HE’S A MAGIC MAN
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Illusionist returns to BlackRock with entertaining bag of tricks. B-5
The Gazette DAMASCUS | CLARKSBURG
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
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Boundary fix looms for new elementary
Despite rainout, the show goes on
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Starr: Second school necessary to keep pace with growth
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VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
County schools Superintendent Joshua Starr recommended elementary school boundary changes for a new school in Clarksburg on Tuesday that differ from the preferred option of
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Damascus High School freshmen pose Sunday on the float that they made for the school’s homecoming parade, which was canceled due to rain.
KIRSTY GROFF
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Students, others stay home for Muslim festivities
“It would have been nice to see it and have everyone oohing and ahhing at everything we had done.”
STAFF WRITER
While the rain Friday couldn’t dampen the spirits of the thousands of teenagers taking part in Damascus High School’s homecoming festivities, it did extinguish the possibility of holding this year’s parade through the community. A long-standing community tradition, the DHS Homecoming Parade would wind through the streets of Damascus, ending at the school’s stadium just in time to prepare for the football game. This year, however, the rains expected through the weekend pushed the football game to after school Monday, which left no guaranteed time for the parade
Allie Cruz, Damascus High School freshman class president within the homecoming celebration. The parade was initially scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 11; heavy rains during the day prompted a decision by the class officers and administrators to cancel the parade, even though the weather cleared later in the evening. Moving the parade before the rescheduled football game, which began at
3:30 p.m., would have meant a start time interfering with classes. “We’re really upset about it, but we looked at all the options,” said SGA advisor and science teacher Lisa Voketitis. “I spoke to all the officers and was emailing class sponsors nonstop all day asking what they thought. This is their parade, I wanted to leave it up to
BY
the kids.” For this year’s “games” homecoming theme, each class created a float based on their given category; the freshman had carnival games, sophomores had arcade games, juniors had board games and the seniors had video games. While parents are expected to not help with the construction, they are allowed to provide a place to store the float as it is built and improved upon. Instead of being judged during the parade, float builders took pictures of their creations which were then used by judges to award each team points. The seniors’ float placed first, followed by the freshmen in second, juniors in third and
See ELEMENTARY, Page A-13
With celebration comes a campaign n
Judges choose homecoming floats by photo
an advisory group that issued a report in June. Starr’s report takes into account unexpected enrollment increased at Cedar Grove Elementary and changes some assignments based how major roads bisect neighborhoods. The Board of Education will review Starr’s report and hold a public hearing in November before voting on final boundary changes Nov. 18.
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
Around the same time they might have headed home after a day at school, some kids talked and played in a large Damascus basement amid a happy confusion of pizza, music and party dresses.
Hebatallah Elradi, 15, a Clarksburg High School student, was among the younger participants at the home celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid alAdha. “It’s just a good atmosphere,” Hebatallah said amid the buzz of the revelry. “I look forward to these holidays a lot.” Tuesday marked one of two holidays at the center of the
See CELEBRATION, Page A-13 Faryaal Sultan (left), a student at Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville, and Heba Elradi, a Clarksburg High student, eat traditional food at an Eid al-Adha celebration Tuesday. TOM FEDOR/ THE GAZETTE
See FLOATS, Page A-13
Defying shutdown, county vows to reopen Glen Echo Park Leggett says county will operate facility if there’s no deal with Park Service
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BY RYAN MARSHALL AND JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITERS
Montgomery County will reopen Glen Echo Park itself on Friday if the county can’t reach a deal with the National Park Service to operate the facility that is currently closed because of the federal government shutdown.
The county may perpetrate an “act of civil disobedience” and begin operating the park on Friday if an agreement can’t be reached with the park service by Thursday night, County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) told The Gazette on Tuesday. Although it sits on National Park Service land, Glen Echo is run by the county and the nonprofit Glen Echo Partnership for Arts and Culture. “They operate it,” Leggett said. “The park service does not operate this.” On Monday, Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Gaithersburg sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Sally
Jewell asking that the park be reopened. “A shutdown at the federal level should not result in the shutdown of a community asset that, in fact, receives no federal funding,” Berliner wrote. The Park Service picks up trash at the facility and provides some security in the park’s parking lots, Leggett said. The county would assume those responsibilities until the shutdown is over. The county has tried to resolve the issue with the Department of the Interior, which oversees the Park Service, but hasn’t been able to get their attention, Leggett said.
NEWS
SPORTS
Starr addresses holidays, schedules at public schools forum.
Bullis running back has the right moves on the field, but not so much on the dance floor.
PARENTS GET THEIR SAY
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ALL RUN, NO DANCE
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The press office for the Department of the Interior is closed because of the shutdown, and an email to an address set up to deal with inquiries during the shutdown was not returned Tuesday. The park’s closure has left businesses at the site unable to get into their offices or even to check their mail, Leggett said. The arts partnership fully supports the move to open the park, which never should have been closed because of the shutdown to begin with, executive director Katey Boerner said. “I’m not looking for confrontation, but we need to be open,” she said.
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RECYCLE
In his letter to Jewell, Berliner said park officials estimated they lost $67,000 in one weekend of being closed. The park’s theater and puppetry facilities normally draw large groups of schoolchildren and others, and the Friday night dance usually brings in about 300 people, Boerner said. The park also offers pottery, photography, glassblowing and other classes that can’t be held while it’s closed. “We can’t survive another weekend of being closed,” Boerner said.
See PARK, Page A-13
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