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The Gazette GAITHERSBURG | MONTGOMERY VILLAGE
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Wednesday, April 2, 2014
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Montgomery prepares second snow waiver request Parents, students unclear when summer vacation starts n
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County Public Schools on Tuesday prepared a request to waive four days of instruction lost due to wintry weather, after its five-day request was denied Monday. State Superintendent of Schools
Lillian M. Lowery denied the school system’s original request in a March 26 letter because it “does not demonstrate an effort to modify the school calendar to make up for lost instructional time.” In a Tuesday letter, Starr submitted a modified, four-day waiver request that, if accepted, would involve the school system adding one day to the school year and changing Easter Monday from a holiday to an instructional day. Starr sent another letter to Lowery
on Tuesday asking for permission to make Easter Monday an instructional day. Lowery said in her March 26 letter that she would consider a modified request from the school system. The state requires school districts to hold 180 instruction days. While the school system built four snow days into its calendar, county students have had 10 days off this school year because of snow. In its first request, the school system
had asked the state to waive five days — the maximum number of days the state allowed school districts to request. The system had planned to add one day to its calendar if the waiver was accepted. Dana Tofig, a county school system spokesman, said the school system weighs the effect of adding school days when considering a waiver request. “It is a balancing act between wanting to make up meaningful instructional time and respecting the existing
schedules that our students, staff, families and communities already have in place, including jobs, internships, camps, and more,” Tofig said in an email. As of Tuesday, Lowery had responded to waiver requests from four counties, including Montgomery, Anne Arundel, St. Mary’s and Carroll, said William Reinhard, a spokesman for the Maryland State Department of Educa-
See WAIVER, Page A-9
Massive fire destroys building n
ROCKVILLE APARTMENT COMPLEX WAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION, UNOCCUPIED
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
John Lamir of Lamir Landscaping in Darnestown takes a picture of the partial wall collapse along Quince Orchard Road in Gaithersburg. Lamir said he will use the picture as an example for clients of how not to build a retaining wall.
Retaining wall collapse forces evacuations n
No one injured in Kentlands mishap BY
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Firefighters douse flames after a fire destroyed a new unoccupied apartment building on Upper Rock Circle in Rockville on Tuesday morning. No injuries were reported.
MELISSA DE CANDIA
BY KRISTA BRICK STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
After two days of steady rain — and a little snow — residents had to evacuate two Kentlands homes after a retaining wall just steps from their properties gave way along Quince Orchard Road on Sunday. No one was injured when the retaining wall collapsed at about 4:20 p.m., but two homes were evacuated and the northbound lanes between Hillstone Road and Pawnee Drive were closed. Montgomery County police spokeswoman Cpl. Rebecca Innocenti said Monday the road could be closed for a few days. The road was still shut down as of Tuesday morning, said police spokeswoman Angela Cruz. A State Highway Administration surveyor Monday morning was assessing the damage to the wall. Gaithersburg City Manager Tony Tomasello said the wall is owned by the Kentlands Community Association and is made of hundreds of concrete blocks, each weighing 200 pounds. Two townhouses at the end of the 100 block of Ridgepoint Place in the Kentlands community have been condemned by the city, according to a notice posted on the homes. Tomasello said it’s unclear when residents will be able to move back into the homes. “It’s still early in the process,” Tomasello said Tuesday.
See COLLAPSE, Page A-9
A massive fire at an apartment complex in Rockville has all but destroyed the building that was expected to open in just three weeks. Smoke billowed and small fires continued to burn at the building called Gable Upper Rock off of Upper Rock Circle near Shady Grove Road and Choke Cherry Road Tuesday morning. No one was injured in the three-alarm blaze that
County’s goal is to distribute antibiotics to 1 million people in 24 hours n
BY
VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
The county’s public health scenario assumed a crop duster plane had flown low over Mont-
gomery County, releasing deadly white clouds of anthrax spores in a bioterrorist attack. In response, officials organized teams of people to dispense antibiotics — doxycycline and ciprofloxacin — to 1 million people within 48 hours. The exercise involving about 100 county employees and volunteers Friday at Damascus High School was to test the logistics and
SPORTS
The Montgomery Village Foundation board voted to support the plan that Monument Realty has proposed on former golf course club land.
Hearing Olney baseball player thrives at a deaf school.
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thinking they will knock the whole thing down and start again.” Water from firefighter hoses poured out of newly constructed balconies as small hot spots still smouldered. Piringer said the fire appears to have started in the roof area and investigators are expected to examine the utility area and the heating and ventilation system there. The building is deemed unsafe and fire-
See FIRE, Page A-9
In simulated anthrax attack, they know the drill
NEWS
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was reported by a security company at about 4:15 a.m. Tuesday, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services spokesman Pete Piringer. The building, called Building G, that included 150 apartment units and an underground garage, was about 90 percent completed, Piringer said. “I would imagine the whole building is a total loss,” he said adding there was about 20 feet of water in the underground garage. “It is my
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timing of dispensing life-saving antibiotics to people in cars and on foot. “The winds take it and pretty much cover the whole county in a very short time, and it can infect you very quickly, but you can survive,” said Cindy Edwards, senior nurse administrator for the county’s Department of Health and Human Services. “We were trying to get the medicine into the hands of
everybody.” The county distributed vaccine doses during the H1N1 swine flu spike in 2009 but had not simulated a drive-through situation, said Chris Voss, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. “It’s a way to test some of
See ATTACK, Page A-9
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