Recent Press

DECEMBER 23, 2010

November 29, 2010

November 24, 2010

Montgomery Board of Education president wants no court battle over ...
Business Gazette
... settle a dispute between the Board of Education and a religious school over the future rights to the former Robert E. Peary High School in Aspen Hill. ...

Council could vote next week of selling Peary site to Berman Academy
Melvin J Berman Hebrew Academy officials were feeling some relief following a unanimous recommendation from the county's Planning Board to sell the former ...
www.gazette.net/stories/.../rocknew223959_32535.php

November 23, 2010

Berman gains another allyPlanning board backs purchase of school site
Washington Jewish Week
by Richard Greenberg The Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy has cleared what could have been a troublesome hurdle in its bid to become a homeowner rather than ...

November 23, 2010 - We are pleased to share the text of Tuesday, November 23^rd Washington Post editorial below. 

A fair school deal

Monday, November 22, 2010; 7:47 PM

WHETHER Montgomery County should sell a school building to the private Jewish academy that has leased it for the past 14 years is the subject of a spirited debate. Critics say the move would be short-sighted because the public schools might once again need the site. But the academy promises to sell the property back at cost if a public need arises. Meanwhile, the academy is making good use of a site that, but for the academy's extensive investment, would have been razed years ago.

The County Council is set to hold a public hearing Tuesday and vote Nov. 30 on County Executive Isiah Leggett's proposal to sell the former Robert E. Peary High School site in Rockville to the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy for $1.9 million. The public school system stopped using the site in 1984, ultimately transferring it to the county, which let it languish until it became such an eyesore that the council in 1994 authorized its sale (with prior council approval). The Hebrew academy entered into the lease in March 1996 - with an option to buy - and opened in the summer of 1999 after extensive refurbishment. The school has spent nearly $9 million on improvements. For the past nine years, it has been trying to exercise its purchase option.

No doubt the school board, which opposes the sale, is prudent to worry when it expresses concern about surging enrollments. But the deal crafted between the county and the academy - and endorsed by the planning board - protects county interests. It specifies that the property can be used only for a school, and it provides for public use of the fields, gymnasium and auditorium in perpetuity, at no cost to the county. Most important, academy officials have agreed to an arrangement whereby the public school system could reacquire the property, if needed, at a stipulated price that is less than it would otherwise have to pay and earlier, if need be, than what the current lease allows. A judge would have to validate the county's need.

Council members would do well to look at the many advantages of the sale, not the least being the more than 700 students of Berman Academy who otherwise would be the responsibility of the public system. The only thing wrong with this sale is that it has taken so long to conclude.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112206289.html

Posted November 22, 2010

More than two dozen speakers signed up for public hearing on sale ...
The county school system closed Peary High School in 1984 and the property deteriorated causing an eyesore in the middle of Aspen Hill ...
www.gazette.net/stories/.../montnew170918_32572.php

Posted November 19, 2010

Planners reverse opposition to school sale in Aspen Hill
Business Gazette
The vote drew applause from more than two dozen advocates for the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy who attended the board's meeting in support of the ...

20101118 Peary School to Melvin J Berman Hebrew Academy 000 PDF
SUBJECT: Discussion Item: Sale of Former Peary High School to the Melvin J. ... The sale of the former Peary High School site was the subject of a previous ...
www.scribd.com/.../20101118-Peary-School-to-Melvin-J-Ber...

YouTube - MCPS Staff Speaks for Board of Ed before Board meets
November 18, 2010 Montgomery County Planning Board on Peary High School sale. ParentsCoalitionNews | November 18, 2010 | 0 likes, 0 dislikes ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=udkCJdZx_zY

Breaking - but not really: Planning Board Approves the Sale of ...
Breaking - but not really: Planning Board Approves the Sale of Peary High School site ...
friendfeed.com/rooms/.../breaking-but-not-really-planning-bo...

Local News - Washington Jewish Week - Online Edition - Rockville, MD
The former Peary High School building, vacant since 1988, had become a haven for petty crime and drug use, leaving the county with two options: Demolish the ...
washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&TM...

Duchy Trachtenberg's Blog: Don't break promise to the Academy ...
By Duchy Trachtenberg
The former Peary High School in Aspen Hill was an abandoned eyesore in the middle of a vibrant, family-friendly community. Vandals, gangs and drug users had free reign.-- But in 1994 the Board of Education deeded it to the county, ...Duchy Trachtenberg's Blog - http://duchytrachtenberg.blogspot.com/

Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: Breaking ...
By Janis Sartucci
Today, in a classic move designed to undercut the ability of the public to track what should be a public process, the Montgomery County Planning Board staff reversed their published opinion on the sale of the Peary High School site. ...
Parents' Coalition of Montgomery... - http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/

Taxpayers watching Peary sale
... protest the County Council's and the school board's treatment of the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy's attempt to buy the old Peary High School site. ...
www.gazette.net/stories/11172010/montlet185057_32542.php

Washington Jewish Week:

Standoff on Arctic Avenue Berman bid to buy property again hits a snag
The Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy was just such a tenant. The school spent millions to renovate the property with the expectation that it would buy it and ...

http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=13733

A teachable moment? by Richard Greenberg The proposed sale of the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy is seen through two very different lenses. For the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew ...
 http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=13725

WTOP:

Fri - WTOP.com
Melvin Berman Hebrew Academy says there's nothing irregular about the deal the academy struck with Montgomery County to buy the old Peary High School and ...

