clarksville Middle School:

  • Accepting: 198,1198, 2198, 1192, 1176 from Folly Quarter MS
  • Accepting : 1296, 296, 127, 126 from Lime Klin MS

River Hill High School:

  • Accepting: 179,1179,1178, 178 from Marriotts Ridge HS
  • Accepting: 2175, 1175, 175, 1177, 1141, 177, 142, 141, 1140, 1172, 172, 1174, 174, 3174, 2174,1053, 135, 2135, 53, 2134, 1134, 1135, 2053, 1066, 66 from Wilde Lake HS
  • Accepting: 190 from Atholton
  • Accepting: 118, 114, 1114, 2114 from Reservoir HS
  • Sending: 182, 1182, 3281, 2182, 2183, 1183, 183 to Glenelg High

Atholton High School:

  • Accepting: 1115, 122, 1125, 125.

Finding your polygon here: https://chaowu.org/2017/06/24/how-to-find-hcpss-school-polygon-map-number/

Columbia Development Tracker 2017-08

This is created by Columbia Association staff  and I am putting a short summary here. https://www.columbiaassociation.org/about-us/planning-development/columbia-planning-development-tracker/

Upcoming developments

  1. The Mall in Columbia is seeking facade alterations. Village: Downtown Columbia
  2. Retrofit of Mimi’s Cafe building in Gateway Overlook Shopping Center, Village: Long Reach
  3. Howard Hughes Corporation proposing a long-term temporary parking lot with 181 surface parking east of Broken Land Parkway and south of Divided Sky Lane. Village: Downtown Columbia
  4. Conditional use request for religious activities at Locust United Methodist Church located north of Martin Road and east of Freetown Road. Village: Hickory Ridge
  5. Dar Al Taqwa located north of Route 108 across from Cedar Lane Park, expanding their facility and parking area. Village: Harper’s Choice
  6. Howard Research and Development Corporation asked for one additional residential unit at the Poplar Glen apartment. Village: Hickory Ridge
  7. HRDC asked amend 19 additional residential units to the Godfather’s Garden Center site south of Route 108 and west of Phelps Luck Drive. Village: Long Reach
  8. A home located at the end of Encounter Row is seeking approval to add two new decks. Village: Oakland Mill.

There are more development beyond these. The full list is attached for your reference.

DevelopmentTrackerJuly2017Final

I do find Howard Hughes Corporation and Howard Research and Development Corporation in some developments. Interesting.

Citizen Feedback on School Redistricting

2 Comments

Please see how AAC and HCPSS is responding to your feedback if you sent them something. So this may change the original proposed plan in the feasibility study https://chaowu.org/2017/06/20/proposed-2018-hcpss-redistricting/.

The original file is http://www.hcpss.org/f/schoolplanning/aac/2017-08-01-citizen-recommendations.pdf.

Since it has 16 pages, I am not posting the result here.

Here is your polygon search link: https://schoollocator.hcpss.org/SchoolLocator/

CA School Service Care is hiring

CA School Service Care is hiring. Columbia Association offers the following Before and After School Care Programs: 1.) A.M. Program, 2.) P.M. Program and 3.) School’s Closed Programs.

  • AM Program: For elementary school students only. From 7am until the school day begins. Students attend the Before School Care program at their school.
  • PM Program: For elementary and middle school students. From after school until 6pm. Elementary school students attend the After School Care program at their school. Middle school students attend after school care programs at Lake Elkhorn, Dunloggin or Hammond. Transportation is provided from Wilde Lake Middle School, Oakland Mills Middle School, Harper’s Choice Middle School and Burleigh Manor Middle School.

There is a link here: https://www.columbiaassociation.org/services/before-after-school-care/

Please contact Michelle Miller if you are interested in the job.
Michelle Miller
Director, Community Services
6310 Hillside Court, Suite 100
Columbia, MD 21046
Phone:410-715-3170
email: michelle.miller@columbiaassociation.org
http://www.columbiaassociation.org

CA board meeting summary 2017-07-27

Resident speakout:

Allen Veinstain, Long Reach, two concerns: 1) Lakefront smoking problem, open space management does not have a law governing smoking from benches, 2) Columbia Gym renovation, concerning mold developed there. Mold can cause serve asthma.

Tim Lattimer, Long Reach, talked about Paris Agreement and urged CA to sign that too.

Pat Mercy, Oakland Mill, urged to sign the Paris Agreement with CA’s shared responsibility.

Alisha Nifeld, Oakland Mill, urged to sign the Paris Agreement. She wears a T-shirt with Indivisible HoCoMD sign.

Janet Ruth, Oakland Mill, urged to sign the Paris Agreement too.

Ginger Scott, Wilde Lake, has reservation on CA’s possible allowance to provide alcoholic beverage at Fair Hill Golf Court(2 beers is fine, 4 beers are too much), also supported to sign Paris Agreement. BTW, somebody urinated at the back of neighborhood and golf court.

Larry Leadsman, environmental attorney, urged to sign the Paris Agreement.

Michael Cornell, River Hill, former CA board member, urged to sign the Paris Agreement. Individual actions alone are not enough to combat this climate change. We need government agencies to lead this.

Joel Hurewitz,  Harper’s Choice, urged to support Paris Agreement.

Board Action:

  1. Annual charge rate is kept the same
  2. Proposed FY 2019 and Conditional FY 2020 capital budget parameters
  3. Board approved proposed charges for FY 2018 Advisory Committees

Board Discussion:

a) new town zoning. Jane Dembner of CA and Valdis Lazdins, Planning Director gave us a lot background.

b) plan for young adults. Milton created a draft plan to increase young adults’ participation in CA activities.

Board Action:

4) board approved some land easement and try to get State Highway Agency fund to help stream restoration program.