The final County Council vote to approve the CIP Budget with funding for Damascus High School is coming up at the end of May. We remain optimistic, but the WORST thing we can do is get comfortable and let off the gas. County Councilmember Will Jawando told us recently, "there's still a big gap in funding, and that means they usually look for a big project to cut." We need to continue to speak up and advocate to ensure that Damascus receives what our students and staff deserve - a NEW building!
As Damascus Cluster Coordinators, we are working on a Business Community Letter of Support to gather signatures from Damascus businesses to present to the County Council. If you know the owner or manager of a local business we should connect with to get their signature, let us know: damascusclustercoor@gmail.com
Letters of support from our petition signers would be really impactful with the County Council to help ensure the high school project gets funded and stays on track. The County Council is discussing the CIP Budget currently and will preliminarily approve the budget on May 14, with an official vote on May 21. So it's crunch time to make sure they know how much Damascus is engaged and deserving of this critical community project.
PLEASE Email ALL COUNCILMEMBERS!
There are two ways to contact all councilmembers. You can use this website form here or email them directly:
- Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe (District 2 Clarksburg area):
- Councilmember.Balcombe@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Andrew Friedson (District 1): Councilmember.Friedson@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Evan Glass (At-Large): Councilmember.Glass@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Will Jawando (At-Large and Education Committee):
- Councilmember.Jawando@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Sidney Katz (District 3): Councilmember.Katz@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Dawn Luedtke (District 7: Damascus area):
- Councilmember.Luedtke@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Kristin Mink (District 5 and Education Committee):
- Councilmember.Mink@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles (At-Large): Councilmember.Sayles@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Kate Stewart (District 4): Councilmember.Stewart@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Natali Fani-González (District 6): Councilmember.FaniGonzalez@montgomerycountymd.gov
- Councilmember Shebra Evans (At-Large and Education Committee): Councilmember.Evans@montgomerycountymd.gov
Members who have told us they support the project: Dawn Luedtke, Marilyn Balcombe, Will Jawando, Evan Glass, Andrew Friedson, Kristin Mink, Shebra Evans
Members who have been unresponsive and not engaged with us: Sidney Katz, Laurie-Anne Sayles, Kate Stewart, Natali Fani-Gonzalez
Let's get the BUZZ out there!!!