by Terri Hogan, Staff Writer
A Montgomery County parent’s organization is crying foul, as a recent decision by the Board of Education to move forward with the plan to rebuild William H. Farquhar Middle School might have been based on misinformation.
On Sept. 13, the Board of Education unanimously approved Superintendent Joshua P. Starr’s recommendation to modernize William H. Farquhar Middle School by building a new, three-story school building on property adjacent to the current school site.
That property currently is owned by Pulte homes and is slated to become a park. Once the new school is built, the site of the existing school would be conveyed to Park and Planning for use as parkland.
During the Sept. 13 hearing, board members asked if the adjacent property where the school would be built was owned by Park and Planning or by the developer.
James Song, Montgomery County Public Schools director of facilities, replied the land is owned by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
Bill Gries, Park and Planning land acquisition specialist, said the deed to the property in question still is held by Pulte homes, and that no expected delivery date has been mentioned...full article at this link.
VIDEO of the September 13, 2011 Board of Education meeting statement of Director of Facilities James Song.
Montgomery County land records are public. Information on land ownership is easily verifiable on this website 24 hours a day.
No impact?
ReplyDeleteMCPS has moved onto the next stage of the "modernization" process, committed more funds and time, and no one at the county can even commit to when the property will be dedicated to Parks nonetheless if, and when, it could then be transferred to MCPS..
The review, notification and public meetings alone could take years!!
I believe that there is a fuse on the county and state funding.. To say this is irrelevant is as irresponsible as not knowing the information in the first place!!