&
SPOOKYBUSINESS
The Gazette Reluctant horror film host to haunt AFI Silver festival. B-7
BETHESDA | CHEVY CHASE | KENSINGTON
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
25 cents
Students dropped off at wrong bus stops in mix-ups State, some parents want assigned buses, but school district against idea n
BY AGNES BLUM STAFF WRITER
By 4:15 p.m. Sept. 20 Lauren Itzkowitz had begun to worry that her daughter’s school bus, which was carrying students from North Chevy Chase and Rosemary Hills elementary schools, had not yet arrived. Waiting at a bus stop in Kensington with two grandmothers, Itzkowitz knew the bus might be a bit late because it was being driven by a substitute driver, but by 4:20 she had become concerned. That’s when she looked up Saul Road to see a group of about 20 children crossing the road.
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Mark Gabriele and his wife, Beth Edgerton, both furloughed federal workers from Bethesda, enjoy lunch together Tuesday at Jaleo in Bethesda. “Last week felt bizarre, and this week you feel guillty,” Edgerton said. She noted that the “work doesn’t go away” and that they will have to catch up after the furloughs end.
BY
Walter Reed employees return to work; Navy scrubs birthday concert
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
Employees at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda went back to work Monday, despite the lingering federal government shutdown. The Department of Defense, under the direction of Secretary Chuck Hagel, eliminated furloughs for employees whose responsibilities contribute to the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members, based on a legal interpretation of the Pay Our Military Act, Hagel said in a statement Saturday. However, the law does not allow for a blanket recall of all Defense Department employees, Hagel said in the statement. Walter Reed ordered all general
Exemptions sought so they can pursue higher-level studies
n
Bethesda navigates the shutdown
schedule employees back to work Monday at their regularly scheduled times, according to the hospital. Still, thousands of federal workers remain out of work, as do federal contractors. Bethesda defense giant Lockheed Martin, one of Montgomery County’s largest employers, started furloughing about 2,400 employees companywide on Monday because of the political standoff. The number of sidelined employees was 600 fewer than what Lockheed officials announced Friday. After Hagel said Saturday that most of the roughly 400,000 civilian employees in that department had been deemed essential for national security, Lockheed officials decided
The Irish tin whistlers are on the move, the international waltzers have found a new home and the plein-air watercolorists are searching the landscape for a new location. In fact, all of the folks enrolled in Glen Echo Park’s many art, music and dance classes have scrambled to find new places in the area to meet
See IDLED, Page A-14
See SHUTDOWN, Page A-14
n
BY
See MIX-UP, Page A-13
Transfer policy hurts students, parents say
Thousands remain idled n
It turned out that the bus driver had dropped the children off at the wrong stop, which was about a half mile away. It fell to Itzkowitz and the two grandmothers to shepherd the children home. Mix-ups like these are all too likely, say some parents of Montgomery County Public School students, when buses are driven by substitutes who do not know the routes, the children or where the stops are. Parents want to see some sort of a system in place — such as assigned buses or adult bus monitors — that would minimize these incidents. They also want a way to communicate with the school system when these problems arise. In 2009, Maryland’s Office of
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
What’s a furloughed fed to do? Volunteer
Parents of language-immersion students say they deserve an exemption from proposed changes to the Montgomery County Public Schools’ transfer policy. The changes, meant to prevent overcrowding at some high schools, would hinder their children’s ability to continue upper-level language studies from elementary and middle schoollevel immersion programs, the parents say. The school board’s policy
AGNES BLUM AND KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITERS
committee is set to next discuss comments submitted regarding the changes at its Tuesday meeting. One proposed change to the transfer policy would require a student who attended a middle school that is not their neighborhood school to reapply to continue on to a high school in the same cluster. A family who wants to transfer their child to another school must prove a significant hardship to be granted a Change of School Assignment. Parents said at the Sept. 23 school board meeting and in interviews that immersion students represent a small percentage of the total number of students who attend a school
See POLICY, Page A-13
Cities, towns upgrade sites to provide more services Governments take different Digital approaches to using the Web overnment n
Part two in a two-part series
ONLINE EXTRAS n Data mining has both positive and negative sides. n Trends and statistics for municipal governments’ and county entities’ websites. www.gazette.net
BY SYLVIA CARIGNAN AND ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITERS
Early next year, the city of Gaithersburg plans to roll out a new website with better search capabilities and a more user-friendly design. “We’re switching over to a services-based model,” said Andrew
Barnes, a programmer for Gaithersburg’s website, which currently presents information sorted by departments. The “modern-day look and feel” of the new site will make it easier for residents and business owners to access basic information and services, such as finding out how to apply for a permit or get a recycling bin. With the contractor’s redesign, Gaithersburg joins local governments nationwide trying to meet the demand of higher Web use
NEWS
SPORTS
Great weather, great food combine for a great afternoon.
Paint Branch has a new stadium, weight room, one of the county’s top offenses and an undefeated record.
‘TASTE’ REFLECTS DIVERSITY A-4
NEW LOOKS GOOD B-1
while dealing with dwindling resources. “Some see technology as a way to extend services at a lower cost through their websites, while others view it as a cost center that could be cut,” said Todd Sander, executive director for the California-based Center for Digital Government. Gaithersburg, Rockville and Takoma Park are among the Montgomery municipalities trying to provide
See SERVICES, Page A-19
Automotive Calendar Celebrations Classified Community News Entertainment Opinion School News Sports Please
RECYCLE
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Kyung Lee is Web content manager for Montgomery County’s Office of Public Information.
B-17 A-2 A17 B-13 A-4 B-7 A-18 A-16 B-1
Check out our Services Directory ADVERTISING INSIDE B SECTION
1906633