The Montgomery County Council voted to allow the sale of the former Robert E. Peary High School property to a private Jewish academy for nearly $2 million.
In an 8-1 vote — Councilman Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville, dissenting — the council approved selling the 19.5-acre Aspen Hill site to the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy.
Schools officials said the county should not sell the property, as it might be needed to combat growing enrollment or serve as a holding school while other schools are modernized.
Although many council members criticized the deal, they didn’t want to back out of agreement with the Berman Academy, which started leasing the property in 1996 — with an option to buy — and had made nearly $9 million worth of improvements.
