By KURT BRINTZENHOFE — On May 15, the City of Hyattsville offered Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) two constructions sites: the Hyattsville Middle School (HMS) and the southeast corner of Magruder Park. The Hyattsville Life and Times (HL&T) reported on June 10 how the Hyattsville Educational Facilities Task Force (EFTF) provided a public presentation describing results — without providing park site boundaries — supporting this offer, while soliciting public comment. Slide 7 [in the presentation] indicates that none of Magruder Park is owned by PGCPS. Based on available information, this selection effort was not independent, methodical or driven by measurable requirements, nor was there mention of any formal instruction used for such a selection “process.” For the following three months, as reported by the HL&T, further confusion and effort on the part of the city council and PGCPS ensued.
On Sept. 17 and 19, the HL&T posted a breaking article — the PGCPS Board Action Summary [indicated that] using the public-private partnership (P3) model, with HMS included, was approved Sept. 19 by the PGCPS Board of Education. Page 4 of the summary indicates the Board’s resolution, in general terms, is to utilize land currently owned by PGCPS for the replacement schools. Magruder Park, therefore, should not even have been an option, which gets back to asking what formal PGCPS-guidance was the EFTF given? Hopefully, the HL&T will figure out what happened. Also, give credit to the Hyattsville Environmental Committee for challenging this process, as indicated in the HL&T Aug. 2 article.
Kurt Brintzenhofe is a Hyattsville resident and retired acquisition specialist for federal advanced development and major acquisition programs.
