Prince Georges approves second phase of public-private partnership for schools
The Prince George’s County Board of Education has approved the second phase of a school construction project funded through a mix of public-private funds.
The vote Thursday night to move ahead comes a week after a similar vote failed. School board members conveyed a sense of urgency Thursday to approve the work.
“We need to stop wasting time,” Madeline LaSalle Frazier (appointed, District 8) said during the meeting. “Let’s get these buildings done.”
The second phase of the project includes eight new buildings: Fairwood Area Elementary School in Bowie, Margaret Brent Elementary School in New Carrollton, Springhill Lake Elementary School in Greenbelt, Templeton Elementary School in Riverdale Park, James Duckworth Elementary School in Beltsville, Hyattsville Elementary School, Robert Frost Area PK-8 Academy in New Carrollton, and Brandywine Area PK-8 Academy.
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The first two schools are scheduled to be opened as soon as 2026, according to a memo from the board.
The project — called the “public-private partnership” or “P3” — is one of the first of its kind in the country. The process is designed to accelerate construction timelines and reduce costs in part by eliminating typical bureaucratic obstacles. The school district normally undergoes a five-year projected capital improvement plan, seeks approval in segments and then waits until funding is available. But through the partnership, a developer handles the design and finances the construction.
Once the schools open, the district begins paying back the developers, which were Fengate Asset Management and Gilbane Development Company during the first phase. The developers maintain the schools and are paid over a 30-year period.
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The second phase requires that a minimum of 40 percent of the labor is locally hired. It also includes something new in the ownership structure: County residents and businesses who want to invest in to the project receive a 10 percent share of ownership in total, said Jason Washington, the district’s director of alternative infrastructure planning and development.
Six schools opened in less than three years during the first phase. The last one, Colin Powell Academy, will open later this year.
The school system — Maryland’s second-largest, with about 131,000 students — has the second-oldest buildings in the state, officials say. County council and board of education members pursued the public-private partnership amid growing complaints from parents about aging buildings, overcrowded classrooms and learning environments that weren’t fully accessible to students with disabilities.
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In recent weeks, parents have told the school board about leaky ceilings and other structural issues.
“This school has had sewage running through kindergarten classrooms,” Patrick Paschall, whose children go to Hyattsville Elementary School, said during a board meeting on Sept. 21. “This is literal human waste in my kids’ classroom.”
Dan Broder, a community organizer for the new schools, said that the overcrowding at Hyattsville Elementary forced the school to begin lunch periods as early as 10 a.m. By 1 p.m., those children are usually hungry and have a hard time focusing. The classrooms are packed with students and the teachers have a harder time keeping all the students under control, he said.
“These are the conditions created by school facilities that are not up to date and adequately serving communities,” said Broder, whose two young children are zoned for Hyattsville Elementary.
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Thursday’s vote also requires the school system to make the developers pursue a project labor agreement, which sets the terms of employment on a construction project. Proponents say the agreements ensure continuity in complex projects and reduce the risk of conflict with unions, but critics say they increase costs and lengthen timelines.
Some board members wanted the school system to sign a contract that would have required a project labor agreement with the Baltimore-DC Metro Building and Construction Trades Council. The issue threatened to hold up approval of the project’s second phase.
Labor issues also cropped up in the project’s first phase, when several workers filed lawsuits alleging wage theft by the developer and subcontractors. In one of the complaints, Crispin de la Cruz — who did drywall and construction work on Colin Powell Academy — alleges he was misclassified as an independent contractor and that he was not paid the prevailing wage rates and benefits. He received a settlement of about $78,000.
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Neither the school district nor the county government are named as defendants in any of the lawsuits.
The school district switched the developer for the second phase of the project, which assuaged some board members’ concerns. The developer, PGC Education Collective, is comprised of Plenary US Holdings Inc., Ellis Capital Inc. and Phoenix Infrastructure and Investment, LLC.
Several parents were upset when the board’s vote failed last week, Broder said. Nearly 40 signed on to an op-ed in Maryland Matters that said in part, “Our kids need new school buildings now and the adults who serve them have no excuse to be playing games with their health and their future.”
When phase two was approved Thursday, Hyattsville parents were thrilled, Broder said.
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