New Woodburn Community School

GREEN SCHOOL PROJECT HITS ROADBLOCK

Today the Monongalia County Schools green school grant project enters the “Schematic Design” phase – Phase 2 of the 6 contractually required phases in the Project Development Schedule for building the green school. By contract the green school project is now to move forward with schematic design. In reality nothing can be done. Mon Schools has failed to meet the contractual conditions for going forward.

Section 8 in the SBA grant contract with Mon Schools:

“The County Board hereby covenants and agrees that it shall not proceed with the building design for the school without first securing a clear and free title to the property where the SBA funded facility is to be constructed…”

Legally Mon Schools cannot “proceed with building design” until it has free and clear title to the land. A WVU Board of Governors meeting is not scheduled until September 17 [update: it is on the November 12 BoG meeting agenda] when it might approve or disapprove the sale of WVU land to Mon Schools for the green elementary. “Free and clear title to the land” could only be possible sometime after.

Plenty of time for all parties involved to come to their senses – or rather, to be brought to them. Honesty and integrity should start in the highest offices of WVU and should apply to any land dealings with Mon Schools.

Can WVU honestly say with any integrity whatsoever that it is doing a good thing? Can WVU honestly say that it is helping provide a real public service by playing a major role in siting a big school for small children at a congested and high traffic polluted and otherwise dangerous commuter and commercial intersection? A school? For small children? Great job, WVU. Come on. Where is the honesty and integrity in that?

A shiny big school though sure will look nice there for WVU on the edge of its dairy farm at one of the main routes to its stadium, coliseum and campuses. Be honest, WVU. This deal would not work out bad for you at all. Not for you.

Just as WVU President Jim Clements is out on the streets today for Move In Day helping WVU students move items from cars to their new places of residence, he should help move the first green school child to the hospital who has to be taken from the 705/119 intersection for medical care.

Monongalia Schools Superintendent Devono pitifully pleads that he cannot find higher quality land ANYWHERE for a new school, let alone schools. And he says he has looked virtually EVERYWHERE. That’s your job Superintendent. Clearly you can’t do it. You should resign. Certainly plenty of applicants can be found who can get that vital job done well.

It is time to permanently stop Monongalia Schools’ fraudulent and negligent siting of a large elementary at the scandalous 705/119 intersection on the Mileground.

As for now, the green school project “shall not proceed.”