The Maryland State Board of Education on Tuesday declined the Montgomery County Board of Education’s request to dismiss an appeal brought by Montgomery Soccer Inc. concerning how school officials awarded turf field use in the county.
The school board had attempted to have the case dismissed by the state board on the grounds that MSI is also pursuing the case in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
However, the state board ruled that it would retain jurisdiction of the case until after the court case is resolved.
In July MSI sued the school board, claiming that the process school system officials used employed to award the rights to use turf fields at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville and Winston Churchill High School in Potomac was improper and flawed.
Last year, the school system awarded the right to use the turf field at Richard Montgomery to Bethesda Soccer Club after the organization submitted a $1.3 million bid. MCPS also awarded the right to use the not-yet-constructed turf field at Winston Churchill to the Bethesda Lacrosse Association, Potomac Soccer Association and the Winston Churchill Booster Club, which submitted a combined $1.3 million bid.
MSI claims that the school system favored wealthier organizations that serve less kids in selecting the other groups’ bids over its own bids, which it claims are comparable to the bids made by the other organizations.
The organizations submitted bids to use the fields for a certain amount of hours per year in exchange for a financial contribution to construct and/or maintain the turf fields over a 10-year period.
MSI was awarded the right to use the Gaithersburg High School turf field after submitting a $950,000 bid. However the organization claims in court documents it was baited into submitting a higher bid for the Gaithersburg field after school officials told them doing so would increase their chances to secure the rights to the Richard Montgomery field.
The case continues to wind through the court system and on May 11, a judge denied the Winston Churchill Booster Club’s motion to dismiss the case, according to online court records.
