SNOW DAYS School system requests waiver. A-6
SPORTS: Montgomery College coming off a strong showing at nationals. B-1
The Gazette GAITHERSBURG | MONTGOMERY VILLAGE
A&E: Highwood thespians join college peers to raise mental health awareness. B-5
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
25 cents
Minority students want change under next superintendent n
Forum expresses need for different attitude, more staff support
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Alice Forcier, program director at Seneca Heights Apartments in Gaithersburg, describes the changes that will be made to kitchens in 17 of the apartments to make the space more efficient for families.
County, city help fund housing renovations Kitchens in apartments for the formerly homeless to be updated n
BY
SAMANTHA SCHMIEDER STAFF WRITER
With help from Montgomery County and the city of Gaithersburg, 17 units in Seneca Heights Apartments, which provides permanent housing for the formerly homeless, are getting a kitchen makeover. The Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, located in Rockville, owns and
operates the program at Seneca Heights in Gaithersburg, which not only provides housing, but also offers counseling and other necessary services for residents on site. The county owns the building and property and the City of Gaithersburg has jurisdiction over the site. The coalition worked with Gaithersburg and the county’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs to secure funding for the project. Through the Community Development Block Grant funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the coalition was able to secure from the
city and county $186,000 for the project. “The county stepped up and agreed to support the project the same amount as the city,” said the city’s director of Housing and Community Development, Louise Kauffmann. She explained that because the city was unable to fund the project alone, the county’s help was much needed and appreciated. Susie Sinclair-Smith, executive director for the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, explained that the apartments at Seneca Heights were originally supposed to be transitional units, but she and
her colleagues soon realized that transitional homes were not an effective model. Their clients were in need of permanent housing. “Permanent housing first, then connect them to the services that they need to become stable and be able to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty for their kids,” SinclairSmith said. There are 40 single adult apartments and 17 family units at Seneca Heights. Family units range from single parents with one, two or three children to the
See RENOVATIONS, Page A-11
How Pepco decides to trim or remove trees
State rules govern tree cutting
New state regulations require more aggressive management
n
BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
n
On a cold, clear February morning, arborist Emily Fricke wore a hard hat and walked down Charles Road in Silver Spring, looking up at the trees. A geographic information system-enabled tablet was strapped to her hand. On her back was a pack with utility handouts, a can of blue spray paint for marking trees for removal and a GPS antenna. At each tree, Fricke stopped, put a marker on her tablet and considered the tree’s age, species, condition and how close its branches are to Pepco’s power lines. Fricke is one of 17 utility arborists paid to walk Pepco’s lines, plotting the location of trees and determining which should be trimmed, removed or left alone. Maryland cracked down on electric
See PEPCO, Page A-12
INDEX Automotive Business Calendar Classified A&E Obituaries Opinion Sports
1930708
B-13 A-13 A-2 B-9 B-5 A-12 A-14 B-1
Pepco required to follow trim cycle, notification standards BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Pepco contractors from Asplundh trim and remove trees along Musrove Road in Silver Spring in February.
Volume 28, No. 12 Two sections, 32 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette
Please
RECYCLE
When Pepco wants to cut down a tree, it looks to detailed requirements mandated by state law. In 2011, Maryland passed the Electricity Service Quality and Reliability Act, which required state regulators to impose stricter standards for reliability and enforce new mandates on utilities. Those regulations went into place in 2012. The new regulations set standards for everything from the frequency and duration of outages and customer communication to downed wires and vegetation management
See RULES, Page A-12
SPECIAL SECTION
SUMMER CAMPS GUIDE II 2015 Find the right camp for your child. ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT INSIDE SELECT EDITIONS
For some minority students, Montgomery County Public Schools’ next superintendent faces a long list of ways the district can better serve blacks and Latinos. The seven students spoke at a community forum Thursday in Silver Spring that focused on what the district’s next leader needs to accomplish, particularly for supporting black and Latino students. The forum also included the voices of parent, school and organization leaders. The Montgomery County Education Forum sponsored the event. A variety of community groups were co-sponsors. Rhasaan Bovell, a senior at Northwood High School in Silver Spring, said minority students are sometimes perceived as “academically inferior,” an attitude he experienced when he was accepted into Princeton University. “Within not even 24 hours after I got my acceptance, I was told by students, and even some staff members, ‘You got in because you’re black,’” he said. He said he has seen school staff encourage black and Latino
students to go to two-year colleges and the workforce. They are not as “heavily” encouraged to pursue four-year colleges as non-minority students are, he said. At Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, senior Aidan Keys said, it’s been “really fulfilling” to be in an English class with students of different races and cultural backgrounds — a stark contrast to her experience in one of Blair’s magnet programs. She would like to see more black students in her magnet program. “If we’re going to have all these kids at Blair who are so diverse and have so many different experiences, what good is [the magnet program] making the school better if we don’t have those kids’ voices in our classrooms?” she said. Jason Salgero said he is working toward his GED after dropping out of the school system in his junior year. He said his time in the district was marked by truancy and a fluctuating GPA as he dealt with a difficult home life, but teachers and other staff didn’t talk to him about the issues. “Teachers should not brush it off when students have bad grades,” he said. “It would make a very big difference if they tried to figure out why their students were failing and what was going
See SUPERINTENDENT, Page A-11
Free tax help offered in Gaithersburg Saturday n
BY
Super VITA Tax Day is available to qualified taxpayers
SAMANTHA SCHMIEDER STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County and Gaithersburg residents earning less than $53,000 a year who need help filing their taxes can attend the Super VITA Tax Day in Gaithersburg on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Activity Center at Bohrer Park. VITA, or Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, is an Internal Revenue Service program for lower income individuals, the elderly, persons with disabilities and those who don’t speak English. VITA is offered throughout the country and in various locations within the county by appointment. Saturday’s event is accepting walk-ins only and no appointments are necessary. “Many places with appointments are pretty full. There’s
more demand than we have capacity for the services,” said Sharon Strauss, the executive director of the Community Action Agency within the county’s Department of Health and Human Services. Various locations throughout the county have been offering free tax preparation since as early as January, but appointments are unavailable and taxes are due in less than a month. Super VITA Tax Day helps provide one last chance for those in the area looking for guidance. “The program particularly tries to serve residents who are low income and who are eligible for a variety of tax credits, especially the earned income tax credit,” Strauss said. “Residents who are eligible for the earned income tax credit are eligible as well for the Maryland earned income tax credit and the local earned income tax credit to help them meet their most basic needs.”
See TAX, Page A-11