PEPCO DEAL Counties, utility agree on some sale conditions. A-8
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NEWS: North Bethesda physics whiz wins $150,000 in Intel Science Talent Search. A-3
BETHESDA | CHEVY CHASE | KENSINGTON DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Players’ shirts spur uniform guidelines
Fiscal ’16 plan meets school fund requirements n
LINDSAY A. POWERS
BY
STAFF WRITER
See SHIRTS, Page A-10
INDEX B-11 A-11 A-2 B-8 B-4 A-12 B-1
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Michael Young (left) and Ivan Torres of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School console each other as Meade defeated the Barons 80-45 to win the class 4A boys state championship Saturday at the University of Maryland, College Park. See story, Page B-1.
Montgomery County’s property tax rate could drop in the coming fiscal year, but assessed values could mean some homeowners pay a little more, according to County Executive Isiah Leggett’s proposed budget. Leggett (D) introduced his proposed $5.1 billion budget Monday, up 1.4 percent from the current year. The tax rate would drop about 1 cent for every $100 of assessed home value. “Although the gap was smaller than some challenges we’ve had in the past, this was a very challenging budget to put together,” he said. The county faced a $238 million budget shortfall for fiscal 2016, which starts July 1. The shortfall — due to lowerthan-expected income-tax revenues and property sales — led to a midyear hiring freeze and forced a spending reduction in the current fiscal year of 3 percent for every county department. Despite the shortfall, Leggett’s proposed budget used savings, spending reductions and set-asides to meet state require-
ments for education funding and to give all county employees a 2 percent raise. It also keeps taxes at the charter limit of inflation and increases funding for priorities such as libraries. Leggett said not everyone will be pleased with his plan. As proposed, the spending plan provides 97.6 percent of the money the Montgomery County Board of Education requested. It provides an increase of $3 million from the county for Montgomery College and recommends that the college increase tuition. It also falls short of Leggett’s campaign promise to use 2.5 percent of total property tax revenue on building new affordable housing. The school board asked for $2.39 billion, or $116 million more than the current year. Leggett has proposed $2.31 billion for the school system, an increase of $32 million from the current year. Leggett said his budget meets the state requirement for funding education. State law requires the county to provide schools at least the same funding, per student, as the year before. Enrollment is expected to grow to 156,654 students for school year 2015-16. As
See BUDGET, Page A-10
Chevy Chase, Taiwanese students share eco-friendly ideas Eco-campus program encourages knowledge exchange n
BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
Some Chevy Chase students are now going to school at an “eco-campus” as part of an Earth-friendly international partnership program.
On Friday, North Chevy Chase Elementary School kicked off a new partnership with Nanhua Elementary in Tainan City, Taiwan, that will allow students to exchange ideas for making their schools more eco-friendly. Lyushun Shen, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S., spoke to the students and pointed out that many of them probably had clothes or electronics
made in Taiwan or by Taiwanese companies. “We are about 12,000 miles apart, but in a way, we are very close together,” Shen said. He also taught the students how to write a few numbers and the words for tree, forest and jungle in Chinese. The students shared projects they are already doing to make the school more Earth-friendly — activities such
as switching to recyclable lunch trays, tending gardens and appointing “power rangers” to make sure lights and computer monitors are turned off at the end of class. The school already has a student Green Team that leads eco-friendly projects. Through the Eco-Campus Partnership Program, students at North Chevy
See IDEAS, Page A-10
Bethesda Film Fest highlights local documentarians Screenings scheduled for Friday and Saturday
n
BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY EMILY WATHEN
“Towpath Joe” is one of five short documentary films screening at the Bethesda Film Fest on Friday and Saturday.
What do a playwright, a small business, a marching band, a runner and a river advocate have in common? Each is the subject of one of the short documentaries scheduled to be shown at the Bethesda Film Fest on Friday and Saturday. The five documentary films
A&E
STILL AS SWEET Homegrown star Maggie Rose takes to the stage at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Club.
B-4
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KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
The Blake High School boys varsity basketball team agreed in February to shake up their warmup routine, wearing a now-iconic phrase on their shirts — “I Can’t Breathe.” As they prepared for a home game against Paint Branch High School, players from the Silver Spring school wore shirts with the words of Eric Garner, a black man who died after being put in a chokehold by police in New York City. The players’ decision, and reactions it elicited, helped spur Montgomery County Public Schools to develop uniform guidelines. Emerson Sirk, an 18-yearold senior at Blake and a forward on the basketball team, said players decided to wear “I Can’t Breathe” shirts after a proposal from the team’s manager, who had a connection to a business that sells the shirts. The social stance behind the shirts, he said, was “something we all felt pretty strongly about.” Each player had a personal take on the message, he said, “but we were all united with the idea of equality and antidiscrimination.” There wasn’t a formal team discussion about the shirt’s meaning before the February game, he said, but players talked about it informally among themselves. The players, some of whom are black, collectively decided to wear the shirts. For Sirk, who said he is Jewish and part American Indian, Garner was treated differently “for a wrongful reason.” He could relate to the idea of facing discrimination and differential treatment, he said. The “I Can’t Breathe” statement has been used around the country as part of a social movement challenging multiple deaths of black men, particularly during encounters with police. Marcus Wiggins, Blake’s boys varsity basketball coach, said players asked for permission to wear the shirts before the February game and he told the school’s administration. He supported the players, he said, but the decision was theirs. As a coach, he said, he has no political agenda. “I kind of told [the players] that, you know, if you’re going to wear that, I need to know you
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25 cents
Leggett’s $5.1B budget cuts tax rate, raises pay
Great season, tough loss
n Some criticized Blake High basketball team’s social stance BY
SPORTS: Gazette previews high school baseball, softball, track and boys lacrosse seasons. B-1
range in approximate length from five to 27 minutes. The film festival has four opportunities to view all the films, followed by discussions with the filmmakers. This is the festival’s third year. All of the filmmakers are from Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C., and the documentaries deal with regional people and topics, too. “Towpath Joe” is about Joe Hage, who lives on an island adjacent to the C&O Canal and is an advocate for the Potomac
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River. “My Pit’s the Pit” is about McLean (Va.) High School’s marching band, and “Fate of a Salesman” is about the closure of Men’s Fashion Center in Washington. “Cal, the Writer” is about a Kennedy Center award-winning playwright, and “The Stillbrave 100” follows a man on a 100mile off-road trail race dedicated to 100 children fighting cancer. More information about all five documentaries is at bethesda.org. ewaibel@gazette.net
IF YOU GO n What: Bethesda Film Fest n When: 7 or 9 p.m. Friday or Saturday n Where: Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda n Cost: $10; reservations recommended at bethesda. org, but remaining tickets will be sold at the door n Information: bethesda.org/ bethesda/bethesda-film-fest or 301-215-6660