The Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations will tell the county government Tuesday night that it opposes the sale of school land currently rented to a private academy, saying it would be “premature” to sell the land given schools overcrowding.
Steve Augustino, chairman of the MCCPTA’s Capital Improvement Plan committee, will testify before the County Council on behalf of President Kristin Trible. “We believe it would be unwise to sell a prime asset like the Peary site without first obtaining a thorough evaluation of the future needs for middle and high schools in the midcounty area,” Augustino wrote in a letter he will read. “If a middle or high school is needed in the area, the Peary High School site is the only remaining site in the county’s inventory that could meet MCPS’s needs.”
Montgomery schools are projecting an enrollment increase of 10,000 students in the next six years. About 4,000 are expected to be middle school students, with a modest increase of 454 more high schoolers.
The school board initially voted against the sale of Peary to the Berman Academy, a private Jewish school that has been renting and renovating the site for years. But after the council introduced an amendment that essentially would allow “take backs” if the school system needed to reclaim the site, the school board endorsed the sale in a letter to County Executive Ike Leggett.
Read the full text of the MCCPTA’s letter below:
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, enclosed please find MCCPTA’s opposition to the sale of the Peary High School site. MCCPTA’s CIP Chair, Steve Augustino, will deliver this testimony at the hearing tonight. We believe it would be unwise to sell a prime asset like the Peary site without first obtaining a thorough evaluation of the future needs for middle and high schools in the midcounty area. The Council’s 2006 analysis of a similar proposal concluded that it “was a sale of a rare asset probably well below market value with no guarantee that said asset would be available for repurchase should the County need to re-use it as a public school.” (emphasis in original). We believe the same concerns apply here. If a middle or high school is needed in the area, the Peary High School site is the only remaining site in the County’s Inventory that could meet MCPS’s needs. Therefore, MCCPTA believes it would be premature to sell the site. We call instead for the Council to request a study of potential solutions for long term middle and high school needs in the midcounty area. Respectfully submitted, Steve Augustino (on behalf of Kristin Trible, MCCPTA President)
