Thursday night (April 21), about two dozen residents who live near the soon-to-be-completed Black Rock Middle School in Villanova – came to a Town Hall meeting at the Lower Meron School District Administration Building. This was a meeting where even the purpose of the meeting was subject to debate.
In an email to his constituents, Ward-6 Commissioner Andy Gavrin wrote – Together with the School District, I am hosting a Town Hall for neighbors regarding the construction on the new middle school and plans for the opening of the school in September. The meeting will be held on Thursday, April 21 from 7-8:30PM at the School Administration Building Board Room (connected to Lower Merion High School at 301 Montgomery Avenue).
In this meeting, the School District and Township will provide an update, but the majority of the time will be reserved for neighbors and those in the immediate vicinity to ask questions and share thoughts regarding how this new school has and will impact them …
Please note that the intention of the meeting on April 21 is NOT to debate the location of the fields [emphasis added]. The neighbors of the school have a number of practical concerns as the opening is coming up in September, and I want to make sure that all of these issues have the opportunity to be addressed.
The school district was represented by Director of Operations, Jim Lill and by Superintendent Khalid Mumin.
At the meeting, when one of the neighbors wanted to discuss “the wildlife” that would be lost if and when the School District began its demolition of the trees on the proposed site of the middle school’s playing fields – Garvrin re-iterated that a discussion about the fields was not supposed to be part of this meeting.
But then another neighbor said that the head of the civic association sent a memo “saying that you [Gavrin] had called a meeting with the district, to discuss the school and the fields.”
