12 Thoughts to “Patriot High School: State of the Art”

  1. Lafayette
    September 20, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    Ahem, and he got MILLIONS for the property. Now, it seems to me if you want your land to be designated for a school, one would NOT hold out for top $. However, there seems to be a standard price that PW pays for land for schools, even in a depressed market. Just sayin…

    Patriot makes Battlecat err Battlefield look somewhat outdated.

  2. Moon-howler
    September 21, 2011 at 12:31 am

    Did you expect him to give it away? I believe there are about 140 acres in that deal.
    Prince William bought the deal. I don’t begrudge him. He grew up on that farm, according to the news clip.

    10 years is a long time in terms of technology. I was impressed with the gym for the parents at night and the recumbent bikes in the library.

  3. Lafayette
    September 21, 2011 at 8:12 am

    I don’t expect anyone to give it away, but a fair price is fair. What ever happened to donations? Oh, that’s right GREED!! Furthermore, the county has a couple of people that seem to like to buy land from. Believe me, I’ve done the reasearch, and I don’t mean a look at landrover(county assessment page). You’d definately see a pattern. Hey it’s just taxpayer money, no need to be responsible with the money. I understand we need new schools which require land accquistion, but the price is usually in the same ball park no matter the size of the tract. Something to thing about, or not.

    1. Moon-howler
      September 21, 2011 at 9:12 am

      Slap the figures out there then, Lafayette. They are public record. I am not sure if you are after Mr. Wood or the county and if the county, then who is paying for for something than they should.

      How many acres were involved?

  4. Elena
    September 21, 2011 at 9:26 am

    I recall Sean Connaughton suggesting the widow of Merrimac Farm donate the almost 300 acres for conservation, and I wondered, why should she “give it away”. I don’t think asking fair market price is unreasonable, it isn’t like these people are independpently wealthy. Bill Gates “donating” is one thing, but regular folks just isn’t as common to donate assests with an extended family still living.

  5. Chris
    September 21, 2011 at 9:27 am

    Moon, the work I’ve done the county pays thousands for. I’m not willing to share what’s public record. You can believe me or not, or better yet take a trip to the courthouse and do the research. I’m not after anyone, I’m stating what I learned while working on the SMS fiasco. Enough said…

  6. Chris
    September 21, 2011 at 9:29 am

    I never said he should have donated it.

  7. Mom
    September 21, 2011 at 9:53 am

    With much trepidation, I’ll dip my toes in this pool. Lafayette is correct when it comes to land acquisition by or for the schools, they always overpay either monetarily or through the acceptance of the terms of a rezoning in exchange for property designated for schools. In most instances the key figure is not an elected official or county employee but rather a certain partner of a certain law firm. Often the county appears to be held hostage for exorbitant prices for land although the truth is that usually they are brokered sweetheart deals long before the details are made public. Any way you look at the taxpayers usually get hosed either by paying too much in cash and/or considerations and often get property that is to some degree substandard ie: the elementary school site off of Rt. 15 that was proferred as part of the UVA Foundation rezoning. As a case in point, that application when originally made denoted wetlands on the school site, wetlands that disappeared in later renditions of the site plans. Similarly, as the school will be dependent upon the construction of the Haymarket Bypass for access, a road that hasn’t been build, isn’t funded and likely won’t be built by the developer in the short term, my guess is that the taxpayers are going to be saddled with the expense of road construction that we were led to believe, by that same certain law partner, would be borne by the developer.

    That being said, if you really want to get me started and turn this into an all out Flame War, lets talk textbooks, whiteboards, and the math department.

    1. Moon-howler
      September 21, 2011 at 11:58 am

      I will discuss textbooks and whiteboards but leave the math department out of it. The math department is sacrosanct around these parts.

  8. Lafayette
    September 21, 2011 at 10:38 am

    It’s a pool, neither one of us should dip our toes into. 👿
    Textbooks, bwhahahaha. I told my daughter she should have NOT accepted the book that was falling out of it’s spine with dog-eared pages and written in. It even looked like it had pages missing. World Class, my a$$.

    1. Moon-howler
      September 21, 2011 at 11:27 am

      She should not have accepted the book. She needs to turn it back in for a decent one.

      As for my comments about the Wood tract, which I thought were fairly neutral, without facts, I will let them stand. I am glad he stipulated that a school was to be built on the property. He is 92 years old or something like that and was a school board member back when some of them had elementary school educations.

      Unfortunately, there has been little in this county I haven’t stuck a toe in, and sometimes I have drawn back a bloody stump.

  9. Slowpoke Rodriguez
    September 22, 2011 at 6:11 am

    Moon-howler :
    I will discuss textbooks and whiteboards but leave the math department out of it. The math department is sacrosanct around these parts.

    any ex-math department folks around here? If I mentioned the name Johnny Ball, would it mean anything to anyone?

Comments are closed.