Question Four of St. Mary's School Board election debate:
The St. Mary's School Board will likely not have the Indian Bridge site for a new elementary school.  Will you support using the previous offer of a free school site, complete with infrastructure of roads and sewer, at Wildewood?

Cathy Allen: The land spoken of is not and as I understand it, was never truly available--just as the promised land there for a fire and rescue substation never materialized despite repeated requests.  The land in question was not suitable for a school.  Another site within Wildewood has been identified.  St. Mary's County Public Schools continue to seek new sites for schools throughout the county.  I will support any suitable site.  The students are here.  We need additional schools.
Gary Kessler: I am open to considering any and all sites for the future construction of our new schools.  However, we need to evaluate the selection of these sites based on several factors, such as, environmental issues, infrastructure costs, planned population growth, and transportation costs to name a few.  We need to work closely with County and State officials in this selection process and aggressively obtain approval for these sites as we anticipate a rapid growth in our student population over the next several years.
Clare Whitbeck:
I would support any reasonable site until we have identified at least 5 sites (4 elementary and one high) for use in the next 10 years.  I believe that Wildewood is certainly a reasonable place to site a school.  We need these sites in order to provide classroom learning space for our children.  Overcrowded schools result in poorer learning.  We must find the sites,  It's about our children and their education.