Bowie schools will remain open

The Prince George's County superintendent of schools has decided not to close any elementary schools in the Bowie area, an action school officials were considering so they could continue with plans to open a state-of-the-art school in the planned community of Fairwood.

The county Board of Education had planned to host a community meeting at Bowie High School tonight, which has been canceled because of School Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.’s decision Wednesday afternoon.

For more than six years, the residents of Fairwood have aggressively lobbied lawmakers for a neighborhood school. Late last spring, the community learned that the state and county each had set aside millions to construct the school, which they hoped would open in 2013 or 2014. But then the county redrew school boundaries and moved sixth-graders to local middle schools, lowering enrollment projections
and eliminating the justification to build the new school.

In a last effort to save the Fairwood Elementary School project, county school officials had considered closing Glenn Dale or Tulip Grove elementary schools. Parents from both schools were angered when they heard of those plans last week.