Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The building design for the new Page Middle School (http://gets.gc.k12.va.us) is going to produce one of the biggest maintenance and upkeep nightmares in Gloucester County. There is a lot of additional footer, brick and concrete work to due the building being cut up into so many sections. The building location inhibits future expansion. HVAC costs are going to be excessive. The amount of unusable dead space is unbelievable. The huge amount of glass is a lot of money wasted from multiple aspects. The gymnasium which is also instructional space is reduced in size. The building is not designed as a storm-resistant structure. No land or building elevations are shown on the school site, along Route 17 or along T.C. Walker Road and the plan models do not demonstrate what the school site will look like elevation wise in relation to the roadways and surrounding area. If these elevations were provided, the future high school location would likely appear to be in a hole. It is also likely the new middle school will also be substantially lower than Route 17.

The Gloucester superintendent and the school board have decided against working as team members of the community he was hired and they were elected or appointed to work for. The school board members, due to their lack of knowledge and experience, likely support and act affirmatively to that which is presented to them by the superintendent. They most likely blindly assume his experience and qualifications are sufficient reason to trust his recommendations and suggestions.

An investigation should be commenced into the 2004 and 2011 Pella P. Hundley Trust T.C. Walker Road land transactions.

The superintendent and the school board have caused the waste of a substantial amount of Gloucester County education money in their quest to vacate adequate and suitable school land containing existing athletic fields, infrastructure and an approved VDOT school zone during a time of limited financial resources. Throughout their process of planning to rebuild Page Middle School, the superintendent and school board have continually ignored the Gloucester County community and those elected to oversee the management of Gloucester County. They have caused significant delays in the rebuilding of Page Middle School. A consolidation of school board meeting minutes pertaining to T.C. Walker Elementary and the rebuilding of Page Middle School demonstrate these facts clearly as do numerous newspaper articles. School board meeting minutes also make it clear that the superintendent and the school board spent Gloucester money on project guidance and design before they developed a reasonable and acceptable course of action to rebuild Page Middle School.

Kenneth E. Hogge Sr.

Gloucester, Va.