Upcounty Holding School Site Approved

The Montgomery County Board of Education approved a Gaithersburg site to temporarily house Upcounty elementary school students and staff during long-term construction projects.

According to the Site Selection Advisory Committee’s report, Emory Grove Center, at 18100 Washington Grove Lane, was the best option of nine other sites. Montgomery County Public School System only has four such facilities, and none are located Upcounty, school officials have said.

A feasibility study will next be conducted to determine the scope and cost of the project.

Germantown resident Alicia White, who was on the site selection committee, said she as happy with the decision, especially since discussions early last year seemed to offer up a site in a heavily wooded area off Waring Station Road in Germantown.

“This entire situation has only produced a positive outcome for the entire Upcounty area because of a small number of private citizens that dedicated their time and effort to find a better outcome that what MCPS and the BOE had planned,” White said in an email to Patch.

White was referring to the chief complaint among several parents and residents — many of whom took to blogging — who felt the school system appeared to be moving forward with a feasibility study for Waring Station without having formed a site selection committee first. There were also concerns that Waring Station would have been inadequate as a holding facility and would have posed environmental harm.

Last year the board unanimously agreed to enter into a $44,560 contract with Proffitt & Associates Architects "to provide feasibility study services" for an elementary holding school site at Waring Station, according to the school board's minutes. The board reportedly put that feasibility study on hold, The Gazette reported in March, following an appeal from citizens.

Since then, a group of residents, planners, public officials and school officials vetted potential Upcounty holding school sites, having met May 27, June 30, July 15 and Oct. 3, according to the site selection committee’s report. that she was concerned that discussion over the sites were happening in private.

that parts of site selection advisory committee meetings were often closed to the public since acquisition of private land was being discussed. 

There was at least one privately owned parcel among the nine reviewed, according to the site selection committee’s report.

After evaluating sites for size, location, access, topography, physical condition, utilities availability and cost, the committee determined that the Emory Grove site would be the best option. The 10-acre site is titled to the Board of Education, and houses MCPS Child Find, the MCPS Early Childhood Disabilities Unit, and the Montgomery County Infants and Toddlers Program, as well as training units for the divisions of School Plant Operations and Food and Nutritional Services, according to the site selection committee’s report.

The nine sites included:

• Avalon, 22901 Frederick Road in Clarksburg, a privately-owned site titled to Bethesda-based Avalon Recreation Group according to state tax records. The 10.32 acre plot had two vacant residences and was for sale at $1.5 million, according to the selection committee’s report.
• Hawkins Creamery Road in Damascus, 13.1 acres of land the Board of Education leases for farming.
• Kingsbridge, 10110 Founders Way in Damascus, 30.33 acres of land owned by the board.
• Laytonsville, a 22.7 acre site off Warfield Road. According to the selelction committee’s report, a portion of the property is leased to the golf course as a driving range, while the other part is leased for farming.
• Oak Drive, a 12.99-acre plot across from John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus.  The partially wooded plot is owned by the school board, the selection committee’s report states.
• Edward U. Taylor Elementary School, 19501 White Ground Road, Boyds. The elementary school closed in 1979 and has a failing septic system, according to the selection committee’s report.
• Waring Station, 18815 Waring Station Road, Germantown. The property is owned by the school board, according to state property records. A portion of the land is leased to the county as a childcare facility, the committee’s report states.
• Woodward, an MCPS-owned site partially within the bounds of the City of Gaithersburg.
• Emory Grove Center