After the last of the four planned public outreach meetings from the school system (MCPS) this week, we delivered this petition yesterday to MCPS, with 400 signatures. (There will be another MCPS meeting on June 30th, but that one will be focused on the busing and holding school issues). 

Please DO continue asking friends and neighbors to sign to support the pool, because the process is ongoing, and we will be sending updated signatures to MCPS. 

We are simply asking to preserve the community resources we have now in this dense corridor of affordable housing at the heart of our City. The MCPS team assured everyone at this week's meeting that in terms of space, they can preserve or rebuild both the pool and the large gym, without any negative tradeoff in terms of school space, while renovating or rebuilding the school into a top-notch facility. Our school is badly in need of renovation, and everyone agrees we should be at the top of the list for funding. But MCPS is not used to having to include community resources such as a pool or large gym in their school plans, so we need everyone in our community working together on this. 

It would be a real equity issue if we got a new school, but ended up losing community resources (including the pool and large gym) at the end of this process. 

To stay up to date on the process, see the Save the Piney Branch Pool 2025 facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/77046873008

The school system will give a presentation to the Takoma Park City Council about the process, tentatively scheduled for July 23rd. 

As a next step, please write a "Dear MCPS, Mayor, and City Council" email about what the pool means to you, and to our community, and copy MCPS at robbie_s_badstibner@mcpsmd.org, the Mayor at talishas@takomaparkmd.gov and the City Council at clerk@takomaparkmd.gov.