DOWNTOWN PARKS: PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? County survey seeks residents’ sentiments. A-3
NEWS: Grinch didn’t spoil Brookeville woman’s Christmas home display. A-3
The Gazette SOUTHERN MONTGOMERY COUNT Y
SPORTS: Former Paint Branch player returns as a member of Springbrook’s team. B-1
DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
25 cents
Starr pitches new options to change school bell times Board should consider only ‘no-cost’ plans, he says n
LINDSAY A. POWERS
BY
STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Striking workers stand at the entrance of Unity Disposal in Laurel early Tuesday morning as trucks driven by replacement workers leave the facility.
Trash haulers continue strike Union says temporary workers not safely doing job, wants company fined n
BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
Workers with Unity Disposal, one of Montgomery County’s contracted trash haulers, have been on strike since Dec. 26 and their union
says temporary workers are not safely filling in. About 65 workers with Unity Disposal went on strike after they felt negotiations for their first collective bargaining agreement stalled between Unity Disposal and the Laborers’ International Union of North America, Mid-Atlantic Region. Wednesday will be the 13th day the workers have been on strike and picketing outside
30 ‘lead teachers’ gain initial OK
Unity Disposal’s yard in Laurel. Despite the strike, Unity Disposal has continued to pick up trash and recycling along its four routes in Montgomery County by hiring temporary workers to do the job. The union, known as LiUNA, says it has documented safety violations by the temps — offenses that, under the company’s contract with the county, can trigger a fine of up to $100 per violation per day.
The strike stems from contract negotiations between LiUNA and Unity Disposal. Unity Disposal has not been negotiating a “fair” first contract with workers, said Michael Blain, communications director for LiUNA, Mid-Atlantic Region. Recent proposals have included pay cuts for some workers, he said.
See STRIKE, Page A-10
Having a blast
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
About 30 Montgomery County teachers have earned a new status that could help propel them to leadership roles in schools and projects. The educators were named “lead teachers” as part of a county education Career Lattice program, which is focusing on 58 high-need schools this academic year. The teachers, who applied for the status, are considered “master teachers” and demonstrated leadership “and the potential for more leadership” in their work with students, other staff, parents and community members, said Doug Prouty, president of the Montgomery County Education Association. “As time goes on, our hope is that the numbers will start building,” Prouty said. The application process is ongoing and teachers can continue to seek the status, he said. The new lead teachers hail from 20 elementary, middle and high schools, 15 of which are in the Silver Spring area. Other represented areas include Gaithersburg, Rockville and Bethesda. New lead teacher Daryl Alston is heading a project at Northwood High School in Silver Spring. He
See TEACHERS, Page A-10
INDEX Automotive Calendar Classified Entertainment Obituaries Opinion Sports
Dozens testify for and against change in Rockville’s standards n
BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
(From left) Lukas Schlotterer, Madeline Nannis and staff member Krystle Seit create a tableau from the book “Frog and Toad” by Arnold Loebel in the Winter Break Arts Blast camp Friday at Imagination Stage in Bethesda.
A&E B-11 A-2 B-8 B-4 A-12 A-13 B-1
See TIMES, Page A-10
City grappling with development, schools
Educators earn new status, potential for leadership roles
n
BY
Superintendent Joshua P. Starr on Tuesday released several possible ways to change bell times to help Montgomery County high school students get more sleep. Four main options that Starr proposed involve different strategies for shifting bell times; a fifth option calls for no changes. Instead, the district would study other potential changes that could mean more shut-eye for high school students. The school board’s next meeting Tuesday will include a presentation on the proposals. The latest bell times options stem from the school board’s request that Starr come up with ideas that cost less than a recommendation Starr made in October 2013. Starr’s original plan would have started high schools 50 minutes later and middle schools 10 minutes earlier. The elementary school day would have been 30 minutes longer. Starr stepped back from his original recommendation in June, saying it would cost too much, about $21 million per year. He also said community feedback on the plan was inconclusive. The board said any new options should cost $10 million or less. All four of Starr’s new ideas for change came in well below
that figure. Most of the annual costs are related to transportation, according to the district. High schools currently start at 7:25 a.m., a time that some say does not allow students to get enough sleep. Middle schools start at 7:55 a.m. and elementary schools, which are split into two tiers, start at 8:50 and 9:15 a.m. The options Starr released Tuesday vary in cost. Starr said he thinks the board should consider only the options that don’t require spending. He said in an interview Tuesday that, while he supports moving bell times, he doesn’t think the school system can afford to spend money on changes, given the fiscal climate at the county and state levels. One option without a price tag would shift all school start and end times by 20 or 35 minutes. Starr said in a memo to the school board that he backs the 20-minute plan, the “most practicable of the no-cost options.” “Although 20 minutes is not ideal for extending sleep time, it is a move in the right direction, and it will allow the potential for some extended sleep for all involved,” he said in the memo. A 20-minute shift is “not significantly disruptive” to county families or school operations, he said in the interview. School board President Patricia O’Neill said she doesn’t think 20 more minutes of sleep would solve the problem, but she will seriously consider the
DANCE WITH THE DEVIL
Bluegrass-rockabilly group set to make a splash in Silver Spring.
B-4
Volume 27, No. 33, Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2014 The Gazette
A proposal that would recalibrate the balance between development and school Storage facility may enrollment in be heading growth Rockville to court drew three n Page A-4 dozen residents and former city officials to testify at a public hearing Monday night, with many backing and many opposing the change.
The hearing on proposed changes to the city’s adequate public facilities standards at the mayor and council’s weekly meeting was the first of two, with the second scheduled for Jan. 26. Among the several changes proposed by Councilman Tom Moore, the most contentious was a provision that would raise the city’s threshold for when a school is at full capacity, moving it from 110 percent of program capacity to 120 percent. That would bring the city’s standard in line with Montgomery County’s, which also evaluates capacity for each school cluster, rather than for each school, as the city does. Cluster planning is a hall-
See DEVELOPMENT, Page A-10
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