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=527&arc=25&timex=1288332000

BOE doesn't want property sold to private school - wtop.com
The school board objects to the proposed sale of the county's property that used to house Rockville's Peary High School. The property is currently leased to ... http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=706&sid=2096854

Buyers Nothing shady about Peary High deal wtopcom
The sale of the old Peary High School came before the Montgomery County Council this week but appeared to take several members by surprise and before ...

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2098343

Montgomery Co. school board against sale of HS property - wtop.com
The school board objects to the proposed sale of Rockville's Peary High School property to the Berman Hebrew Academy. And several members believe the ...

http://wtopnews.com/?nid=706&sid=2096854

The Washington Post:

Montgomery officials question sale of high school property to private academy
... the former Robert E. Peary High School in Rockville in 1996 and that they did so with the understanding that they eventually would be able to buy it. ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/28/AR2010102806598.html

Gazette:

Proposed sale of former Peary High School spurs broader Montgomery ...
Proposed sale of former Peary High School spurs broader Montgomery council measure. Andrews bill would block lameduck councils from approving property deals ... 

http://www.gazette.net/stories/11032010/montnew190552_32555.php

http://www.gazette.net/stories/10272010/aspenew221246_32535.php

Miscellaneous:

Sale of the Former Robert E. Peary High - Office of the ...
E. Peary High School site. Staff in County Executive Isiah Leggett's office .... Academy's exercise of its purchase option for the Peary High School site. ...
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/meetings/agenda/2010-11/2010-1025/Document.pdf

Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: Should County ...
The Montgomery County Council is considering selling a 20 acre former MCPS school site (the old Peary High School) in Rockville for $1.9 million based on a ...
http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2010/11/should-county-council-sell-20-acre.html  

Big Education Ape: Montgomery officials question sale of high ...
Officials with the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy say they were performing a public service when they spent more than $8 million on renovating the former Robert E. Peary High School in Rockville in 1996 and that they did so with the ...
http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2010/10/montgomery-officials-question-sale-of.html

Board of Education Discusses Student Instructional Program - MCPS ...
Expression of Concern Regarding Sale of Peary High School Site The Board unanimously endorsed a letter from President Patricia B. O'Neill to the County ...
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/press/index.aspx?page=showrelease&id=2856

County working to sell former Peary HighBy admin
County working to sell former Peary High County Council members are questioning, and the county school.
http://personal-lawyer.net/county-working-to-sell-former-peary-high&ct=ga&cad=:s7:f1:v1:d1:i2:lt:e0:p0:t1288451104:&cd=pHXfo1XJnfs&usg=AFQjCNFX2QUbdk3H_gpYxG6eq2fT-ndSlw

Board of Education *still* objects to sale of Peary High School ...
Board of Education *still* objects to sale of Peary High School site ...
friendfeed.com/.../board-of-education-still-objects-to-sale-pear...

Montgomery County Daily: Planners reverse opposition to school ...
County planners dropped opposition to selling the former Robert E. Peary High School in Aspen Hill to the private school that leases the facility in a ...
montgomerycountydaily.blogspot.com/.../planners-reverse-op...

Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: Leventhal will ...
By Janis Sartucci
The land to be sold for $1.9 million is the site of the former Peary High School in Rockville, Maryland. The MCPS Board of Education has publicly stated their objection to the sale of this 19.5 acre school site at least three times in ...
Parents' Coalition of Montgomery... - http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/

miJEWtiae - Washington Jewish Week - Online Edition - Rockville, MD
Supporters of The Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy urged Montgomery County Council members last night during a public hearing to OK the school's purchase of ...
washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=57...

Majority turn out in favor of sale of former Aspen Hill high ...
The council held the hearing Tuesday night to gauge the public mood about a proposed sale of the former Robert E Peary High School which closed in 1984 to ...
www.gazette.net/stories/.../montnew120152_32545.php

Montgomery parents oppose sale of school land | Washington Examiner
"If a middle or high school is needed in the area, the Peary High School site is the only remaining site in the county's inventory that could meet MCPS's ...
washingtonexaminer.com/.../montgomery-parents-oppose-sale...

Don't break promise to the Academy - Washington Jewish Week ...
The former Peary High School in Aspen Hill was an abandoned eyesore in the middle of a vibrant, family-friendly community. Vandals, gangs and drug users had ...
ko-kr.connect.facebook.com/note.php?note_id...ref=mf

Montgomery County Daily: Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy's ...
By Daniel Vovak
ROCKVILLE, MD — The Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy issued the following statement in response to the Montgomery County Education and Management and Fiscal Policy Committees' public worksession today, during which the members of the two ...
Montgomery County Daily - http://montgomerycountydaily.blogspot.com/

A homey feeling for MJBHAA renter no more, school finally gets the ...
Washington Jewish Week
"We are thrilled to finally be homeowners, proud of what we have accomplished together with the community and excited for the future of MJBHA," said Daphna ...