Local school leader asks Duncan to rescind request

A local school leader has publicly asked County Executive Doug Duncan if he would rescind his request to remove 30 acres of land owned by public schools and turn them into housing developments.

"Two years ago you wrote to Superintendent Weast and asked him to declare 30 acres of Churchill Cluster dedicated public school property surplus to the needs of school children," Janis Sartucci, MCCPTA Churchill Cluster Coordinator, told Duncan at a public meeting in Potomac on January 4.

"Meanwhile, in the last 10 years the number of classroom trailers have tripled to where we now have 17,000 students being educated outside," she said. "In the last 10 years over 140 acres of dedicated school land has been moved out of the school system's inventory. Are you ready to rescind your request for 30 acres of Churchill Cluster school land and push for new schools to put our school children in buildings?"

Duncan's response could either be a crack in his position or simply a campaigning politician's answer to please everybody. He told Sartucci that school land is a "precious" resource that the county must preserve, and that while the county seeks to expand affordable housing, he would follow up on Mrs. Sartucci's request to keep school land for school children.