Cox sees Kendale issue as 'ripe for a lawsuit'

Board of Education member Sharon Cox says the board's mysterious decision to shut down Seven Locks Elementary School (SLES) rather than surplus a school site on Kendale Road in Potomac is "ripe for a lawsuit."

The flip-flop came in early 2004, after the board agreed with County Executive Doug Duncan's request to give up the property and allow Duncan to build a subsidized housing project there. Instead, the board decided to build a "replacement" school on the wooded site and shut down SLES. The board says it has no plans to surplus the SLES land, but its refusal to explain its flip-flop and its near frantic effort to bulldoze the Seven Locks PTA indicate possible conflicts of interests or political corruption.

The Business Gazette reports: "Cox pointed to the board's recent decision not to surplus a school site on Kendale Road in Potomac as being ripe for a lawsuit. The council has asked the board to declare the site a surplus property and turn it over to the county for the construction of affordable housing. Instead, the board decided to look at the property as a site for a replacement to Seven Locks Elementary School.