Gazette: 'Vast majority' opposes School Board decision

The "vast majority" of citizens who spoke at the May 1 school board meeting opposed the decision to destroy Seven Locks Elementary School and scatter the children to four other schools.

The school board rejected six options that would save Seven Locks, and picked the only two options that called for the school to be shut down.

The Gazette reports, "the vast majority of speakers rejected both options, and again and again used the phrase 'strongly disappointed' to describe their reaction to the way school officials are handling the problem of overcrowding in Potomac elementary schools.

"'We wonder why, after going over the options, you picked the two worst options?' said Allie Giles, a Seven Locks PTA member," according to the Gazette.

"'This threat to close Seven Locks is astonishing. This is designed to force us to accept what we do not want,' said Diana Conway, a Potomac Elementary School PTA member opposed to the Kendale site due to lack of sidewalks and street lighting and the environmental impact of removing trees and widening the road."