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The Gazette SILVER SPRING | TAKOMA PARK | BURTONSVILLE
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
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County tells Foulger-Pratt to proceed with transit center fixes Company stands by claim that repair plan is no good
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BY KRISTA BRICK STAFF WRITER
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
Spanish Immersion teacher Sandra Castellon teaches science in a fourth-grade class Monday at Rolling Terrace Elementary School in Takoma Park.
Parents seek answers to mold outbreak Aging, broken HVAC system played part
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BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
When students and staff returned to Rolling Terrace Elementary School in Takoma Park after the Labor Day weekend, they were met with classrooms sporting growth more suited to a science experiment petri dish. On Sept. 3 and 4, mold was
found in more than 30 rooms — “the majority of the building,” Principal Jennifer Connors said. Weeks later, Rolling Terrace parents say they are frustrated by a lack of communication from the school and concerned that some students have shown allergy and asthma symptoms. School officials attribute the mold outbreak to a combination of factors, including the humid summer and an old, malfunctioning HVAC system more than 25 years old.
Mold has been cleaned from classrooms and other areas. After testing the building’s air quality, school system staff are monitoring the building’s temperature and humidity. Renovations have been moved up in the county’s capital budget, said James Song, director of the school system’s Department of Facilities Management. At Monday’s school board meeting, Song said the school system hired an independent testing consultant, whose find-
ings would be shared with parents. Some parents, however, said they think the school has not provided enough information and want the school to survey families to see how many students are experiencing symptoms. Rolling Terrace parent Bridgette Kaiser said her fourthgrade son’s allergies have gone “out of control” since he re-
See MOLD, Page A-11
Advocates continue call for holiday school closures Students, others say they face hard decision on Muslim holy days n
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
Standing in front of the Montgomery County Council Office Building in Rockville, Northwest High School senior Anhar Karim said he is one of many students in the county who have faced a hard decision related to two Muslim holidays. Karim said that when a holiday conflicts
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with school, he can either celebrate and miss class or go to school and miss the celebration. “We are forcing our students into an unreasonable decision,” said Karim, who is president of the Montgomery County Muslim Student Association. Karim and other speakers urged Montgomery County Public Schools to close when classes fall on Eid al-Adha and Eid alFitr during a Monday press conference held by the Maryland chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations and the Equality for Eid Coalition.
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Eid al-Adha celebrates sacrifice to God and falls on Oct. 15 this year. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and was Aug. 8. The dates of the holidays change because of the Islam lunar calendar. The coalition, which is sponsored by the council, formed about a year ago to pursue a long-standing goal for the school closures. The speakers also called for school system students and staff to skip school on Oct. 15 and celebrate Eid al-Adha instead. Zainab Chaudry — vice president of the
See CLOSURES, Page A-12
County officials are pressing on with work at the Silver Spring Transit Center, even while the project’s main contractor on the job disagrees with the fixes to the transportation hub. The county is filing for permits Friday that will allow them to get started preparing the center for a latex-modified concrete overlay that is touted by the county and its ad hoc working group as the fix for the center’s concrete problems. The county sent a formal notice to Foulger-Pratt Contracting LLC on Thursday, directing that company to hire a subcontractor to follow the remediation plan to fix the transit center’s cracking concrete. “This Notice-to-Proceed with the LMC overlay is a directive to Foulger-Pratt to Proceed immediately with the subcontracting of all the Work associated with the LMC overlay to a properly and highly
qualified and experienced LMC subcontractor with comparable project expertise within the State of Maryland,” Ernest Lunsford Jr., contract administrator for the Division of Building Design and Construction, stated in a letter to Foulger-Pratt’s John Barron. Foulger-Pratt has publicly called the remediation approach “ill-advised” and “illconceived.” On Tuesday, the company’s Managing Principal Bryant Foulger released the following statement to The Gazette about the notice: “We and our subcontractor Facchina are actively reviewing the county’s directive. We have not completed our review. We stand by our previous statements and letters regarding this matter.” The county’s notice specifically directs Foulger-Pratt to complete the latex-modified concrete work by the end of December. The $120 million facility, at the corner of Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue in downtown Silver Spring, was slated to open in 2011, but a series
See TRANSIT, Page A-11
County emerges as development driver Projects follow plans to develop a life sciences village in White Oak n
BY SONNY GOLDREICH SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
With the administration of Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) naming a development team for a pair of mixed-use public/private projects in downtown Silver Spring and Wheaton, local taxpayers suddenly have emerged as a major driver for new construction in the county. The plans hinge on the relocation of the MarylandNational Capital Park and Planning Commission headquarters from Silver Spring to Wheaton. If that happens, it would involve development of four new buildings in the Georgia Avenue corridor and might revive moribund office construction in two down-
town neighborhoods served by Metro subway stations. Plans for the two countyowned sites call for a total of about 900,000 square feet of new development under the response to a request for proposals submitted by the development team of StonebridgeCarras of Bethesda and Bozzuto Development of Greenbelt. The plan for Silver Spring calls for a total of 400,000 square feet of space in two buildings, including 25,000 square feet of retail in an office building, and a 360-unit apartment project. The Wheaton proposal includes a total development of 500,000 square feet, including a 255,000-squarefoot county office building with 5,000 square feet of retail space and a 218-unit apartment complex. Combined, the 900,000
See DEVELOPMENT, Page A-12
SPECIAL SECTION
GAZETTE HEALTH Special Women’s Issue What would you do if you found out you had the ‘breast cancer gene’? One woman tells her story. Plus: why women lose their hair; the latest on the risks and benefits of aspirin; the value of vitamin D
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