How do I get to the protest?

You have a couple of options:

1. Have a parent pick you up from school and drop you off at the County Council building. If you do this, please try to bring friends with you!
2. Ride with a friend whose parent is driving (as per #1).
3. Take the Metrobus. Get on bus C2 or C4 on University Blvd and transfer to the Q2 on Viers Mill Rd. Get off at the Rockville Metro and walk (a few blocks) to the County Council building.
4. Take the Metrorail (subway). Get off at Rockville Metro and see #3.
5. Walk there. (This only applies if you go to RM.)
6. Take bus 5995 to RM and see #5. (Warning: the bus may be overcrowded.)
7. Teleport.
   

Weekly Update

Protest: See below.

Foundation: Left to Mr. Bunday.

Letters: Session in computer lab this Thursday after-school. As for the mass-mailing campaign, the semantics of the actual sending of letters has not been decided upon yet. Feel free to send letters independently.

Petitions: There are ones going around for each grade, for parents, and for non-Magnets and incoming Magnets. The alumni one is temporarily halted. (How to get them back, by when, must be arranged.)

Wednesday in 213, a meeting for discussion will be held. All are invited.

Protest Plans?

In order to make this issue big, we need media attention. And in order to get media attention, we need a protest. So, this is what has to happen:

1. Find out what permits we need. (After doing some research, I don't think we need any, but I'll call the city of Rockville tomorrow.)
2. Schedule a date, time, and place. For place, we either want the Werner building (County Council) or Carver building (MCPS and the BOE). It will have to be a weekday or else nobody will be working there. We don't want to miss school, but it will have to be before the end of business day. How about standing outside the building(s) from 4:30-5:30 PM when everyone's leaving work?
3. Call the media and get them to cover the protest.
4. HOLD THE PROTEST!!!

Please comment on this blog post with ideas for when and where this protest should be.

UPDATE: How about a march from the County Council building, past the county courthouse, through Rockville Town Square, to the Board of Education building? It's only a one-mile route.
UDPATE: A map has been drawn out and will be reviewed by the committee monday/tues.

More Information

This blog is well-suited for current events, but as time passes, it becomes progressively more difficult to find the information buried in past posts. The Blair Magnet Budget Issues Google Group is useful for parent discussion, but the same problem applies. For that reason, I have started a new site: Save the Magnets! Generously hosted by Shirley, it provides links to important information, sample letters for you to use, and a list of Frequently Asked Questions. I've been noticing that many people aren't fully informed of the situation -- the Save the Magnets! site is most useful for just learning the basic facts.

Update: Please add links (in the "Save the Magnets" site) to each of these posts. ELW is working on getting links on the sidebar

Letter Writing Session This Thursday

This Thursday, April 17, we'll be having a letter writing session to the County Council and the Board of Education after-school in the Magnet computer labs. Come one, come all!