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Folk singer Peggy Seeger returns to Chevy Chase roots. B-5
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Wednesday, March 12, 2014
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Rockville educator in the running for Teacher of the Year n
Gaithersburg, Poolesville teachers also among top three BY KIRSTEN PETERSEN SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Rhonda Palmer (front) talks to a caller whose front yard was damaged by a plow during the recent snow. Palmer has worked at the 311 call center in Rockville since 2010.
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‘Can I take my n
BY CHRISTOPHER NEELY SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
A call from Gaithersburg resident Stuart Helfman — about a dead deer in his backyard — was a routine service request for Montgomery County 311 operator Tamara Tyler. But the Jan. 24 conversation marked a milestone for the call center — its two millionth inquiry since it launched on June 17, 2010. For MC311, the milestone serves as a positive measurement of the call center’s relevance in the Montgomery County community.
Aaron Shin, an eighth-grade U.S. history teacher at Parkland Middle School, is one of three teachers selected as finalists for the 2014-2015 Montgomery County Public Schools Teacher of the Year Award Shin, who has worked for the Rockville school for seven years, called the honor “a victory for Parkland.” “I feel like it’s a community win and I’m honored and humbled to represent the community and the Parkland family,” Shin said. Benjamin OuYang, the school’s principal, said Shin goes above and beyond his
Proposed change to in-home child care facility still up in the air BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
The Rockville Board of Appeals gave a day care the go-ahead to expand, but a neighborhood association is asking a judge to intervene. Rubina Mohammed’s application to expand her inhome day care in Rockville’s West End has been tied up in a series of applications and re-
County 311 call center helps get answers to residents’ questions
“[MC311] began as a call center consolidation effort by the county,” said MC311 Director Leslie Hamm. “They wanted to take all of the smaller customer service hotlines in the county’s bigger departments and bring them together.” The call center, with 43 customer service representatives, takes calls for all 37 of the county’s departments. That adds up to an average of 40,000 to 50,0000 calls a month from Montgomery County residents. Allen Mitchell, a customer service representative for nearly three years, said the type of calls usually depend on the time of day.
“In the morning, I mostly get Ride On calls for buses,” Mitchell said. “As the day goes on, we get a lot of permitting service calls and a lot of health and human services calls, like questions regarding food stamps.” Mitchell, who works from 6:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., said he gets about 70 calls per day, which is about average for most customer service reps. In special circumstances, such as the chain of snowstorms that recently hit the Montgomery area, the call volume in-
See 311, Page A-10
considerations for months. On Saturday, the Board of Appeals denied a request that its members reconsider approving the expansion. Monday morning, the West End Citizens’ Association, which opposes the expansion, filed a petition for judicial review in the Montgomery County Circuit Court, asking the court to review the board’s decision-making process. Jacques Gelin, the association’s corresponding secretary, said the association is challenging the decision partly on the merits of the case and partly for
the way the city has handled it. “We have strong convictions on where we stand,” Gelin said. Mohammed, who lives at 731 W. Montgomery Ave., had applied to expand her in-home day care by four children. The zoning allows her to enroll eight children; she applied for a special exception to raise the maximum enrollment to 12. Last July, the Board of Appeals denied the expansion. City staff had recommended approving her application, but the Planning Commission recommended rejecting it, saying the request was not in line with
the city’s master plan. Mohammed hired a lawyer and asked the board to reconsider her application, promising that at least half of the children would be picked up and dropped off at an adjacent church to reduce traffic problems. The board reversed its decision, but the citizens association filed its own request for reconsideration. On Saturday, the board denied that request. WECA representatives have said the expansion is an example of institutions and businesses encroaching on
SPORTS
See DAY CARE, Page A-10
BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW Five Montgomery County basketball teams advance to high school state semifinals.
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See TEACHER, Page A-10
for a walk?’ DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Aaron Shin, eighth-grade U.S. History teacher at Parkland Middle School, works with Santiago Betancourt as he creates a children’s storybook about social reforms on Monday.
Montgomery asking for money for local projects $3.5 million for Strathmore tops county’s wish list n
Rockville board green-lights day care expansion n
responsibilities as a teacher, shooting hoops with students in the morning or taking students out to play laser tag on a Friday afternoon. “We are just overjoyed that he has been selected. He’s an extremely hardworking young man and he is so dedicated to the kids,” OuYang said. OuYang said during a promotion ceremony for the eighthgraders, the student speaker paused to recognize Shin. “He said, ‘Mr. Shin, no words are appropriate. We just know that he loves us.’ The entire class gave him a standing ovation,” OuYang said. “I can’t give you the words for it. The kids can do it better.” Montgomery County Public Schools named the three finalists Friday. Jane Lindsay, an eighthgrade English teacher at John
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BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
Money to expand The Music Center at Strathmore and renovate the Strathmore Mansion is among the 31 local funding requests Montgomery County lawmakers have asked of the state. Lawmakers annually ask the state to borrow money to help fund capital projects in their district. The requests are known as “bond bills.” This year, state lawmakers from across the state have asked for about $40 million for projects
in their districts. “It’s tough,” Sen. Roger Manno said. “We’ve got about one-third of that [to work with].” Only $15 million — $7.5 million in each chamber — is expected to be given to local projects in the fiscal 2015 capital budget that Gov. Martin J. O’Malley (D) proposed. Montgomery’s delegation has asked for a total of about $12.3 million. The requests range from $60,000 for a Metropolitan Ballet Theater relocation and expansion to $3.5 million for the project at Strathmore. Also on the list are $2.5 million for a new Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Station and $200,000 to restore the historic Seneca Store in Poolesville.
See PROJECTS, Page A-10
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