Another lie from the superintendent

Building on a dunghill of falsehoods, Superintendent Jerry Weast now claims that the Kendale school will provide more space for Seven Locks kids.

A month ago, a top MCPS official falsely stated that it didn't matter if kids couldn't walk to Kendale, because there were no sidewalks leading to the Seven Locks school.

Now, Weast claims that a school that's almost triple the capacity of Seven Locks on a usable lot that's only 60 percent the size of the current school is somehow making more room for Seven Locks children.

"Weast said that if the school system moves forward with lans to build on the Kendale Road site, the new school could be in place by December 2007," the Washington Post reports.

"In addition to providing more space for Seven Locks students, it would ease overcrowding at nearby Potomac Elementary," the Post says, paraphrasing Weast.

The "providing more space for Seven Locks students" rationale is not only inaccurate: it is a lie. Here are the facts:

* Seven Locks Elementary School is not overcrowded and the students do not need more space.

* The Seven Locks PTA has said repeatedly that there is plenty of room in the current school building and playgrounds.

* The proposed Kendale "replacement" school is located on a tract of land whose usable space is only 60 percent the size of the current Seven Locks site. . . .

* . . . yet MCPS wants to add kids from another school, Potomac Elementary, on that same cramped site, meaning a much more crowded schoolyard than before.

* Seven Locks has two outdoor baseball fields, two or more soccer fields, a large paved basketball court area, an even larger paved play area, and many open green spaces and play equipment for the kids.

* The Kendale Road site has only one soccer field with two baseball diamonds superimposed over it - a cramped playground for up to three times as many kids.